To address the industry's need for seasonal labor, businesses must collaborate to create more sustainable business practices. If data tells us anything, the global agriculture business is trending towards automation. A revolutionary new piece of equipment that could drastically curb labor shortages...

Experts believe the ongoing labor shortage will linger into the foreseeable future. Now is the time for business leaders to implement automated strategies into their food processing and packaging facilities. Doing so will prove among the best ways to increase productivity and efficiency in the...

Now more than ever, skilled nursing facilities face overwhelming operational challenges. It’s past time to consider AI and the latest digital trends into skilled nursing facilities to ease nurses’ burdens and provide better, safer care. The Covid-19 pandemic shook the senior care industry to its...

HTLF announced the release of its first annual Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) report. June 07, 2022 – Heartland Financial USA, Inc. (NASDAQ: HTLF) today announced the release of its first annual Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) report, which highlights a collective commitment towards...

Quarterly Market Review: Q1 2022 By: Paul Dickson, Director of Research and Mark Stevens, Chief Investment Officer The Reemergence of Risk If there was one overarching theme to the first quarter of this year, it was that risks, which seemed vanquished in an earlier era, have returned to plague us...

March 14, 2022 – Illinois Bank & Trust, a division of HTLF Bank, through its parent company, Heartland Financial USA, Inc. (NASDAQ: HTLF), has been named a “Forbes Best Bank 2022.” In its annual review of the largest publicly traded banks and thrifts, Forbes ranked Heartland 28th among a nationwide group of 100 leading banking...

Cryptocurrency (crypto) has been growing in popularity for some time. Last year crypto, defined as the class of digital assets you can spend and invest, reached a milestone. Bitcoin, the best-known crypto, had the highest investment return of any asset class in 2021, outpacing the stock market, real...

Quarterly Market Review: Q4 2021 By: Paul Dickson, Director of Research and Mark Stevens, Chief Investment Officer Shifting Gears Even as the pandemic continues to delay a full normalization of the global economy, the exit from emergency support has begun. Most fiscal and administrative efforts have...

Consumers are demanding streamlined, hassle-free payment solutions both online and in person. As consumers increasingly pay less with cash, businesses are turning to an increasing mix of emerging payment solutions to maintain growth. For the most part, consumer preferences are shifting toward mobile...

Even as Covid-19 infections caused by the delta variant continue to rise in some areas of the country, economic activity continues to increase. Consumer spending rose at an annualized rate of 11.8 percent in the second quarter, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. Payroll employment...

As more economic stimulus has been poured into the economy over the last year in an attempt to stave off the worst effects of the pandemic, an increasing number of economic professionals have warned against a coming spike in inflation. While the United States historically has had a low overall rate...

Location to become new home of Illinois Bank & Trust Galena, IL – April 23, 2021 – Illinois Bank & Trust (IBT) and The Galena Gazette announced the pending purchase by IBT of the property at 716 S. Bench Street in Galena. As previously announced, the sale of IBT’s property at 971 Gear Street to the...