Farmers Weekly Review

By Mark Schneidewind

As I sit down to write this column, I can remember like it was yesterday interviewing for the Will County Farm Bureau Manager position in August of 1991.

Jim Robbins was President, Dan Ward was Vice President, Larry Walsh Treasurer and Mike Quigley Secretary.  Also on the Farm Bureau board were Chuck Weber, Bob Fitzer, Glenn Fritz, John Kestel, Bill Krapf, Glenn Ginder, Franklin Unruh and John Meyer Jr.

I had previous manager experience working in the training program from January 1985 to August 1985, and then getting hired by the Carroll County Farm Bureau, where I managed there until March 1988. Then I moved to Rock Island County Farm Bureau to become their manager, where I was there until September of 1991, as we moved into Will County September 12 of 1991, my birthday.

My Regional Manager who advised me was Mark Frels, and he was a super nice person who knew the Farm Bureau forward and backward. Mark had a unique way of motivating people, and I can remember when the job posting came up for Rock Island Farm Bureau. I had passed on that, but received a call from Mark Frels asking me to consider the position and the rest is history as I climbed the ladder within the Farm Bureau system.

I joked early on I could not hold a job very long, with my several moves in the early stages of my Farm Bureau career.

One of the blessings I always had working for me was Anita, as she was always ready to pitch in, help, volunteer and serve on committees; she continued to do that once we were in Will County while pursuing her dental hygiene career.

Our son Michael made three moves with no problems, as he adjusted well to each community.  Will County had a very active group, and many on committees who said we were part of their family, which made the transition easier.

I was replacing a legend in Robert Muehling, as he was within the Farm Bureau system for over 35 years, managing here for 18 of those years.  My mom always taught me to look on the bright side of things, and I did here as well, as my focus was not trying to rebuild anything but expand upon what Bob had started.

Local government work and working with legislators was something I enjoyed. While that seems weird, Will County had many legislators, and I learned it was not a burden to work with so many, but it was an opportunity to talk more to carry our message to their colleagues.

I just focused on leaving my own footprint and developing relationships that would last.  Again, my mom taught me to treat making friends and making relationships like a bank investment.  Invest in the time you spend developing each new relationship earns their trust and, like a bank investment, you will reap the rewards years later.

I believe she was totally correct and something I have lived by for my entire career as a Farm Bureau employee.

Great support

What allowed me to go out and start developing these relationships was an office staff that was second to none and all dedicated to getting the job done.

Debbie Werner, Connie Meyer and Marie Strel were here when I started, and then Mona Caldwell became part of our team. When she left, Terri Cooke did a wonderful job and Sharon Zolner came into the Farm Bureau family replacing Connie Meyer.

We had some short-term workers as well, and Linda Barten became part of the team, helping with special events and the store, which we started to provide members with discount opportunities. The store grew faster than we anticipated, but became a service of Will County Farm Bureau.

When Debbie retired, Sharon moved to bookkeeping, and then Sue Pennington was here. When Terri left for another opportunity Tracey Rosin joined our family, and Linda Mathews replaced Sue when she retired.

So, looking at a 34-year career here, I had little human resources work, because the staff enjoyed working with you, the membership.

I also thank Pat Cleary, who was the owner and chief editor of the Farmers Weekly Review. I worked with Pat closely over the years, and after Pat passed away, his son Mike Cleary and now chief editor Nick Reiher have worked with us.  We have had a special tool of communication that has been afforded to us that no other county has had a weekly publication for over 100 years.

Also, John Kiefner provided his carpentry skills for us at the fair, displays and the 100^th anniversary. John also decided on writing a column for many years now which has allowed me to focus on other subjects.

We all know how bashful John has been, and I thank him, along with Dave Kestel, Jim Robbins, George Beutel, John Andermann, Floyd Schultz, Bob Fitzpatrick, Bob Bleuer, and Tom Nugent for being our media go-to people. Whenever I was faced with needing someone here, I could rely on them to cover it.

Another chief carpenter we utilized was Glenn Fritz, who provided some masterpieces, and he developed and made over 15 games for us to use, aided by Debbie Werner, Patti Nugent and Steve Ashby with their incredible art skills.  Also, the Debbie Foster family for doing all the face painting for us over the years; involving her entire family!

The first Young Farmer chairman I worked with here in Will County was Al Beseke, and he stayed on an extra year as chair to help me with the transition.  Will County has had one of the strongest Young Farmers Committees, now called Young Leaders in the state. They have been at the top on programing for more than 50 years!

Don Mulderink was the master welder for the crew, and he designed the pedal pull trailer, helped with the sled work and made some fantastic fair cages we still use today! Patti Nugent painted and designed several of the fair displays; Debbie Werner and Glenn Frittz made many of the picture displays, and he made the wood milk cow as well. Joan Meier made repairs to the wood cow over the years, as well as making several of our fair games.

