(SPRINGFIELD) The 2026 Heart of America Grazing Conference will be held in Effingham this summer, the first time in several years that Illinois has hosted the five-state rotating conference. Set for July 15th and 16th, highlights of the event will include a local farm tour, a keynote cattleman speaker, and various sessions that will cover virtual fencing, cropland grazing, multi-species grazing, bale grazing, and many other topics of interest to livestock producers, plus a Build a Regenerative Grazing System competition for those ages 14 to 22. For more information or to register for the event, go online to the ilgrazinglands.org website available online.