Ag Matters Fall 2020
CAMPAIGN 2020: ILLINOIS FARM BUREAU CANDIDATE FORUM PLUS • A YEAR IN THE LIFE OF A FARMER 10 • CONFERENCE ENERGIZING AG FOR THE FUTURE 13 • UPDATE ON ACES AT AGRONOMY DAY 15
A publication of est. 1851
Shaw Media/September/October 2020
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CAMPAIGN 2020: ILLINOIS FARM BUREAU CANDIDATE FORUM
Farm issues in Senate race Curran: Agriculture drives Illinois’ economy
Durbin: Illinois farmers paying price of trade war
By Tom C. Doran
By Tom C. Doran
AGRINEWS PUBLICATIONS
BLOOMINGTON, Ill. — A threeterm county sheriff and attorney running on the Republican ticket for a U.S. Senate seat provided his platform at the Agricultural Roundtable Candidate forum Aug. 17 hosted by the Illinois Farm Bureau. “I’m somebody who has run on middle-class issues, recognizing the fact that we need to support the middle class, that there’s great disparity in wealth and income in America and that the middle class is getting left behind,” Mark Curran noted in his opening statement. “I also believe very much in liberty.
I was also a constitutional law professor where I taught classes in constitutional law and I see the erosion of liberty in America.” The Libertyville resident said that while there were only 396 farms in Curran Lake County, “there are 72,000 in Illinois. Farming drives the Illinois economy. “It’s a difficult year for farmers and I’m somebody that believes very much See CURRAN, Page 4
AGRINEWS PUBLICATIONS
BLOOMINGTON, Ill. — Democratic incumbent Sen. Dick Durbin gave his views on the current state of politics and his plans if re-elected during the Agricultural Roundtable Candidate forum Aug. 17 hosted by the Illinois Farm Bureau. “The challenges of droughts, floods, extreme weather events, tornados, pests, on and on and on, are all part of your normal life that you’ve accepted and the uncertainty of farming is part of your life. If it’s a good year, thank goodness, but many years are not and if they’re not you
many times come to Washington and ask for a helping hand. I’ve always tried to be there in that circumstance and I will continue to be,” Durbin said. “But I think the situation facing us now is much difDurbin ferent. We’re not talking about natural phenomena and natural disasters. We’re talking about the political decisions that have been devastating to See DURBIN, Page 5
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in the number one export of America and that’s produce and we need to keep it going. And coming from Illinois I’ve got to have Illinois farmers’ backs and I absolutely will. I’m somebody that expects to be very attentive to their needs, their concerns. “I have faith-filled world view, natural law world view, but that’s not to say that pollution and other sins of mankind don’t exist and that we’re beyond affecting the atmospheric temperature. I’m not someone that’s ruled out global warming as a possibility that we’ve played some role in that.” He supports ethanol and believes in free trade that’s fair trade. With regards to federal regulations, in his role as an attorney he has prosecuted both on behalf of administrative agencies and defended clients before administrative agencies. “Administrative agencies can be what we call the deep swamp. Career government officials that come in and if they have a reason or not even a reason sometimes, they can come in and make life very, very difficult for the in-
Meet the candidates
and criminal litigation. He served as Lake County sheriff from 2006 to 2018, and resides in Libertyville with his wife, Irene, and they have three children.
MARK CURRAN Curran was born in Pittsburg and graduated from Loyola Academy in Wilmette, Illinois. He earned a bachelor of arts in business from Spring Hill College, Mobile, Alabama, a juris doctor from the Illinois Institute of Technology’s Chicago-Kent College of Law, and attended law enforcement and leadership courses at Boston University and Northwestern University. He began his career as a state prosecutor in Lake County in 1990, rising to senior felony prosecutor. He then served as prosecutor with the Illinois Attorney General from 1999 to 2002. In 2002, Curran went into private practice, concentrating in civil
dividual farmer,” Curran said. “We need that balance, somebody like me who understands that when an agency writes their own rules, when they enforce and act as a judicial branch, as well, they can be out of control. I’m somebody that’s very attuned to that and will definitely push back on that regard.” A question-and-answer session led by IFB President Richard Guebert Jr. followed his opening statements.
