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We may be thinking that the gridlock in Washington, DC is over, but Mary Kay Thatcher, federal government relations senior lead for Syngenta isn’t so sure. “If you look at the 2022 election and the 2024 election, Donald Trump might feel like he’s getting a mandate with republicans in control of all three branches, but if you really look, it isn’t a massive change,” she said. The recent election has the Senate at 53 Republicans and 47 Democrats versus the 2022 election with 49 Republicans and 51 Democrats. The Senate republicans can only lose three votes before they must rely on the other party to get a bill passed, and that’s a very thin margin. The House is similar. “This is the third congress in a row with single digit margins in the House. That hasn’t happened since 1795!” she said. “There’s a lot of people out there that say, ‘The gridlock has ended, the Republicans have a trifecta, we’re set to go.’ But I don’t think the gridlock has ended at all.” Thatcher further illustrated her point with a reminder of the presidential nominations coming from those already elected to the House – Rep. Elisa Stefanik for the ambassador to the United Nations, Rep. Mike Waltz as national security adviser, and Rep. Matt Gaetz for attorney general. All three of these House seats will be replaced by new republican candidates, but running new elections takes time, leaving an even thinner margin for several months. Says Thatcher, “It’s going to be very difficult for Mike Johnson in the first three months of 2025.” Regarding the House Ag Committee, Thatcher shared an analysis of the top U.S. Congressional districts with the most farmers in their district according to the 2022 Ag Census. These top 110 Districts reflect 92 percent of the acres in the U.S. and have only three democrat elected officials in the entire group of 110. The point: democrats in the House Ag Committee are not always there to represent agricultural production, but to protect and enhance nutrition programs. Thatcher feels really good about Senator John Thune of South Dakota being named Majority Leader in the Senate and says that is among the biggest wins for agriculture. “He was asked seven questions at a recent event and on five of the seven questions, he brought up agriculture on his own. This tells you just how supportive he is about agriculture and how much he understands our issues,” she said. There is a little more concern over House and Senate Ag Committee leadership and how much Midwestern ag knowledge they will bring to the table. G.T. Thompson as Chairman of the House Ag Committee will reflect southern ag values, with John Boozman in the Senate doing the same. Ranking member David Scott expects a challenge in the House with Angie Craig and Jim Costa vying for that leadership position. Craig from Minnesota will likely understand midwestern agriculture better than Costa from California. Ranking member of the Senate Ag committee remains Amy Klobuchar from Minnesota, a positive for Midwestern farmers. And then the conversation turned to Presidential nominations. Says Thatcher, “My head is spinning at how fast the President-elect has made cabinet nominations. Look what he has accomplished in two weeks!” Most interesting, Thatcher explains that Senators will be seated on January 3 and the Presidential inauguration won’t take place until January 20; however, some of Trump’s key cabinet appointments like Marco Rubio and Scott Bessent could have time to be confirmed by the Senate by inauguration day, allowing President Trump to “hit the ground running” sooner with some of the really important nominations complete. The recent announcement of Brooke Rollins has Thatcher wondering. She said Washington, D.C. is a small family and she’s not yet met Rollins or even heard of her. She wasn’t ready to issue a judgment about if Rollins would be a positive or negative for Illinois corn farmers, but only hoped that the new Secretary of Ag would be able to withstand the requests from Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., nominee for Secretary of Health and Human Services, and protect and preserve agriculture’s most important programs and needs. Thatcher did think that Kennedy’s nomination could be a bigger worry for livestock producers who rely on the Food and Drug Administration for veterinary medicine approvals. What’s to come? Thatcher believes there are only four things that can be tackled in the next four weeks, which includes only 12-14 session days between the U.S. House and the U.S. Senate. But she also relied on the historical fact that congressional action increases during a lame duck session, especially when the incoming administration is a different party than the outgoing administration. “We have to do something about the twelve appropriations bills that haven’t moved forward. I predict they will combine these somehow … and Speaker Johnson has said that the way forward will be whatever Trump wants,” she said. She believes that Majority Leader Senator Chuck Schumer will move to approve every judge possible in the next four weeks. And that national defense funding for 2025 will move because it is a must. She’s also betting on a weather disaster program, mostly for the hurricanes, fires, and droughts experienced in 2024. She forecasts that agriculture will get some allocations from this bill but cautions that they could hurt our chances for future farm bill allocations and the integrity of the crop insurance program. “We have succeeded in improving crop insurance because we said that a good crop insurance program means that we don’t need ad hoc disaster assistance, yet here we are asking for disaster assistance.” Thatcher – and the IL Corn Executive Director Rodney Weinzierl – both agree that there will be no farm bill in 2024 but are still hopeful for 2025. “This is my ninth farm bill,” she said. “No matter how hard we push each other – we aren’t supposed to write farm bills that reflect current economic conditions, because those conditions won’t continue for the next five years – but we do it anyway. The current economic situation will impact the 2025 farm bill.” Thatcher doesn’t look for a farm bill until at least June or July 2025. “Farmers might be expecting conservation and environmental regulations to lessen in the new administration, but Thatcher cautioned not to overlook the Endangered Species Act (ESA). “Please stay focused on the Endangered Species Act. It is a mind numbing issue because of the complexity and it’s easy to pass off, but this is a death by a thousand cuts,” she said. The EPA is likely to make a decision on the Monarch Butterfly and its ESA status on December 4.

