Year of the Farmer Campaign Launches Feb 12 During Football’s Biggest Game

A coalition of Illinois farm associations are joining together to make 2023 the Year of the Farmer with a statewide campaign that launches February 12 during football’s biggest game.

The message? Ninety-six percent of Illinois farms are family owned and operated.

Research tells us that non-farmers would put this number closer to 50 percent. In fact, others in Illinois think that about 47 percent of farms are family owned, with 53 percent being corporately controlled. That’s a statistic that – though untrue – concerns a lot of our neighbors because they aren’t sure they trust the decisions a corporation would make for Illinois’s exceedingly fertile resources.

However, non-farmers do trust families. When consumers believe that farms are family owned, they are significantly more likely to trust farmers in Illinois.

Enter, the Year of the Farmer campaign. Beginning on February 12, people in Illinois won’t be able to miss this important fact: 96 percent of Illinois farms are family owned and operated.

Want to learn more about the campaign? Check out this behind-the-scenes video featuring families that volunteered to be a part of our campaign and their why,