District. In 1996, he won election to the U.S. Senate. Durbin has served as the Senate Democratic Whip since 2005, and from 2007 to 2015, served as the Senate Majority Whip. He is currently the Senate Minority Whip. He is also dean of the Illinois congressional delegation.
DICK DURBIN Durbin was born in East St. Louis, Illinois, graduating from Assumption High School in that city. He graduated from the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University and Georgetown University Law Center. Working in state legal counsel throughout the 1970s, he made an unsuccessful run for lieutenant governor of Illinois in 1978. Durbin was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1982, representing the Springfield-based 20th Congressional
He sits on the Senate Judiciary, Appropriations, Agriculture, and Rules Committees. He is the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Immigration and the Appropriations Committee’s Defense Subcommittee. He and his wife, Loretta Schaefer, reside in Springfield. Their family consists of three children, Christine (deceased), Paul and Jennifer, as well as six grandchildren.
Global trade is an important part of the agricultural economy. Can you expand on your comments about free and fair trade and trade agreements? I think the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement was a good deal for Illinois farmers and we need to explore that. I’m not someone who’s taking any money from lobbyists. So, when I go to Washington, D.C., I’m going to be the lobbyist on behalf of the Illinois farmer. I’m going
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to be the guy that fights for deals and legislation that helps the farmer. Global farming is becoming more and more competitive as South America moves in terms of technology and gets better and better and gets more adept at farming. So, we’ve got to fight hard for Illinois to make sure that we can get our prices at a good number. I’ve been asked about subsidies and See CURRAN, Page 6
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DURBIN agriculture and in particular to Illinois agriculture. To think that farm income is down 50% in our state is a horrible statistic. “It’s true, federal subsidies have tried to step in to make up the difference, but I know you and I know your organization and that isn’t what you’re in business for to go out to Washington and get a bigger subsidy. You want the market to work. You want to be able to sell the best farm products in the world and you want to be able to trade them overseas and do it in a way where you can make a profit and leave that farm to somebody in your family if they want to continue farming.� Durbin noted several “devastating decisions� made by the current administration, including the trade war with China, small refinery waivers, and part two of the disproportionate Market Facilitation Program county payments made last year. “China is not the most important trading partner with the United States, but it’s one of the most and
goes into ethanol and now we see the ethanol industry already flat on its back being devastated by this COVID-19 and people using less gasoline. “When you look at the (MFP) numbers that they gave to Illinois soybean growers because of what happened in China and compare with what they did to cotton growers, cotton growers lost 6% of their market, Illinois soybean growers lost 75% of their market and the cotton growers end up with more money. I know what’s going on. I know where the secretary of agriculture is from. He took care of his home state and he didn’t look at the numbers and apportion this fairly across the country. My friends, you may not all be in the same political place as I am, but you deserve better treatment and what this administration has done to you — you’ve got to undo.� A question-and-answer session led by IFB President Richard Guebert Jr. followed his opening statements. How can we expand the trade of U.S. commodities, particularly Illinois commodities around the world? When we passed the North
American Free Trade Agreement 25 years ago I was one of the few Democrats who voted for it. Some of my friends in the Democratic Party, particularly organized labor have never forgotten it, and some of my friends like you remind me and thank me for it. I voted for the next NAFTA, the one we just went through, even though this was Trump’s bill, a Republican administration, you said it was good for Illinois farming and that’s what I wanted to hear. Having good trade agreements is the starting point. We’ve got the best products in the world, the best agriculture in the world, and we can compete with anybody. The third thing is reliability. Are you going to be there when a new president shows up, are you going to boycott and walk away or are you going to be part of this global trade process? That’s what we’ve lost in this war with China — the reliability factor. Getting that reliability factor back is critical. We worked so darn hard for it over generations and we’ve got to restore it. See DURBIN, Page 7
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it’s growing, at least it was growing in terms of opportunity. Now we’re in a trade war with them and Illinois farmers, particularly soybean growers, have paid the price. I think that was handled poorly. We decided to go it alone as a nation,� Durbin said. “It’s not that China was not guilty of unfair trade practices, they were, but the net result of it, the president announcing that Phase One is so great. We all know better. He’s barely at 50% of what he promised for Phase One of the early agreement with China, and so we’re still lagging. “China decided to go shopping in South America and they found Brazil, and Brazil is planting more and more soybeans, doing more and more business with China, at our expense. That, to me, was avoidable, and it’s something we have to take care of with a new president. “Secondly, when this president in the White House decided to step in and help Ted Cruz’s reelection two years ago with these small refinery waivers. I can understand as a politician you want to help somebody in your own party get reelected. But the net result of that has been devastating. Forty percent of our corn
Shaw Media/September/October 2020
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on, some it’s wrong on, but every time it comes in and intervenes in the life and the business of a farmer it should be doing everything it can to make sure the farmer stays afloat.
