SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - Farmers and citizens from across the state will be sharing their appreciation for local and sustainably produced foods with lawmakers in Springfield today. They'll convene at the Capitol for the fifth annual Local Food Awareness Day to share ideas about policies that can help support local food and farms.

Wes King, executive director of the Illinois Stewardship Alliance, said many Illinoisans appreciate foods that are locally made and grown, and want to support those businesses.

"Demand from consumers for locally produced food and farm products outstrips the supply easily," he said, "so we're just trying to raise awareness about local food as an economic engine, as a business opportunity."

State and national lawmakers are beginning to understand the importance of local food and farms, King said, adding that he applauded supportive measures - including the 2009 Illinois Local Food, Farms and Jobs Act, the 2011 Cottage Food Law, and a 2012 Senate resolution urging Congress to adopt a farm bill that supports local food systems.

King said Illinoisans are playing an integral role in building successful local food systems. But to move forward, he added, it's time to move "beyond the fork."

"People have been told you can change the food system by 'voting with your fork' in choosing to purchase local and sustainable food, which is absolutely true," he said. "But if we want to get the truly sustainable and just food system that I think most of the American public wants, we really have to get involved with policy."

King said his group is watching some key legislation, including the Farmers' Market Regulatory Modernization Bill, HB 5657 and SB 3380. It would create a simplified statewide process for farmers' markets. Now, he said, each county creates its own regulations, which can be a costly barrier for producers.

"It's hurting both the actual farmers themselves, who have to navigate this patchwork quilt of regulations," King said, "as well as harming the consumers who don't have access to these products because the farmers choose to go to other counties that are less strict."

Another topic in discussions with lawmakers today is the Farmers' Market Transparency Act, which would require vendors to provide customers with more information about the farms where their food is being produced.


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A farm group is helping Iowa agriculture producers find ways to reduce the amount of nitrogen they use on their crops.

Excess nitrates can wind up in ground and surface water, and cause health problems.

Practical Farmers of Iowa is encouraging farmers to find just the right amount of nitrogen they need for their crops - while avoiding applying too much, which the group says is common.

PFI's Field Crops Viability Coordinator - Chelsea Ferrie - said thanks to federal grants and private funding, the group will pay farmers up to $35 for every acre that has a lower than normal yield if they didn't apply enough nitrogen.

"No cost to the farmer, either," said Ferrie. "We're trying to help incentivize them. This is something that farmers want to do - I mean, they want to be good stewards of the land - but also, that they need to have a profitable farm."

The application period for the program is open through the end of April.

To help them reach the right nitrogen balance, Ferrie said PFI will help farmers on the front end of the process, too - so they aren't left guessing how much to apply.

"Talk through what your typical fertilizer plan is, and what your reduction plan would be," said Ferrie. "Then you would implement this year, going into the spring and into the season."

Farmers have relied on nitrogen-based fertilizers for generations - but when applied in excess, nitrates run off into ground and surface water, posing health concerns for animals and people.




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Pesticides are still common in agriculture. Organic producers who avoid them have seen ups and downs in pushing for stronger regulations, and they point to a South Dakota example of the harm associated with widespread use among neighboring farms.

At the heart of the regulatory fight is the application of the weed-killing pesticide dicamba, and how it can drift from one farm to another. Last month, a federal court blocked "over the top" spraying of dicamba products, but the EPA followed with an order to allow the spraying of existing supplies.

Glenn Pulse, co-owner of an organic farm in Vermillion, said a 2017 drift incident had a big impact on his operation.

"Our entire farm was covered. We lost a lot of livestock, and thousands of bees were killed," he explained.

It also resulted in health concerns for his family, having to regain his organic farmer certification, and a legal battle over restitution. Groups such as the National Family Farm Coalition have been fighting what they call the deregulation of these chemicals, arguing the drift and runoff effect has damaged millions of crops.

Dicamba-manufacturing companies deny responsibility, instead blaming farmers who apply it for not following guidelines.

The EPA has said there were already millions of gallons of dicamba in circulation prior to the court's ruling, prompting the agency's order. Pulse feels there are farmers who are careful in spraying chemicals, but he wants stronger enforcement against those he describes as "loose cannons."

"The guys that are not following the labels and they're spraying in weather conditions that are not favorable, that is where, I would say, 90% of the problems are happening with drift incidents," Pulse said.

His calls for better responses to these incidents coincide with policy demands to heavily restrict dicamba products. Meanwhile, Rep. Dusty Johnson, D-South Dakota, is the main sponsor of a bill supporters say would assure uniformity in national pesticide labeling under federal law. But opponents argue it would limit longstanding state and local pesticide safety rules.

Montana farmers have testified before a panel of state lawmakers asking them to protect agricultural data that is collected by precision farming technology - and stored electronically, "in the cloud."

They're looking for changes in how that information is accessed.

At a recent state Economic Affairs Committee meeting, Montana Farmer's Union President Walter Schweitzer said with the increased use of precision ag tools and a huge uptick in data collected and stored remotely, farmers' information needs greater protections.

"We read every day that there's data being hacked," said Schweitzer. "The military has gotten hacked. Banks have been hacked. Hospitals are being hacked."

Schweitzer argued that hackers could use the information to affect prices or direct-market products to farmers based on the information they collect about crops and ag operations.

He said based on farmers' input, the Economic Affairs Committee will work with lawmakers to consider changes during next year's legislative session.

Rather than tighten access, Schweitzer said he thinks ag data should be made more transparent and publicly available.

He explained that this would help avoid the potential for market manipulation by commodities brokers or large countries, such as China, that purchase the crops.

"Let's say the wheat crop, during harvest, it looks like it's going to be lower yields than average or anticipated," said Schweitzer. "So then, China would come in, purchase all the wheat they needed before the USDA announces that, and the price goes up."

Schweitzer said 10% of a farmer's data, which is uploaded in real time during harvest and stored in the cloud, is all it takes for hackers to know a producer's entire harvest.




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