Honoring the Vets

When we were asked to work with Operation Care Package to help get phone cards to our troops overseas, we were honored. We jumped into this with the help from the Women’s Committee, and Jim and Norma Meader and worked closely with Debbie Smothers Bennett.

Times changed, and phone cards were not needed after about 8 years, and this was when John Kestel and Debbie Smothers asked us 13 years back to help with Wreaths Across America. There was nothing to think about, the answer was yes, as I already knew that our board would back this 100%.

We started off with just maybe 150-200 boxes of wreaths, and this grew to our all-time high, which was 2023 when we surpassed 37,000 wreaths.  This year was also a good year with almost 25,200 wreaths, but with all the disasters, hurricanes, fires and other issues, money was tighter as many needed assistance.

We have had some great times with Wreaths Across America, and the time we spent doing this program was a true honor.  John Kestel turned his duties over to Dave Kestel, and we laughed so many times unloading semis that we cried at his stories and many others.

This was one of the most humbling experiences I have been a part of and a true honor to be asked back each year. Thank you to the 308 different Farm Bureau volunteers that have taken part in this celebration of our freedoms here in the United States of America!  God Bless all our men and women who have protected our freedoms!

This is just a small thank you from us, as Dave has so elegantly said over the years.  I can remember fielding questions as to why are we involved with these, as it is not farming. We said many of our Farm Bureau members are in the service or have members of their family serving, and it is a way to say thank you to these people who have given the sacrifice to protect our freedoms. Really the question should be why didn’t we start this sooner.

We also provided videos from the air, thanks to Matt Boucher. We have had guests such as Max Armstrong and Rambling Ray join us along with RFD Radio, Illinois Agri News, and the videos had over 1 million views the one year!  This was a true honor to be part of, and I thank the Will County Farm Bureau for this opportunity!

No shortage of issues

Someone asked me just the other day what were some of the most important issues we helped with to make Will County stronger.

I believe our pipeline work with members was important, because we had 37 projects within Will County since I started here, and we were able to set up assistance for members, holding many landowner meetings and Jerry Quick and Danny Leifel from the Illinois Farm Bureau state’s legal division. They were in Will County so often, we almost set up a permanent office for them here in Will County.

The new 911 board and PCAPs was a struggle; one we did not win in the early stages, but it was changed, and the number was reduced from 28 to four, and we were seeking 1 to 2 dispatch centers.

One thing that we always need to remember is the Farm Bureau volunteers and board of directors set their agendas with priorities which for 32 years gave me direction on how to move forward.

So not going into long details, but here are some of the programs that positioned us, thanks to volunteer leadership. Of course, we have worked against the airport ever since I arrived here, and it was being fought before we arrived; the same goes for Illiana proposal as well!

Adopting Kathy and Judy from WGN Radio, our Women’s Committee did a wonderful job with this, our close work with commodity groups such as Illinois Corn and Soybean Associations, Farm Service and Country Financial, Ag in the Classroom Science Fair with the assistance of JJC and long-term mentor and friend Bill Johnson, helping the young farmers work on the state projects to gain recognition and encouraging them serving on the state Young Farmers Committee.

We had many people in leadership roles before I was here, including Gordon McCoy and George Beutel, and while I was here, Rodger Koehn, Jeff Haas, Greg Fritz and Ryan Nugent. The Young Farmers offered a used oil collection, and I would come home so dirty, I needed to take three showers to get clean.

The used tire collection – now handled by the Will County Land Use Department – was first held with the ILEPA with over 30,000 tires collected.  I also have a huge thank you to the Land Use Department staff: David Dubois and Brian Radner, who have been in the trenches with me for years; highway department engineers Sheldon Latz, Bruce Gould and Jeff Ronaldson, who have worked with me for many years and I probably gave them a little heartburn over the years with the many phone calls.

Mary Ann Ward was the first woman to serve on the board. She was such a fun and loving person, and the county named an award after she passed away.

Government Partners

We started a legislative barn meeting series in 1999, which is still in place today, offering an opportunity to discuss the critical ag issues. We also took one to two trips to Springfield as a group to lobby and meet with legislators in the State Capitol. This continued until COVID hit, so we now have a legislative luncheon in Will County each January.

When the Ty-Walk Grain elevator failure occurred, we turned to help from then state Sen. Larry Walsh Sr., the Ag Committee Chairman, as well as the person who authored the grain code, Jerry Quick. They helped draft a comprehensive rewrite of the grain code, with over 25 local meetings with local landowners and IDOA.

