ICGA focusing on priority issues

FAIRFIELD, Ill. — It’s been a historic year for the Illinois Corn Growers Association as it celebrated its 50th anniversary this past summer, and the organization continues advocating on behalf of farmers.

Matt Rush, of Fairfield, ICGA vice president who also represents District 13 comprised of Clay, Edwards, Jefferson, Lawrence, Marion, Richland, Wabash, Wayne and White counties, discussed some of the group’s priorities going forward.

Farm Bill

The current farm bill expires at the end of fiscal year 2023, and work has already begun on developing a new farm bill.

“We’ve done farm bill listening sessions and the No. 1 thing that we hear that we definitely want to keep is the crop insurance,” Rush said.

“We’re going to lose some crops from flooding and crop insurance is so vital. We have planted the most expensive crop that we’ve ever planted on our farm and crop insurance is vital for us.”

Atrazine

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has proposed a revision to the atrazine registration that would reduce the concentrated equivalent level of concern from 15 parts per billion set in 2020 down to 3.4 ppb.

The proposed 3.4 ppb level would impact over 65 million acres of corn, sorghum and sugarcane acres and 72% of all U.S. corn acres.

The agency’s proposal also calls for prohibiting applications in saturated fields, limiting annual application rates and requiring growers in watersheds with atrazine levels above 3.4 ppb to choose from a list of practices to mitigate runoff.

“We try to no-till a lot of our farms and one of the important chemicals we need to do that effectively is atrazine. Now there’s a desire to lower the threshold and we encourage our members to call and voice their concern to the EPA that we need that mode of action to control weeds in our crops, specifically corn,” Rush noted.

“We rely upon science a lot for everything else and science tells us 15 parts per billion is the threshold and EPA is now telling us 3.4 parts per billion. We all want to be conscientious of what’s going on. We also want to do thing effectively and as cost-effective as we can.”

Next Generation Fuels

The Next Generation Fuels Act Bill was introduced in the U.S. House last year and recently introduced in the U.S. Senate.

The act would establish a high-octane standard for gasoline and require that sources of additional octane result in at least 40% fewer greenhouse gas emissions. That would allow automakers to significantly improve vehicle fuel efficiency through advanced engine.

“Rep. Cheri Bustos introduced that in the House for us and Sen. Tammy Duckworth was one of the co-sponsors who introduced that in the Senate,” Rush said.

“In working with other states, we now have over 30 co-sponsors. We still have few Illinois representatives that we want to get on the bill. We’re also working with Sen. Dick Durbin to get him on the bill, as well.

“We feel like this is a huge priority for Illinois Corn and we’d like to have 100% co-sponsorship from Illinois. I don’t know if we’ll get there, but we definitely have some work to do.”

Infrastructure

Federal funding was provided in the infrastructure package for upgrading the water transportation system. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will target $829.1 million investment in lock and dam modernization projects along the Upper Mississippi River, including $732 million designated to complete the design and construction of the 83-yearr-old Lock and Dam 25.

“Lock 25 near Winfield, Missouri, on the Mississippi River will be fully funded and hopefully that will allow barges to tow through at 1,200-foot instead of breaking it in half,” Rush said.

“We look at the corn exports, but we also need to look at the imports coming in such as fertilizer, fuel, even products for Chicago like road salt. It’s so important.

“Most of my grain goes to the Ohio River, so I don’t see it firsthand, but it’s a state issue that we need to continue to drive home that we need 1,200-foot locks to keep the barge traffic moving.”