Thursday, March 29, 2012

University of Illinois farmland grows scholarships, offsets costs

When you think of money for college, farmland probably doesn’t come to mind. But for the past 37 years, University of Illinois students have received financial assistance by way of soybeans and corn from Sangamon County.

Farmland around the University of Illinois Springfield is owned and operated by the school. That land was purchased by the university and goes toward general operations.

Area farmers manage the land for the school. In return, the university receives cash rent and a share of the crop. The Sangamon County endowment farms along with the farmland around UIS produce corn and soybeans with some wheat on occasion.

University of Illinois Springfield Operations Farm (next to UIS campus)
  • 263 acres
  • Harvest earned approximately $80,000 in 2011

The land was featured in an March 29, 2012, article in The State Journal-Register.

Read the article online