DeKALB | Ann Sorensen, vice president of research for the Center for Agriculture in the Environment spoke with members of the Lifelong Learning Institute Wednesday on “why our landscape is so monotonous.”

The lecture included a brief history of American Farmland Trust, Illinois farming statistics and discussions on Illinois crops and more.

Some popular crops, such as corn, soybeans and wheat make up 90 percent of Illinois crops, she said. Domesticated between 7,000 and 10,000 years ago in Ancient Mexico or Central America, corn is the staple food for 350 million people, with the U.S. producing 43 percent of the crops, she said.

Sorensen also discussed the environmental impacts and problems with fertilizers and pesticides, and the impact of irrigation and biofuels.

“Nitrogen is a major problem,” she said. “70 percent of it gets delivered to the Gulf from the Corn Belt.”

She said nitrogen also is a major problem to pregnant/nursing mothers and babies if too much is in the drinking water.

Lou Bergren, a DeKalb resident, member of LLI and former director of investments and cash management at NIU said he was especially interested in the lecture since he farmed for more than 40 years.

“One thing I’m interested in is the buying of farms, preserving them for agricultural use close to cities and paying the farmers higher prices,” Bergren said.