Farm policy that impacts our members, their farms, and their families
Our overarching goal is to promote policy that drives corn demand, as demand will ultimately help family farmer profitability.
Our specific priorities are:
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Ethanol policies like clearing up the Renewable Volume Obligation issue and maintaining the Renewable Fuel Standard will ensure the health of the ethanol market.
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Trade policies like new free trade agreements and new investment in international markets will provide new avenues to sell Illinois corn.
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Secure funding for the Navigational Ecosystem Sustainability Program (NESP) which will enable new and upgraded locks and dams along the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers. This relates to our second priority, as adequate infrastructure is needed to ship more corn overseas.
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Preserve a robust and sustainable crop insurance for U.S. farmers to help them manage weather risk. Our members tell us that crop insurance is working to keep them in business.
The confidential crop survey from the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) will be arriving in the mailboxes of Southern farmers soon, and it is very important that recipients take the...
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Trade is becoming increasingly important to corn farmers, since nationally, we export upwards of 20% of our crop if you consider corn in all forms (corn, feed, DDGS, ethanol and livestock) and...
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U.S. Department of Agricultural officials held a press call on Tuesday to provide comment on President Trump’s recently announced $12 billion trade aid package, as it’s come to be known. In his...
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BLOOMINGTON, Ill.— Illinois Corn Growers Association President Aron Carlson, a farmer from Winnebago, Ill., released the following statement regarding the Trump Administration’s announcement of...
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Jonathan Coppess and Scott Irwin from the University of Illinois Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics said it best in the title of their July 12, 2018, farmdoc daily article, so we...
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In a recent interview on CNBC’s SquawkBox, U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue indicated that his Agency is studying the complex situation regarding how the Trump...
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Yesterday, the Senate passed a farm bill with a significantly smaller ordeal than the previous debate in the House. The bill passed as a bipartisan bill, and our number one priority – crop...
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We may just get a farm bill in 2018. Yesterday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a very partisan farm bill that makes minor updates to farm programs, creates a vaccine bank for...
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If you’re a farmer who is interested in farm policy and the changes to the farm bill represented in the version passed out of the Senate Ag Committee last week, here’s an article that you won’t...
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After the failure of the Farm Bill (H.R. 2) on a 198 to 213 vote this past Friday, a motion to reconsider was filed. The House has several days to act on that motion to reconsider, but it’s...
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The House Rules Committee last night decided on the list of amendments that would be allowed for floor debate on the next farm bill. You can find the current farm bill legislation, H.R. 2 –...
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The House Rules Committee met yesterday and approved the first 20 amendments that can be offered during the Farm Bill debate. These 20 were not controversial. The Committee is meeting again...
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House Agriculture Chairman Mike Conaway plans to bring the farm bill to the floor this week, despite a whip count that indicates he doesn’t have enough members to vote for the bill. This farm...
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Although the House Agriculture Committee prides itself on bipartisanship, lines were clearly drawn in the farm bill vote out of committee in April. The vote was 26-20, along party...
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Senator John Thune of South Dakota and Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio released a bipartisan piece of legislation today that would improve the Agriculture Risk Coverage (ARC) program in the next...
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One of agriculture’s priorities, as we help to craft and debate the next farm bill, is to increase the amount of funding for Market Access Programs and Foreign Market Development. These programs...
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Congresswoman Cheri Bustos, a member of the House Agriculture Committee, made statements during the committee’s farm bill hearing this week that confirm her understanding of and support for IL...
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Traditionally heralded as bipartisan legislation, the next farm bill will likely face some partisan politics that former farm bills didn’t experience to the same degree. That said, work on the...
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The House Agriculture Committee released their first draft of the next Farm Bill last week and, most importantly, they did what you asked: the crop insurance title appears intact. According to...
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In a press gaggle held in conjunction with his cabinet meeting today, President Trump indicated that he understands farmers have a lot to lose when it comes to exports. The president specifically...
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