CHAMPAIGN — Eric Miller is a tinkerer, a thinker and an innovator, and he puts those skills into practice on his 400-acre farm in Piatt County.
More than that, he shares his discoveries with others.

Miller
Those efforts led to Miller’s recently being honored with an award named for someone who had the same qualities. He was presented earlier this month with the Brandt Prize for Ag Entrepreneurism in honor of the retailer’s founder, Glen Brandt.
Miller focuses on improving yields in a way that is positive for the environment and the future of production. To tell those stories, he invites people to field days and research plots on his farm. He has also been an Illinois Farmer Today CropWatcher and creates informational videos for farm and research audiences.
The award comes with a $10,000 prize, which Miller says he will likely invest in a new building on the farm. He has the land and equipment, but needs more buildings to be most effective.
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In Springfield in 1953, Glen Brandt founded what has become a global agriculture chemical company. He died in 2020 at age 94.
Miller’s farm has become an outreach arm of University of Illinois research, with some of its top researchers carrying out projects there since 2014. It started with a simple project and just kept growing, he said.
Lowell Gentry, a principal research specialist in agriculture who is now retired from the university, has gathered a research team invested in the ongoing projects. Miller jokes that he has been looking into squatters’ rights because researchers have spent so much time at his property over the last nine years.
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Miller also works on Illinois Nutrient Research & Education Council-funded projects, including on nitrogen rates. This is one of the reasons Dan Schaefer, director of nutrient stewardship with Illinois Fertilizer & Chemical Association, and University of Illinois professor emeritus Emerson Nafziger nominated Miller for the award.
“It takes time and is a gradual process” for farmers to move to optimal nitrogen rates, Nafziger said.
Miller is the third person to win the ag entrepreneurism award and the first who doesn’t produce alcohol. Will Glazik of Silver Tree Beer and Spirits, known for their vodka, and Matt Riggs of Riggs Beer Company in Urbana were the first two winners.
Miller joked that he’d better start a still.
Photos: Wheat harvest a rarity in Central Illinois
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Wheat flies from a combine on David Brown’s produce farm west of Bloomington, Tuesday, July 7, 2020. Harvesting wheat is a rarity in central Illinois, but it can be done profitably with a little creative marketing.
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Lynn Kidwell harvests a field of wheat Tuesday, July 7, 2020, at David Brown’s produce farm in west Bloomington. While wheat cash crops are rare in Illinois, Brown and Kidwell bring in wheat and the straw that is left behind to supplement their farming operations.
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Bales of straw seen Tuesday, July 7, 2020, are byproducts of the harvest of wheat that are gathered on David Brown’s produce farm west of Bloomington. Wheat straw is typically used for bedding horses and other livestock.
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A giant chicken welcomes customers to David Brown’s produce farm west of Bloomington as wheat harvest begins. Brown is becoming known as a local supplier of produce and other farm-related food sources at his farm.
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A combine unloads wheat that is harvested by Lynn Kidwell on David Brown’s produce farm west of Bloomington, on Tuesday, July 7, 2020. Kidwell farms the land for Brown.
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Bales of wheat straw wait to be gathered Tuesday, July 7, 2020, on David Brown’s produce farm west of Bloomington.
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Lynn Kidwell harvests a field of wheat Tuesday, July 7, 2020, on David Brown’s produce farm west of Bloomington.
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Lynn Kidwell harvests a field of wheat Tuesday, July 7, 2020, on David Brown’s produce farm west of Bloomington. The rows of harvested wheat are gathered up and baled as straw for later sale.
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A combine makes a turn Tuesday, July 7, 2020, on David Brown’s produce farm west of Bloomington.