Illinois farmers facing legislative concerns

Illinois farmers facing legislative concerns

Members of the Illinois ag community have some legislative concerns about the state’s top industry.

Farm Bureau president and Ogle County farmer Brian Duncan tells Brownfield they’re watching several proposals closely…

“Illinois adopting California emission standards; allowing municipalities to reach out and place restrictions on crop protection products is one we’re going to be talking about,” he says, “cage free eggs; and animal housing. Certainly, we don’t want to go down the California prop 12 road.”

Kane County farmer Steve Pitstick, past president of the Illinois Soybean Association, says bills targeting herbicides and pesticides are especially concerning…

“Most everything that we use has been vetted out by the EPA, FDA, things like that.”  He says, “They’re approved practices that we do and now we’ve got a lot of people coming in and trying to ban those, but they’re all part of the system that we use to produce a viable crop every year.”

Farmers took their concerns directly to lawmakers during this week’s Illinois Agriculture Legislative Day at the state capitol.