Background:

In 1974, folks in downstate Illinois came together to do something about the devastating impacts of coal strip mining. They were fed up with the pollution from runoff, hazardous waste, and the destruction of prime farmland.

First named the Illinois South Project, they worked collectively with stewards of the land. They organized the grassroots across southern and central Illinois to demand state and federal officials protect family farms, rural communities, and our land and water. They knew if we take care of this land, it will take care of us. 

In 1977, they helped pass the monumental federal law that protects people and our land and water from the environmental impacts of coal mining to this day. Illinois South Project evolved into the Illinois Stewardship Alliance, a statewide membership- based organization for stewards of land and community. Our members share a vision of a local food and farm system that is economically viable, socially just and environmentally sustainable.

Timeline: Our first 50 years

1970s

1974 – Illinois South Project founded

1975 – Established Farmers Market in Carbondale & organized around issues of eminent domain, coal development, and coal gasification in southern IL

1980s

1980 – Farm crisis hits: average farm income plummeted by 83% between 1978 and 1980

1985

  • First Farm Aid benefit concert hosted by Willie Nelson, held in Champaign in 1985
  • Participated in the first National Farm Crisis Day on Oct. 2, 1985
  • Received funding from Farm Aid to recruit attorneys and counselors and 35 volunteers in Family Farm Program to coordinate a Farm Crisis hotline

1990s

  • Recruited 17 farmers for on-farm research project, Farm and Community Regeneration Program
  • Hosted five regional grassroots roundtables to develop an agenda for the 1995 Farm Bill and coordinated efforts with the Sustainable Ag Working Group to support appropriations for sustainable ag in the Farm Bill
  • Won the Federal Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act
  • Established East St. Louis Farmers Market
  • Led a campaign for state legislation to restrict non-family farmers to own or buy farmland
  • Organized members around issues of farmland conservation, rural community building, synthetic fuels, and sustainable agriculture
  • IL South Project becomes Illinois Stewardship Alliance, with a new mission to support food production systems based on family farms and a greater understanding between rural and urban people about food production and environment
  • Called for a state moratorium on the construction of hog confinement operations with more than 500 animal units until new state rules and regulations for livestock facilities
  • Hosted Hog Wild Conference to ensure representation on Governor’s livestock industry task force to address confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs)

2000s

  • Founding member of National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC)
  • Participated (and won!) the national campaign to end the mandatory pork check-off
  • Hosted “Planting the Seeds for Change: First Alliance Assembly Highlights” to gather statewide members and groups

2010s

  • Passed Seed Sharing bill to legalize seed libraries
  • Hosted first farm to table series, Local Flavors, in Central Illinois
  • Passed first Illinois Cottage Food Law
  • Publishes first Cover Crop Business Directory for Illinois
  • Illinois created Nutrient Loss Reduction Strategy (NLRS)

2020 to today

  • In response to the pandemic impact on the food system, distributed $250k through our Resilience Fund to assist farmers in scaling up their operations to meet the skyrocketing demand for reliable, healthy local food
  • Passed the Seed Library Act to legalize seed libraries in Illinois
  • Passed the Home-to-Market Act to expand cottage food law & help small farm and food biz grow
  • Secured $500k in state funding for a SNAP match program at farmers markets allowing SNAP recipients to afford fresh fruits and vegetables from local farms.
  • Helped found national Campaign for Family Farms and the Environment (CFFE) to stop industrial livestock CAFOs
  • Published “Putting Local Food on the Table in IL: Barriers and Opportunities for Value- Added Agricultural Enterprises and Direct Marketing by IL Farmers
  • Passed the Illinois Local Food, Farms, and Jobs Act, which created a council to address food system issues and a goal of shifting 20% of state purchasing to local food by 2020
  • Established Buy Fresh Buy Local (BFBL) Central Illinois chapter
  • Held the first Dishing on the Farm Bill event to organize farmers and eaters around federal food and farm policy
  • Stopped a proposed ban on raw milk sales, enabling farmers to legally sell raw milk on farm
  • Passed Industrial Hemp Act
  • Advocated for and won funding to create the state’s first program to reward farmers for using the conservation practice of cover crops, Fall Covers for Spring Saving