would maybe be on the wealthiest corporations, is that something we need to look at. FROM PAGE 4 So, even in President Trump’s prior fiscal year we had a $1 trillion budget carbon credits. I’m in favor of all of deficit. It looks like it’s going to be those because produce is so important Over the years we’ve seen reductions in a $5 trillion deficit with the coronafrom a national security perspective, federal money for agricultural research virus. This spending is crazy and we No. 1, and in terms of aid that’s a beau- and development programs. What is your have to get it under control. It’s not tiful thing that we produce so much. position on agricultural research priorifair to future generations; it’s not fair I’m wide open. I’m all ears and ties going forward? to our children and grandchildren. very much believe that I need to take I think it’s critical. As we produce There’s not going to be big changes care of the farmer and make sure that more and more we have a greater in Social Security and I’m somebody Illinois continues to be a strong agridependence on antibiotics, pesticides who believes it’s a promise. cultural state. and all types of things that are pumped in that historically were not an issue. Farmers have been utilizing various How should those carbon credit dollars We just need to make sure that when practices such as no-till and cover be distributed? Is it through agribusiness, we’re doing that that we continue to crops to reduce nitrogen and phosphoother entities or for farmers in general or be safe with regards to farming. The rous losses. What are your thoughts on those that provide the carbon? research also helps answer the questhe Nutrient Loss Reduction Strategy Preferentially you’d like to see it tion of is there anything that we could and the role Illinois agriculture can play go directly to the farmer. I think one be doing more efficiently, as well. It’s in that? of the reasons why that’s critical now critical from both perspectives. I think one of the problems with is when we’re talking about carbon America is that the biggest have eaten credits we know we’re talking about We’ve heard Social Security is going to run up everybody else, you look at the more administrative rules and more out of money in six or seven years. What banks, you look at the food producgovernment dictating how you farm. are your thoughts on Social Security? ers, you look at the oil companies, So, to offset that we have to make I don’t think that there’s any supwhat have you, and I think the more sure the farmer is able to continue to port for major changes in Social the merrier. So, when we have farms meet the bottom line. Security or Medicare. It may come at that are looking at different alternaReally this is not about aid, per se, some point that we need additional tives in terms of tilling and everything this is about a federal government that revenues. It can’t be on the middle else, we need to make sure that has an agenda, some issues it’s right class, it can’t be on the farmer. It they’re afloat. I’m interested in them
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Do you have any final thoughts? I have a very, very, very good chance of winning this election. Dick Durbin is in the race. Willie Wilson is a third party candidate who has run as a Democrat is going to peal off votes. For the Illinois farmer I think it’s a great thing that we have change. Dick Durbin has been in that leadership role for a long time and he’s No. 2 in the U.S. Senate. His primary allegiance has been with the Democrats in the U.S. Senate, it has not been with Illinois and it has not been with the Illinois farmer. I’m not going to be there with any real PAC money, any real corporate money, I’m going to be somebody that is going to fight for Illinois and my word is gold. You can look at me, you can study me and people will see that Mark Curran has been consistently the person he is here today, that he will fight on behalf of all of Illinois,
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Farmers have been utilizing various practices such as no-till and cover crops to reduce nitrogen and phosphorous losses. There have been discussions about carbon credits and how this may play into the new farm bill. Where do you see these carbon credit dollars going, to agribusiness, other entities or to farmers in general? I think it should go first and foremost to production agriculture. A lot of farmers over the last five or six years were asked if they were interested in putting a wind turbine on their farm. I think many farm operations have decided it’s a smart investment. So, they are part of the solution when it comes to moving to renewable sources of fuel and they’re being paid. Now I’m happy to see an evolution of thinking when it comes to this whole issue of extreme weather and global warming. It is starting to invite farmers to the table and saying to them if we get into this whole issue of carbon fees; you have the potential of creating carbon credits which are
