CHICAGO — Farm Foundation is celebrating its 90th year of accelerating practical solutions for agriculture by breaking ground on a new multi-purpose research farm in Libertyville, a suburb of Chicago. The 14-acre farm is the future site of their Innovation and Education Campus (IAEC), which will host a range of Farm Foundation programs, including their newly introduced AG 101 Bootcamps.

Crops grown at the farm will be utilized to help support Farm Foundation’s programming on the site. Oats were selected as the farm’s first crop in preparation for a pilot executive bootcamp this summer in cooperation with The Quaker Oats Company. Three acres of oats were planted this spring, though subsequent crops on the five-acre farming plot will include corn, beans and Kernza, a perennial wheat developed by The Land Institute in Kansas.

According to president and CEO Shari Rogge-Fidler, Farm Foundation AG 101 Bootcamps are designed to help leaders in the food and agriculture sector gain a broad baseline understanding of the sector while building a professional network or strengthening a working team.

“Our AG 101 Bootcamps are for decision makers in food and ag. Over time who will participate will evolve; for 2023 we are doing just two bootcamps as we are still constructing our new building on the farm,” said Rogge-Fidler, who is a fifth-generation farm owner and operator. “It used to be that more people lived on and came from farms and had that deep understanding of food and ag, but we know that now many of the key decision makers don’t come from farms anymore. (The bootcamps) will help key decision makers to really understand the key foundations of agriculture.”

Rogge-Fidler noted that Farm Foundation’s AG 101 Bootcamps can be fine-tuned for seasoned leaders or for team leaders, board members, or senior executives who might be new to food and ag. Workshops will generally focus on production ag, climate and soil health, food and ag policy, innovation and investment, and the future of food and ag.

Once completed, the farm’s Innovation and Education Center will not just serve as “home base” for all farm activities and bootcamps, it will become Farm Foundation’s new headquarters after calling Chicago home for 90 years. “We want this farm to be the platform for our work and our programs,” said Rogge-Fidler. “This is a centennial farm with a historic barn and farmhouse on site. The new IAEC will be built to integrate with those older buildings as well as the farm fields out back.”

Farm Foundation hopes to also make available livestock and poultry on a rotational, partnership basis at the farm in order for AG 101 Bootcamp participants and others to study and learn from the animals.

“We hope to find other farmers in Lake County who might want to bring some of their livestock for rotational grazing. Part of what we want to focus on are soil health practices and to study soil health in relation to rotational grazing through partnerships,” said Rogge-Fidler. “Soil health has been a cornerstone of Farm Foundation since we were established right after the Dust Bowl.”

Farm Foundation acquired the farm with assistance from partner Open Lands, a Chicago-based conservation group that made the property available under certain conditions, including the retention of a conservation easement in protection of an oak savanna and a stream with exceptionally high water quality located on the farm property.  

“We’ve agreed to do soil health practices and protect the brook, among other conservation practices, in order for them to let us have the farm. This property was not listed on the market,” Rogge-Fidler said.

To celebrate groundbreaking on the IAEC and their new farm, Farm Foundation is hosting a 90th Anniversary Gala in Chicago on June 15. An open house at the IAEC campus will coincide with the gala. An official groundbreaking for the IAEC is planned for August 15.

Questions about Farm Foundation’s Ag 101 Bootcamps and IAEC open house, scheduled for June 12, can be directed to Todd Price at todd@farmfoundation.org.