Springfield, IL (CAPITOL CITY NOW) – Plenty of lessons – and promotions – in farming fill the BOS Center for three days. It’s the Illinois Farm Bureau Everything Local conference. Leah Lawson of the Organic Farming Research Foundation tells us the difference between organic farming and the other kind.

“Really it’s about working with the soil and making sure that the soil is healthy,” said Lawson, “so that it will give good production for years on end without significant inputs.”

Charlie Mitsdarfer of Parkland College in Champaign says some college helps these days.

“When we see students now when they come in, a lot of them do want to go back to the farm,” said Mitsdarfer. “Not all of them are from a farm background, but the ones that do, we want to make sure they have the skills to bring something back of value to the farm, whether it’s soil science, working on equipment, marketing, you name it. But we also want to make sure they know it’s not a bad idea to have a plan to have some employable skills elsewhere, because there may come a time you need some off farm income.”

The Everything Local conference runs three days in Springfield.