Corn & Soybean Growers Meet
The Corn and Soybean Growers held their joint meeting on Wednesday, March 6th with the following members present: Wayne Walz, Jim Robbins, Dale Kestel, Al Beseke, Dave Kestel, Gordon McCoy, Jeff Haas, George Beutel, Mike Newbrough and Mark Schneidewind, Farm Bureau manager.
Dave reconfirmed with the group that harvest dinner was taking 1 year off from this program and that all our vendors and hosts were notified of this. They all thanked us for letting them know early on so they can adjust plans accordingly.
Jeff reported on the corn and soybean annual meeting/dinner and Jim indicated he liked the guest speaker as she gave a lot of food for thought. Britt was happy we invited her and said she would love to come back to compare what she said and how the markets reacted.
The group spent 30 minutes reviewing the upcoming Ag Expo and finalized their work schedule for the 4 days. The event will be held at the JJC Ag Education Facility Wietendorf facility on March 11-14 with over 760 students coming.
Jim provided an update on the Illinois Corn Mktg. board and they were a main reason why we gained approval for the use of E-15 year-round in Illinois. They talked about the PAC program the state held and Mark indicated Illinois Soy had their lobby day last week with it being a packed house.
Dave reported on the truck regulations meeting last week and it was good. They discussed the backhoe question as Mark had received an answer. Dave said to Save the Date for the young farmers golf outing set for Friday, July 26th. They discussed the summer elected official farm tour which is part of the adventure series, and they will shoot for either Aug 9 or Aug 16 for the tour and will work on securing locations over the next 2 months.
The last pesticide applicators testing program is set for March 28th at the office and if you need the link to register Mark can send it to you. Also, there is a fee for the study and allow 1 week for delivery. The Tractors for a Cure Cash Bash is this weekend for St. Jude Childrens Hospital and is sold out. Dave indicated the 4H dinner for April is cancelled due to not enough help.
Jim reported on the nutrient management program set up for March 27th at the atrium with lunch provided and encouraged people to attend. Tips for pruning, pinching and handling backyard wildlife will be held April 7th and there is room for just 20 more people. The women’s painting program is full. Dave said the flags program at the veteran’s cemetery will be May 24th and you will need to arrive by 9 am if you want to get parking. Family Fun Night is set for July 11th, and they will work on that at the next meeting.
Dave asked the group the mark the calendars for the 2 legislator barn meetings set for July 29th at his farm and August 1st at the Warrick Fam. They then discussed HB5050 which was a concern providing power to county executive and chairs to eliminate road districts and drainage districts. Mark indicated IFB has concerns but are seeking to place a referendum into the language that way the local voters can make that decision as it is too much power to provide to one area. If this cannot be done, they will oppose it. They also talked about the emission bill which we opposed as well as the water access bill. George asked what changes were made from last year and Mark said they are only looking at the DuPage River however they still take the private property rights away without compensation and we are opposing based on over 200 years of constitutional law which were just upheld in the Illinois Supreme Court last year on a similar attempt only this took an individual farmer to court and while it was in Grundy County we opposed this and sent letters as well. They discussed several other pieces of legislation.
They adjourned the meeting at 8:20 pm with the next meeting scheduled for June 25th at 7:30 pm.