Outdated farm bill among top concerns

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Market development and a new farm bill continue to be among the top priorities for the Illinois Soybean Association.

“One of our main issues is the farm bill and just trying to get it over the finish line,” Tim Scates of Carmi, ISA District 16 director, said during the Illinois State Fair’s Ag Day.

“It’s been eight years and in the past three years they’ve been trying to get something else accomplished. It’s time to get a farm bill. We need that stability with farming, with the products that we’re trying to purchase and some of the prices.”

The farm bill addresses commodities, conservation, trade, nutrition, ag credit, research, forestry, energy, horticulture, crop insurance and other issues.

Commodity prices have seen little change relative to input costs since the last farm bill was made law in 2018. Congress granted one-year extensions in 2024, 2025 and this year.

The average corn price in 2018 was $3.47 per bushel, soybeans averaged $9.15 and wheat was $5.14.

In 2025, corn averaged $4.29 per bushel, soybeans averaged $10.17 and wheat averaged $5.20, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service.

However, crop production expenditures nationwide totaled $181.9 billion in 2018 and grew to $235.3 billion in 2025.

The average total expenditure for a crop farm was $208,026 in 2018 and reached $284,017 last year, based on NASS data.

Farming has also seen a fast-paced change in technology since 2018, including the use of artificial intelligence.

“The new thing with AI and some of that, we need to try to incorporate that somehow, but still try to limit it so that something that you don’t want to happen,” Scates said.

Biodiesel

ISA continues to promote increased use of biodiesel. Illinois is the fourth-largest producer of biodiesel in the nation with an annual production capacity of 192 million gallons.

“We burn biodiesel on our farm, and we use E85. Those are all things that help our bottom line by having a market for that. We need the legislation to back that up and make it easier for our products to go toward that renewable fuel,” Scates said.

Growing Season

Scates farms in White and Gallatin counties in southeastern Illinois with his father, brother, uncles and cousins.

“The growing season on our farm is going real good. We were able to get in and get everything planted early. Guys really worked hard to get it all in early, and that kind of paid off for us,” he said in the Aug. 14 interview.

“We’ve been getting rains, basically when we need them, and when we don’t, we’ve had to supplement it with the irrigation. But, for the most part, we’ve had a real good year, and hopefully we’ll have a real good harvest, too.”

Scates represents Clay, Wayne, Richland, Edwards, Lawrence, Wabash and White counties on the ISA board. He is the Government Relations Committee chair and serves on the Governance Committee.

Scates also serves as a representative for the Waterways Council Inc., the Soy Aquaculture Alliance and the Soy Transportation Coalition.