Social Security was facing bankruptcy back in the early 1980s. We made four or five changes, some of them controversial. We bought 50 years of solvency for Social Security. What is your position on agricultural reNow we look ahead and we think search investment priorities going forward? by 2035 we will not be generating It’s been hit or miss when it enough revenue to meet the cost comes to ag research funding and of Social Security. So, we’ve got 15 I think that’s a mistake. When you years to decide whether we’re going talk about creating jobs and opporto do something about it. I want to tunities, research is the key across say to my colleagues in Congress, of the board. So, I have a bill in for 5% course you don’t want to talk about real growth in ag research. Social Security long-term, but if you What our generation has got to don’t talk about it now, do some little do is invest more money in research things now, in 10 years you have to each year — 5% real growth. What do much bigger things which are even would it be good for in agriculture? less politically popular. We ought to Better seed varieties, better use of deal with it. chemicals to you can reduce the input The bottom line is we need to make costs, developing new product lines some Social Security fixes at this for agriculture, all of these things pay- point and other small fixes along the off dramatically in the long haul. This way that are going to play out and whole idea of high tech in farming is buy us at least 50 more years of solinevitable and it’s a key to profitabilvency. ity. So, marrying those two together We ought to put together and makes sense still. group in the House, a group in the Senate, and a group of experts on the We’ve heard Social Security is going to outside and come up with a plan to run out of money in the future. What are buy 75 years of solvency for Social your thoughts on supporting Social SeSecurity and 75 years solvency for curity and Medicare? Medicare. Some of the parts are going
to be hard and not that popular. But the other thing we have to put in here is every 10 years we have to step back and take another assessment as to whether or not it has 75 years solvency and if it doesn’t issue the same challenge. We’ve got to look at this in the long-haul if we want to do it the sensible way. Do you have any final thoughts? The first time I ever ran, I went to a Pike County Farm Bureau meeting. It turned out I was running against the uncle of the Pike County Farm Bureau president. Congressman Paul Findley (R-Jacksonville) was on the House Ag Committee. So, to say the deck was stacked against me at that meeting was pretty obvious. Findley was a real expert on ag policy, too. I never could get over how courteous and kind the people were in that meeting. They knew and I knew how that meeting was going to turn out. I wasn’t going to get their support, but they couldn’t have been nicer to the city boy who was trying to figure out what the heck was going on with the farms. I’ve tried over the years to learn a lot more about farming. I think I’ve
See DURBIN, Page 8
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AG MATTERS |Shaw Media/September/October 2020
economically worth money to you and your operation. We want to bring you into the conversation. Farmers ought to be sitting at that table.
FROM PAGE 6
and a big part of Illinois obviously is agriculture. I look forward to working with all of you, I look forward to achieve the balance of having the federal government assist farming, but at the same time not being on farmers’ backs with regulations that make no sense and make it hard to compete. I know
from year to year that farming is a roll of the dice whether you’re going to be in the black or not. At the end of the day the farmers works very, very hard to bring to our table what is desperately needed and that the margins are very tight. I’m attuned to all of that and I look forward to working with all of you. Tom C. Doran can be reached at 815780-7894 or tdoran@agrinews-pubs. com. Follow him on Twitter at: @ AgNews_Doran.
DURBIN
always been an important organization to go to. You’re big and you’re diverse. You change with the times. FROM PAGE 7 Even when we disagree, my door is going to be open. Even when we disagree I’m going to hear you out and learned a lot. There’s a lot more to listen and respectfully. You always learn. You do it for a living and I have to understand the changes in policy and listen respectively to me, and I think at the end of the day we’re going to the impact it has on farming. You and I both know what’s happened to farms agree on a heck of a lot more than we disagree on and that’s what I’m lookin the last few decades is dramatic in ing forward to. Illinois, concentration of ownership, larger farms and the rest of it. But from Tom C. Doran my point of view the Farm Bureau has
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GRAIN ON THE MOVE
USDA PHOTO
Barge traffic moves on the Mississippi River at the Melvin Price Locks and Dam Facility near Alton, Illinois.
