They define the state’s landscape and mirror its culture. They are resilient, useful and hearty. No other state produces more. Three-quarters of Illinois, nearly 27 million acres, is farmland. Around 10 million of those acres are dedicated to soybeans. But how did they get here? An 1850 Japanese shipwreck.
A largely unasked question is becoming glaring: Is Illinois doing all it should to use artificial intelligence to make government cost less and work better? So far, the evidence says no.