Garrett Hawkins, a farmer from Waterloo, IL, has been elected president of the IL Corn Growers Association (ICGA) for 2024-2025 at their re-organizational meeting, which was held today immediately following the organization’s annual meeting. Hawkins has served on the ICGA board since November 2017, most recently as vice president. He will continue his role as District 14 director for the duration of his term as president, representing corn farmer members in Bond, Clinton, Madison, Monroe, St. Clair, and Washington Counties.

Bloomington, IL – Kris Reynolds, Midwest Director for American Farmland Trust, is the 2024 recipient of the Mike Plumer Environmental Award, named for a University of Illinois Extension Educator and no-till pioneer who died in 2017. Reynolds received the award from the IL Corn Growers Association at their annual meeting on November 26. Since 2017, Reynolds has managed Midwest programs that promote sound farming practices, help keep farmers on the land and protect farmland at American Farmland Trust. Among the sound farming practices are activities that improve water quality, soil health, enhance nutrient efficiency, utilize conservation cropping systems, and combat climate change. “Reynolds has been an advocate for all of the same conservation management practices that we encourage and has facilitated Illinois corn farmers to learn, grow, and adopt practices that will increase soil health, protect clean water, and overall make us better stewards of our natural resources,” said Dave Rylander, President of ICGA and Victoria, IL farmer.

Bloomington, IL – George Obernagel of Waterloo, IL is the recipient of the IL Corn Growers Association’s (ICGA) top award, The World of Corn. ICGA leaders honored Obernagel for his service to Illinois corn farmers at the ICGA Annual Meeting on November 26 at the AgriCenter. The World of Corn Award goes to individuals, organizations, or businesses for making significant contributions to the corn industry. The special award, now in its 35th year, was created to recognize the global importance of corn, and specifically honor individual pacesetters that have made Illinois a leader in the corn industry.

Bloomington, IL – The IL Corn Growers Association (ICGA) recognized Todd Atkinson for his legislative work supporting adoption of on-farm conservation practices during their annual meeting on November 26 at the AgriCenter in Bloomington, IL. Atkinson received the Mike Plumer Environmental Award, named after a former University of Illinois Extension Educator and no-till pioneer who passed away in 2017. Atkinson serves as a policy advisor for U.S. Senator Richard J. Durbin (D-IL), a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee. His tenure on Capitol Hill includes supporting four U.S. senators from Illinois. “It is my honor to present this award to Mr. Atkinson for his work building and generating support for policies that empower conservation adoption on Illinois farms,” said Dave Rylander, ICGA President and farmer from Victoria, IL. “He has grown up on an Illinois farm and understands what it means to own a family farm in the Midwest, and he easily translates that early experience into policies that help farmers in the pursuit of protecting soil, safeguarding water, and cleaning air.” His history of work also includes time in the USDA Farm Service Agency and the Environmental Protection Agency where he served as the EPA representative to Obama’s Biofuels Interagency Working Group. Earlier in his career, he spent time in the Illinois Department of Transportation. Atkinson is a 2012 recipient of the USDA Secretary’s Award and the 2011 FSA Administrator’s Award for reforming the Biomass Crop Assistance Program established in the 2008 Farm Bill. Atkinson has an MBA from the University of Maryland and an undergraduate degree from the University of Illinois in Urbana. A native of Bethany, IL, Atkinson’s family farms in Shelby County, on land first settled by his great-great-great grandfather in 1843. ### About the IL Corn Growers Association IL Corn Growers Association is a state-based organization that represents the interests of corn farmers in Illinois, maintaining a high profile on issues in Washington, DC, and Springfield, IL. Through grassroots advocacy, ICGA creates a future for Illinois farmers in which they can operate freely, responsibly, and successfully. In order to fulfill this mission, the organization conducts governmental affairs activities at all levels, market development projects, and educational and member service programs. For further information regarding their work and involvement, visit their website www.ilcorn.org.

Bloomington, IL – Eric Mosbey, General Manager of LincolnLand Agri-Energy, received the ethanol award from the IL Corn Growers Association (ICGA) at the group’s annual meeting on November 26, 2024, in Bloomington. Mosbey recently served as the President of the Illinois Renewable Fuels Association, providing outstanding leadership for the state’s corn-based ethanol industry.

Champaign, IL – Cade Bushnell received the Randy Stauffer Stewardship Award from the IL Corn Growers Association (ICGA) at their annual meeting on November 26, recognizing his farm conservation work through the Precision Conservation Management (PCM) program. This award recognizes a PCM farmer who embodies the land stewardship ethic and farm conservation leadership that was modeled by the late Randy Stauffer. Special consideration is given to farmers who are on the leading edge of conservation technology, or those who work to share information to other farmers, leaders, and beyond.