Deepening Mississippi River benefits farmers By Erica Quinlan
AGRINEWS PUBLICATIONS
INDIANAPOLIS — Midwest farmers will feel the benefits of a new project in Louisiana, which will deepen the lower Mississippi River from 45 feet to 50 feet. A deeper river will allow larger ships to be utilized and current ships being utilized to be loaded with more revenue-producing freight — like corn and soybeans. Checkoff-funded research by Soy Transportation Coalition showed this dredging work would save 13 cents per bushel of freight. It will increase the load by 500,000 bushels per ocean vessel and bring an additional $461 million in revenue to U.S. soybean farmers, according to the study. “I think this is the single infrastructure project that will provide the most benefit to the most soybean farmers in the U.S.,” said Mike Steenhoek, executive director of the STC, during a webinar hosted by
Indiana Soybean Alliance and Indiana Corn Growers Association. “The work on the first phase of the project will start this fall with the completion of this phase in the fall of 2021. What that will do is provide a 50-foot channel from the Gulf of Mexico to mile 154 on the lower Mississippi River.” Sixty percent of U.S. soybeans leave via the lower Mississippi River. “You have a lot of farmers, including in Indiana, that have a short truck journey to access this efficient maritime highway,” Steenhoek said. “It allows these farmers far removed from the coastal regions of the U.S. to be international entrepreneurs, because of the access to efficient transportation.” Learn more about soybean transportation at www.soytransportation.org. Erica Quinlan can be reached at 800-426-9438, ext. 193, or equinlan@ agrinews-pubs.com. Follow her on Twitter at: @AgNews_Quinlan.
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A YEAR IN THE LIFE OF A FARMER
Taking care of business Animal welfare the top priority
Follow the Haag family throughout the entire year. Each month, look for updates about the family members and the decisions they make on their farm. By Tom C. Doran
AGRINEWS PUBLICATIONS
EMINGTON, Ill. — This “Year in the Life” series gives a monthly snapshot of what the farmer is doing at that particular time. But if one were to delve deeper and check in on a daily basis, there would be one important theme.
“Animal care is what we do from sunup to sundown. Our days are usually controlled by what the animals tell us we need to do,” said swine and grain producer Mike Haag. “We can get up and have all of the plans in the world, but if a bin is out of feed or a feed system is broke or if there’s a sick animal or a broken gate, that’s what we do and take care of those animals the best we possibly can.” The Haag family grows about 1,800 acres of corn and soybeans and have a 17,000 head wean-to-finish hog operation. As the temperature once again rises toward 90 degrees on the morning of Aug. 28, Haag spoke of the additional care required to keep the pigs as comfortable as possible.
90-DEGREE TEMPERATURES “This is the fourth day of 90-degree temperatures that we’ve had here in a row and it has an accumulative affect on them where over time it’s harder and harder, the buildings don’t cool down,” Haag said. “When I did chores at 6:30 this morning some of these rooms with the smaller pigs were 82 degrees. It’s really important to keep sprinklers on them, make sure they have plenty of fresh water, as much ventilation as possible. Even though we’re not comfortable working in it, it’s really important for these animals right now.” Raising healthy animals is a top priority for the Haags. “Every day as a producer we’re always trying to do the best we can not just for the animals, but also for food
safety. We’re producing food for people and we realize that, so it’s really important that we’re careful what goes into their feed and how we take care of them because not only are we selling to consumers, but that’s what my family eats every day. We eat the same pork that we’re selling to the public,” Haag added. BALANCED DIET A balanced nutritious diet is a vital piece of livestock production. “We work with a nutritionist who helps us balance the pigs’ diet,” he said. “From the time a pig comes to the time they leave there are 12 different diets that they’re on. So, we’re constantly changing the amino acid ratio See CARE, Page 11
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to utilize what that animal needs the most. One of our big goals is to absolutely utilize what that animal needs,” Haag continued. There are some factions that criticize livestock producers for using antibiotics on livestock. Haag addressed the issue. “Antibiotics should be used in a very prudent way under a veterinarian’s supervision. We have to get a prescription for any antibiotics used just like people do for their children when they get sick,” he said. “In a year like this where there’s no profits we don’t want to spend anymore money than we have to, but if we have a sick animal it’s very important to be able to treat them and get them back on their feet. We don’t give them anything that’s not needed. “We do some preventative antibiotics, but it’s under a veterinarian’s supervision and it’s usually because of problems that we’ve had in the past where if we can give antibiotics for a week at a certain time in their life
AGRINEWS PHOTO/TOM C. DORAN
Mike Haag checks his pigs Friday morning, Aug. 28, as temperatures rise to 90 degrees for the fourth consecutive day. Animal health is an essential part of livestock production and additional care is required to keep the pigs as comfortable as possible in times of temperature stress. when that disease could hit to maybe avoid having sick or dead animals. “Consumers worry about that. Every antibiotic has a withdrawal period and it can’t be given so many days before they are put into the food system. Therefore there’s no antibiotics ever that are in the food that we eat because it’s already moved through the pig’s system before it enters the food system.”
