Farmers in Central Illinois are experimenting with cover crops to stop soil erosion. Cover crops can also help stop an environmental threat hundreds of miles away. But, do cover crops cut into a farmer’s finances--or even solvency?

Lake Michigan is experiencing high water levels, bad news for some residents along the western shore.  Huge chunks of the shoreline are eroding, and dozens of Wisconsin homeowners are watching their property disappear at alarming rates.

Illinois is losing topsoil – the layer of surface dirt that’s rich with nutrients and vital for food production. And the problem of erosion on Illinois farms is serious: In 2015, roughly one-fifth of Illinois’s farmland lost more soil than it made. Austin Keating has more.