Skip to main content

Pumpkin Farms in Central Illinois Aim to be Eco-Friendly

 

                                                                             Photo Courtesy of EvgeniiAnd/Shutterstock


By: Hannah Mitchell

Date: 10/4


On September 29th, ABC News shared that Central Illinois pumpkin farms are adapting to improve soil and lower emissions. With fall in full swing, families begin to take to pumpkin farms to enjoy the cozy season. As fun as pumpkin patch season is though, it's also important to reflect on the environmental impacts of jack-o-lantern carvings.


According to Hope Ngo, writer for mashed, “The World Economic Forum says in Britain alone, of the 10 million pumpkins grown every year, 95% are tossed after Halloween, resulting in 18,000 tonnes of food waste. It's not much better in the United States, where 900,000 tons of pumpkin is tossed. These pumpkins end up in landfills where they start to rot and produce methane, making them environmentally problematic as a result.”


Its quite unbelievable and frankly hard to realize that an innocent tradition in households during spooky season could be causing such large environmental damage. This is why farms in Central Illinois are taking a step to fight back by using regenerative farming. According to greenamerica.org, Regenerative farming is known as a holistic land-management practice that uses the power of photosynthesis in plants to isolate carbon in the soil while improving soil health.


 Associated Press Writers Dee-Ann Durbin and Teresa Crawford reporting for ABC News share, “On the Central Illinois farms that supply 85% of the world’s canned pumpkin, farmers are adopting regenerative techniques designed to reduce emissions, attract natural pollinators like bees and butterflies and improve the health of the soil.” This effort is backed by the 150-year-old canned food company named Libby’s. The company Libby’s processes 120,000 tons of pumpkins each year from Illinois fields. Libby’s parent, the Swiss conglomerate Nestle, is one of a growing number of big food companies supporting this transition to regenerative farming in the U.S.


Illinois families can still find themselves enjoying time making pumpkin flavored goods, but now with a lower carbon footprint. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

  Rory Richards Facebook Certain Fields From Profile Bios, Including “Religious Views”; Does Not Say Why Facebook has announced plans to remove certain fields from profile bios. Starting on December 1, users will no longer be presented with an option to list their sexual orientation, their political views, their address, or their religious views on their personal profiles. Facebook did not provide an explanation for this decision. The decision was announced one week after Meta, the parent company of Facebook, fired 11,000 employees, 13% of its total workforce; whether or not these two events are correlated, however, remains unclear.
Post a Comment
Read more

First Lion Electric School Bus in Joliet

 Noëllie Inard Credit: www.chicagotribune.com  On Wednesday, November 2nd, Lion Electric announced the end of the production of its first LionC zero-emission electric school bus at its Joliet factory. In May 2021, Lion Electric, a Canadian-based manufacturer of commercial vehicles, selected Joliet to hold its future US manufactory due to a growing demand for electric school buses in the United States. Lion Electric positioned itself to help school districts with the transition to electric buses with the help of the EPA Clean Bus Program which funded the project with $5 billion. The EPA Clean Bus Program is part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, a law that the Congress recently passed under President Joe Biden and which aimed to invest “ in [the] nation’s infrastructure and competitiveness,” according to the White House. The company’s efforts have paid off since they have now 700 electric vehicles on the road.       Lion Electric promised on January 2022...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Emo Night Tour is Coming to Joliet!

Photo Courtesy of The Emo Night Tour By: Saba Aamir On August 2, 2022, The Emo Night Tour announced the dates for their “RAWR!-ing 20's Tour” on their Instagram account . They will be performing around the United States in 40 different venues, with one of the shows being in Joliet, IL, at The Forge on September 3, 2022. "The Emo Night Tour DJs will be spinning all the angst your teenage dirtbag heart desires all night long," their Facebook page states, "and will make you feel like you're at Warped Tour '08 minus all the dust and melting in the sun!" The show primarily features pop-punk music, but a DJ chooses what to play by tailoring the set to the crowd's energy. With nostalgic songs on the list from popular bands such as Fall Out Boy, Panic! At The Disco, My Chemical Romance, and much more, The Emo Night Tour brings many people to the show. The show will be held at The Forge in downtown Joliet, a live music concert venue that hosts live band...
Post a Comment
Read more