ESSENTIAL WORKERS The term “essential workers” has been a part of the dialogue since the pandemic hit and livestock producers and farmers are vital parts of that team. “These animals really consider us essential workers. They expect us to show up every day and still feed them no matter what’s going on in our lives and in these communities. It’s really important that we’re out here every day and taking care of these animals so we can provide good food and nutrition for consumers,” Haag said. “There’s nothing to put in the grocery stores if there isn’t essential workers like farmers out here producing the food at the ground level and producing that product for the processors to put in the stores.”
SOCIAL DISTANCING Global efforts to slow the spread of the coronavirus are not unlike the efforts of livestock producers in protecting their animals from diseases. “With this COVID and respiratory diseases I find it quite interesting because as a swine producer we’ve dealt Tom C. Doran can be reached at 815-780with that forever trying to manage how 7894 or tdoran@agrinews-pubs.com. Folwe control how disease moves and low him on Twitter at: @AgNews_Doran.
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keeping it from one site to another, changing clothes and taking time out of one building before we go to the other. I think the general public is learning a lot of what livestock producers have found out years ago on how disease transmission works,” Haag said.
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Second CFAP in the works Perdue says state, federal leaders must be partners By Erica Quinlan
AGRINEWS PUBLICATIONS
ARLINGTON, Va. — State and federal ag officials must work together to coordinate and complement one another, said U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue. Perdue spoke at the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture’s annual meeting, which was held Sept. 1-3. “That partnership is based on a
strong relationship between the states and the federal government,” he said. “I’m also happy that our key leaders at USDA understand that relationship. We realize the policies and regulations that we do are affecting somebody’s life in agricultural business. That’s what we want to be ever mindful of. “I believe PresPerdue ident Trump understands that partnership well. He also understands the vital importance of agriculture.” It’s been a challenging few years
for those in the agriculture industry, Perdue said. Those challenges have only intensified during the COVID-19 pandemic. “Like the resilient people they are, our ag producers and ranchers continue on,” Perdue said. “We at USDA have been challenged, but we’ve done a lot of work to try and mitigate those challenges and concerns to help as best we can. “At the direction of President Trump, we announced a $19 billion program for immediate assistance for America’s farmers and ranchers under the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program.” The first $16 billion was in the form of direct payments to farmers. A second CFAP is in the works.
“Through this entire process we’ve tried to listen to our producers, and we’re adding additional commodities to what’s being covered,” Perdue said. “We’re gearing up to announce round two of CFAP, which will incorporate more feedback to create a program that works best for the people who truly need it.” Perdue also discussed the Farmers to Families Food Box. President Trump announced an additional $1 billion in funding for the program. “We’re still working every day to help farmers and ranchers during this pandemic,” Perdue said. “We stand ready to serve you and your members.” Erica Quinlan
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By Erica Quinlan
AGRINEWS PUBLICATIONS
ARLINGTON, Va. — The National Association of State Departments of Agriculture held its annual meeting Sept. 1-3 to bring together leaders from across the country. The theme of this year’s event was “energizing agriculture for the future.” Barbara Glenn, CEO of NASDA, said the association has responded to the COVID-19 pandemic through its call to action — to increase resiliency in rural America. “We’ve added policy focus on worker protection, rural broadband and food supply chain resiliency,” Glenn said. “NASDA’s reenergized call to action will challenge the next administration to build on our strong state and federal partnerships,” she said. “Let’s keep what’s good, let’s improve what needs improving, and en-
sure continuous progress and future preparedness.” Looking to the 2020 presidential election and beyond, NASDA is calling on the next administration to: n Preserve and expand market access for U.S. food and agriculture products. n Protect workers in the food and agriculture sector and increase availability of qualified labor. n Extend the 2014 farm bill hemp pilot program to protect growers and provide states with more time to bring their regulations into compliance with federal law. n Prioritize keeping food safe for consumers. n Expand rural broadband access for rural businesses and communities. n Enhance resilience across the entire U.S. food supply. Here are a few highlights from the meeting.
