Farmers Weekly Review

The Will County Farm Bureau Governmental Affairs Committee met on Tuesday, January 21st and was led by Steve Warrick Sr., filling in for the chairs this evening who could not attend the meeting. In attendance were Gordon McCoy, Steve Warrick Sr., Judy Ogalla, Jackson Hogan, George Beutel, Ryan Nugent, Pat McDonald, John Kiefner, Roger Bettenhausen and Mark Schneidewind.

Steve reviewed the annual meeting which is going to be held this Saturday, January 25th with set up on Friday, January 24th. The committee is providing awards to Senator Joyce and Representative Haas. Currently they have 9 elected officials attending. Steve reviewed the legislator meeting they have set for Monday, January 27th and the following are attending: Senators Holmes, Cappel, Joyce, Ellman and Representatives Manley, Alvera, Walsh and Benton. Others can attend and the group reviewed the agenda with 10 priority items we will review with the senators and representatives. Chris Davis will also be able to attend.

The group then discussed the Get Acquainted program with the County Board and County Wide officials that is set for February and they took an additional 15 minutes to surface question ideas. The committee will send invites out next week and will ask them about tour ideas for the summer farm tours. The day and time are approved by the County Executive’s office.

Jackson reported on the meeting they held with the Supervisor of Assessments office on January 17th, and met with Dale and Iris and had a good conversation on the assessment process and dealing with parcels under 10 acres in size. They will have several attend the Governmental Affairs Conference in February. The Rules of the Road is not in Will County this year but being held in Kendall/Grundy which is the closest on March 6th.

Steve passed out a county board contact list and reviewed the adopt a legislator program. Currently we have adopted by another County Senators Hastings, Harris and Cappel and Reps Smith and Alvera. We will reach out to Senators Balkema and Reps Laha and Sheehan to see if they would like to be adopted.

The group discussed Activator trustees and Dan Ward asked to be replaced. Ryan Nugent volunteered to replace Dan for Senator Cappel’s district which also covers Reps Manley and Walsh Jr. The Legislative barn meetings are tentatively set for Dave Kestel’s and possibly Wayne Walz and Steve Warricks for 2025. Allies in Ag was renewed for 2025-26 and they appreciated the County Board doing this. They will invite legislators to the Family Fun Night event again this year. The group then spent 35 minutes on solar and solar arrays, discussed policy, state control vs county control and what we could consider as part of the SUP according to the rules in place. They reviewed the complaints received from the rural area with solar and their representatives and reviewed the 3-page letter we have sent for 19 different solar projects that have filed for a SUP in Will County. Steve passed out a solar project by township and it listed each project and where it was currently and if it was approved, held, denied or pending. This was last updated in October 2024. Judy mentioned she had pushed for this, and Mark said it is extremely helpful.

Steve discussed the farm adventure series, and they will provide what they did for 2024 in 2025. The farmland assessment committee will meet in July, and they then reviewed the nutrients management grant Will County has received and they will be meeting this Thursday to review the possible speakers and projects. Bio-Solids was discussed as well as a new study that needs to be reviewed closer and discussed as a possible topic for a field day.

They will ask Andy from the Forest Preserve if it is time to review the farm leases for any changes. Pat provided an update on North Point and Center Point and the city of Elwood and Joliet’s work. NFI Industries is putting in an over 250,000 sq foot cold storage facility. The group felt it would be a good idea to maybe look at going back for lobby day in Springfield in late March and Jackson will review this and see what can be worked out. They reviewed the Herbicide Strategy workshop being held at our office January 28th from 11 am to noon. The program is being sponsored by Illinois Soybean Association.

Another event coming up is the Anhydrous training which is set for March 19th at 10 am with Mike Corbin doing the training at the Will County Farm Bureau office. Steve reported that they are meeting with a couple of solar people on issues this week. They have a County Road safety meeting on January 23rd which is a virtual meeting, and we have a couple of items we need addressed. Steve then covered 16 other programs being offered through the Will County Farm Bureau over the next 6 months. The meeting adjourned at 8:45 pm.