Rising costs on inputs like feed, fertilizers, fuel and labor, along with higher insurance premiums and inflated equipment prices, can make it difficult for farmers to make a profit. So what's a farmer to do?

By IL Field & Bean Team

For 50 years, NASA has helped farmers to boldly grow, bringing you innovations designed for space exploration that translate to field exploration.

By IL Field & Bean Team

Meet the distinguished leaders awarded this year's ISA Impact Awards. These individuals have been diligent in supporting our mission to invest in promotion, advocacy, research and education to create profit opportunities and drive preference for soy from Illinois.

By IL Field & Bean Team

The 2025 Soybean Summit is an expanded, two-day event designed to provide Illinois farmers with timely updates on a number of issues. Step inside!

By IL Field & Bean Team

Queen of the Field Meal, Deanne Frieders shares some of her favorite farmhouse holiday recipes.

By IL Field & Bean Team

Don Guinnip, Clark County farmer, proposes that a sound, farmer-directed wheat program is good economically, environmentally, socially and politically.

By Don Guinnip

Within the 20 agronomic research projects funded by ISA in FY26, one priority continues to stand out: conservation.

By Ashley Rice-Haddon, Lead Writer, Illinois Field & Bean Magazine

Participants in the On-Farm Trial Network provide key insights into how management decisions affect productivity and profitability.

By Darby Danzl, ISA Regional Technical Agronomist, and Stacy Zuber, Ph.D., ISA Research Data Scientist

Known as the “silent yield robber,” soybean cyst nematode (SCN) reduces yields without leaving obvious above-ground symptoms.

By Nathan Schroeder, Associate Professor, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Every year, ISA's farmer-led Board takes a careful, science-based approach to investing checkoff dollars where they matter: back into your fields.

By IL Field & Bean Team

A team of researchers at the University of Illinois has been evaluating a range of soil health tests focused on respiration, also known as mineralization carbon or CO2 burst.

By Andrew Margenot, Ph.D. and Heidi Allen, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Meet ISA’s new crop of agronomy experts as they share 2025 growing season strategies and recommendations.

By Stephanie Porter, CCA, ISA Outreach Agronomist, and Kelsey Litchfield, ISA Agronomic Outreach Manager

Learn more about the iFAB Tech Hub at the University of Illinois and how its team is harnessing the power of corn and soy to create sustainable, high-value products.

By Olivia Key, Field & Bean Magazine Assistant Editor

As it celebrates its one-year anniversary, the ISA Soy Innovation Center is dedicated to facilitating the research and commercialization of new and innovative soy-based products with a focus on three primary categories: textiles, bio-lubricants and industrial applications.

By IL Field & Bean Team

Did you know soy can be used to replace nearly any product made from petroleum—including plastics? Soy-based plastics offer a nontoxic alternative to everyday items, contributing to sustainability and representing an exciting opportunity to drive demand for Illinois soy.

By Dylan Karis, Lead Chemist, Airable Research Lab

Learn more about an emerging partnership between ISA and the Peoria-based National Center for Agricultural Utilization, a 270,000-sq.-ft. research facility that employs nearly 200 people including 75 Ph.D. scientists.

By IL Field & Bean Team

Less than two years since its launch, this program boasts more than 63 Sustainably Certified products, each of which must meet the standards outlined by the USDA’s BioPreferred® Program.

By IL Field & Bean Team

As more companies and consumers embrace soy, eco-friendly solutions will increasingly become the norm rather than the exception.

By Jaidyn Miller

Hear from Stephen Censky, Chief Executive Officer of the American Soybean Association, about the ways ASA, ISA and other groups are working together to protect your farming freedoms.

By Stephen Censky

Get to know your ISA Government Relations Team, which is dedicated to advocating ...

By Olivia Key

Illinois Field & Bean Magazine spoke with select federal and state legislators ...

By IL Field & Bean Team

Jonathan Coppess of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign guest authors this perspective on the Farm Bill's impasse and the unlikelihood for reauthorization this year.

By Jonathan Coppess

The challenges farmers face every single day are tedious and time-consuming.

By IL Field & Bean Team

Join ISA Public Policy Manager Collin Cisco for an exploration of both federal and state estate taxes and learn how Illinois farmers should prepare.

By Collin Cisco