Right Product. Right Acre. Right People.
FOCUS ON INCLUSION The association announced new policies to formally incorporate its commitment to racial justice into its policymaking framework. “We acknowledge that in order to combat systemic racism, we must consider diverse audiences from the start of our policymaking process,” Glenn said. “We believe that the future of agriculture is best served when all of those in the agriculture community are empowered regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation and/or religious creed.” NASDA’s policy asserts that diversity and inclusion are fundamental principles of a sustainable agricultural community and necessary to advance the agricultural industry in the United States. The policy also recommends supporting programs consistent with the new guiding principle and encourages all levels of government to do the same.
LEADERS HONORED At the meeting, employees of three state departments of agriculture were honored for their service, communication and administration to their state. Also honored were Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue and Bob Waltz, retired Indiana state chemist. NEW LEADERS Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles will serve as NASDA’s 2020-2021 president and will host the 2021 NASDA annual meeting in Louisville, Kentucky, on Sept. 19-22, 2021. The association’s board of directors and policy committees were also elected and appointed. STRATEGIC PLAN The National Association of State Departments of Agriculture adopted a See FUTURE, Page 14
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Conference energizing ag for the future
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new strategic plan to guide the association from 2020 to 2025. “American agriculture is the backbone of our rural communities, and COVID-19 has only underscored this,” Quarles said. “NASDA’s new strategic plan will guide us as state agricultural officials as we engage many other partners in this critical journey. Together we’ll grow American agriculture.” NASDA’s new mission statement is “grow and enhance American agriculture through policy, partnerships and public engagement.” NASDA’s new vision statement is “agriculture leads the way toward a healthy and resilient world” Learn more about NASDA at www. nasda.org. Erica Quinlan can be reached at 800-426-9438, ext. 193, or equinlan@agrinews-pubs.com. Follow her on Twitter at: @AgNews_Quinlan.
Survey projects McLean County corn yield increase By Tom C. Doran
AGRINEWS PUBLICATIONS
BLOOMINGTON, Ill. — McLean County corn yields “rebounded” from last year with yields similar to 2014 and 2016. A yield survey by First Mid Ag Services estimates the state’s top corn-producing county to average 211.7 bushels per acre based on samples collected the last two weeks of August. McLean corn yields averaged 198.8 bushels per acre in 2019 after a record 229.3 bushels per acre in 2018. First Mid Ag Services narrowly missed the 2019 final yield average with a 197.3 bushels per acre projection in last year’s yield survey. “This year we collected 1,600 samples from 160 locations reaching every township in McLean County,” Craig Thompson, farm manager and
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broker, said via video. “This ranks as the fourth highest yield we’ve estimated and the data suggests yields similar to the 2014 (218.3 bushels per acre) and 2016 (218.1) growing season.” Yields ranged from 110 to 273 bushels per acre across the county. “While we found ear length and rows around to be slightly above average, ear populations were below average due to wet and cold planting conditions,” Thompson added. “We sample farms throughout the county and it gives us a good perspective of what we can expect for potential yield. It all started back in 1997 and since 2004 we’ve been within 2% of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s McLean County yield,” said Ross Perkins, First Mid Ag Services farm manager and broker. Tyler Roth, First Mid Ag Services farm manager and broker, explained
the process used in determining yield estimates with an example of his findings in one field. “We determined that we have 30,000 harvestable ears per acre. Next we count the number of kernels long on our 10 sampled ears and the number of kernels around on our 10 sampled ears and we then come up with an average,” Roth said. “We then take the average number of kernels around by the number of kernels long by 30,000 harvestable ears and divide by 80,000, which is the number of kernels we estimate that it will take to make a bushel of corn in the field. With this sample we came up with an estimate of 220.79 bushels per acre in this field. “We’ve seen a lot of variation this year in ear size across the field due to uneven emergence that we saw in April and May.”