Of late, solar arrays have become the local push, and I thank the Land Use staff, County Board members, and our lead person in solar was Judy Ogalla, who was the force in protecting local landowners.  We attended several conferences and many meetings together, developing solar ordinance ideas and policies that could work. The state’s mandated push for solar was something that left us little power to fight, but we kept up the push for property rights, and Judy was our strongest supporter and we thank her for that!

Along with former Sheriff Paul Kaupas, we started a massive crack down on field trespassing and helped with the Heritage Tractor Adventure.  Phone Cards for Troops and our work with Operation Care Package and then the Wreaths Across America efforts were all something that has humbled us as an organization as a way of saying thank you to our veterans and active service men and women.

Our Presidents

One of the toughest times we had in Will County was when I received the phone call that Glenn Ginder passed away in 2020, sending shock waves that sent through our organization!  It brings tears to my eyes thinking about that day, which leaves me to thank all the Presidents I served under in my tenure here: Jim Robbins, Glenn Fritz, Jerry Davidson, Rodger Koehn, Henry Meader, Tom Nugent, Glenn Ginder and Steve Warrick Sr.

All these individuals put in many hours and were super dedicated to moving this organization forward, and I thank them for that.  They are what has made this organization strong, with the help of all the volunteers that have served and provided directions over the years!

When you work with someone like the President so closely, you develop a bond and close friendship, and these eight Presidents all had unique and fantastic leadership abilities that they displayed throughout the state.  What I loved the most was how colorful they all were, with some being extremely colorful at times which has helped develop this organization!  You can look to these 8 people as the key to Will County’s success!!

One thing I was able to brush up and learn a lot more about was cooking the perfect pork chop. Tom and Gordon McCoy taught me the secrets, and these two probably cooked well over 500,000 pork chops for us over the years. Their talents were not limited to pork chops, as we had rib eyes, corn on the cob, hot dogs, burgers, huge pieces of chicken, and bacon and eggs. One of the highlights was cooking catfish and tilapia for events to show the specialty end of agriculture.

I also want to thank my right-hand man, Bob Jankowski, as we were in the trenches together for over 30 years, fighting for conservation, field tiles, drainage etc. Bob’s help was second to none, and we learned early on that we could accomplish more working together than just trying to do things on our own.

Another great partner was Nancy Kuhajda, who worked with us on every Ag in the Classroom program we have done, and she has spoken on so many issues. People say Anita and Mark have a beautiful yard; that is because we listened to this expert, and she has a vision and idea that will work anywhere and anytime!  Thank you, Nancy, for the partnership!

The Foundation has grown a lot, thanks to hard-working members of that board. When I arrived, we were handing out three, $500 scholarships; today, they are giving out 54, $2,000 scholarships!  The leadership of the original six members who got this started in 1986 needs to be thanked and commended:  Glenn Fritz, Jim Robbins, Jerry Davidson, Harvey Lewis, Helen Harshbarger and Bill Glasscock, under the management of Bob Muehling. Current Chairman Lyle Tewes has been great to work with and is always open for ideas!

I truly believe one program that has helped develop strong working relationships with media and elected officials were the combine rides and plantings. We have had over 1,000 elected officials participate in since we started this in 1999.

Another special project was the Ag Olympics for 4H Clubs sponsored by the Young Farmers, the 100th anniversary which was a fantastic showing of over 450 people attending, the tornado clean-ups and the involvement by Farm Bureau leaders, drought meetings and work with the USDA in 2012, the Will County Bee Association starting in 2011, formulating the new farm bill by hosting U.S. Senator Harkin in 2008, the Ag Expo for 4th grade students with about a hundred thousand going through this program, with the latest program the Harvest Dinner starting in 2021.

We had originally set the first program for the year 2020, but COVID pushed us back a year.  This program allows health professionals and teachers learn more about farming practices and links them to local foods.

I could go on, but I am stopping here and thanking the members of Will County for all your help, support and trust that you have given to us over the years to work on your behalf, and to ask us to help solve your challenges. This County has not had a shortage of challenges!

The goal for Anita and me was to work here and retire here, and we made that happen. We wanted to leave the county in better shape than when we arrived, and while we worked hard for this to happen, we will let you decide if we were able to accomplish this.

Anita has been with me every step of the way and has been my solid rock that I have relied on.  We met for the first time when her brother Tom brought me to their house after we were rained out of bailing hay on the farm. It is his fault we have been together for over 47 years, which includes dating.

I apologize if I left anyone out, as I could have gone on for another four pages!  Thank you all, and I know your new manager, Jackson Hogan, will do a great job for you!

Thank you, and we will be back in Will County, but will be moving back to the home farm in southern Illinois.

Mark Schneidewind is Will County Farm Bureau Manager. He will retire February 3, 2025.