Illinois can address some of these critical issues by incentivizing farming processes that have less of a negative impact on the environment. For example, sustainable agriculture is a form of farming that grows crops using methods that protect the environment. This form of farming ensures a healthy community and ecosystem. Organic farming produces products using methods that preserve the environment and avoid most synthetic materials, such as pesticides and antibiotics. USDA organic standards describe how farmers grow crops and raise livestock and which materials they may use. These standards cover the product from farm to table, including soil and water quality, pest control, livestock practices, and rules for food additives. And encouraging consumers to “buy local” supports farmers that are members of the larger community, takes seriously their roles of stewards of the land, and who may be farming using more sustainable or organic methods. Illinois already ranks fifth in the nation for the number of farmers markets.

In addition, Illinois can support urban agriculture, which has risen in popularity in recent years due to an interest in local food sources, farmers markets and transforming small parcels of vacant land into areas of production, as well as urban land’s close proximity to markets. Urban farms grow food that is intended to be sold, either on a nonprofit or for-profit basis. In Chicago, urban agriculture can be found in neighborhoods, in parks, on rooftops, and even at its airports. Urban farming increases the amount of nutritious food available to people living in under-served communities (for example, more than 500,000 Chicagoans live in “food deserts”), addresses the rising environmental and economic cost of shipping food, and supplies jobs and creates social connections for inner-city residents.