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By Tom C. Doran
AGRINEWS PUBLICATIONS
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — The benches, tents and people movers used for the annual University of Illinois Crop Sciences’ Agronomy Day remained in storage, but researchers and students were still able to share their latest work via digital platforms now available online. As part of the virtual Agronomy Day, Kim Kidwell, College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences dean, spoke of the unique format and what’s happening in ACES. “I know this is a little different than we’ve done in the past, but I’m actually kind of excited about it because we have the opportunity to bring you presentations from more people and actually have access to a broader, wider audience,” Kidwell said. “As we go forward we’ll definitely do these in person again when it’s safe to do so, but in the moment we get to explore different ways to communicate with people about what we do and why it matters.” RESEARCH CONTINUES The agricultural industry is a vital part of the state and it’s also a vibrant part of the university’s research portfolio. “Over the last six months, the researchers have been as dedicated and determined to help solve the grand challenges in agriculture and environmental safety than ever before,” Kidwell said. “With the pandemic happening there’s been a lot of tension on the food supply, on market development, on economics around food production and agriculture and we’ve been in it every step of the way. We’ve had a
lot of people from the outside sector ask us more questions perhaps than they have in the past as we talk about food system resiliency, environmental safety, food origin, fragility of the market system, a lot of interesting things going on and we have a ton of expertise in the College of ACES that works in those areas, as well. “We’re going to take advantage of the opportunity to highlight and feature our research. We’re going to take advantage of the opportunity to work more with closely with industry to solve some of these problems that you know you had before and maybe new ones that have been revealed throughout the last few months.” CLASSES OPEN The dean said ACES has a “pretty good size” freshman class enrolled this fall and students have a mixed model of remote learning and in-person classes being taught by a world-class faculty. “The opportunities that students have to engage and learn from the best of the best is still here and we’re getting very creative about how we create opportunities for students engaged with the material and can have an experience that connects them with people in their cohort and also with their instructor,” Kidwell noted. When the pandemic hit in the spring, shutting down campus, the dean said there were some good lessons learned. Faculty spent the summer honing their skills and online course development and in-course delivery in a socially distanced space environment. “Our professors have been amazing in how they’ve leaned into some of the workshops and the creativity
they’ve demonstrated in course deliv- operation from people. The ability for us to stay on campus will completely ery,” Kidwell said. be determined by our willingness to maintain safety for ourselves and NEW COVID TESTS Student and staff safety is of utmost safety for those around us,” Kidwell importance as the campus opened this said. “We have a fabulous community of fall, including a new COVID-19 test people at ACES that care about each on campus. “Some of our fabulous scientists af- other and I’m really confident that filiated with the Carle Illinois College we’ll all do our best to create a safe of Medicine developed saliva test. It community for ourselves and our stujust takes a minute or so to get the sam- dents. ple and the results will be back within 24 hours. That really created the pos- WHAT’S NEW The pandemic did not slow down sibility for us to bring people back to campus. Students will be required to the progress of some larger ACES test twice a week. It’ll be convenient projects. The Feed Technology Center is for them to do so,” Kidwell said. A phone app allows students to trace scheduled for completion in October their test results and let them know with a grand opening in the spring. Two new academic programs were if they can enter a building safety or the need to isolate and self-quarantine launched this fall. “The metropolitan food and enviuntil they receive a negative test. “That particular tool is a game- ronmental systems program which changer and I’m proud of our sci- was approved last spring goes live entists for leaning in and making it in the fall and there’s a ton of interhappen. I’m proud of the chancellor est in that program particularly beand the provost and the teams of peo- cause it has an urban ag bent to it ple they’ve created for helping us fig- and there’s a lot of interest in urban ure out how to do return to classroom food systems, especially after some of the issues with the pandemic. We’re in a safe way,” Kidwell added. going to do a huge marketing campaign for that to bring awareness to SAFETY Masks are required on campus it and hopefully draw students to and instructors are wearing shields. ACES through that new major,” KidNumerous actions have been take to well said. “Our animal science and computer provide social distance in classrooms, along with sanitation provided for stu- science major also launched this fall. dents to clean their desks and make We’re big into data analytics and extending those skill sets and expertise sure the space is safe. Procedures are in place for students to our student body.” needing to self-quarantine in dormitories, including food services to allow Tom C. Doran can be reached at 815780-7894 or tdoran@agrinews-pubs. students to eat in their rooms. “We’ve done a lot of things to make com. Follow him on Twitter at: @ it work and what we need know is co- AgNews_Doran.
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