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The Illinois Corn Growers Association hosted Representative Darin Lahood on Monday February 24. Several IL Corn leaders, including your President Bill Leigh and Committee Chair Marty Marr pictured here met with him. Together, these corn farmers and Congressman Lahood discussed issues impacting corn farmers including USDA reporting, market facilitation program details, trade opportunities after the passage of USMCA and health care. ICGA members indicate that their primary reason for joining the association is for representation in Washington DC and Springfield IL. Your farmer leaders take that task seriously. IL Corn makes a point to meet with elected officials representing Illinois regularly.

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Farmers have an important role to play in one of the most important surveys the USDA conducts each year, says National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) Illinois State Statistician Mark Schleusener. NASS will mail the planting intentions survey questionnaire in February, asking farmers to provide information about the crops they intend to plant in 2020, how many acres they intend to plant, and the amounts of grain stored on their farms. These surveys and the resulting reports can have big impacts on markets and 2020 crop year decisions. For the best, most accurate information, USDA needs good, accurate information back from farmers.

The Navigation and Ecosystem Restoration Program (NESP) received $4.5 million dollars in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 2020 work plan. This funding would allow the expansion and modernization of seven antiquated locks on the Upper Mississippi and Illinois Rivers. The funding also recognizes and protects the ecological importance of these waterways while maintaining efficient trade routes. The locks and dams on the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers are the lifeline of trade for the heart of our nation. The system was built in the 1930’s for a 50-year life span and significantly less amount of barge traffic. Barge tows are also larger today than they were when the system was constructed.

The Illinois Corn Growers Association launched a call to action today, asking farmers to engage in a reregistration process that could cost them up to $30 per acre if they were to lose the right to use atrazine on Illinois fields! The EPA recently published their Preliminary Interim Decision (PID) on atrazine. The PID got a few things right, but still included defective studies, relying on poor science, that can have drastic consequences in future reviews. Next on the list for atrazine will be the Endangered Species Act (ESA) biological evaluation. If we can't correct the science now, its hard to tell what the ESA evaluation will find. Replacing atrazine with any comparable alternative would not be as effective and it could increase your cost of production at a combined expense of $30 per acre!