We've been talking about it for the last year and a half in presentations, meetings and publications, but the Illinois Nutrient Loss Reduction Strategy (Strategy) is now available for review and open for public comment.

 

Now it is time for you to take action to support the Strategy. Illinois Farm Bureau has made it easy by providing you with a link at which you can make comments to the Illinois EPA.

 

PLEASE ACT TODAY...the comment period ends next Friday.

On Monday, Illinois' new governor, Bruce Rauner was sworn into office in Springfield.

 

Out are the directors of the Department of Agriculture and Department of Natural Resources.

 

Nominated to serves as the new directors of those agencies are past Illinois Farm Bureau president, Philip Nelson and current IL Representative Wayne Rosenthal.

Illinois Farm Bureau (IFB) and the University of Illinois plan to provide farmers with the latest farm bill program information during 14 regional meetings starting at the end of January. The closest session will be on Feb. 6 at 1 p.m. at the Crowne Plaza in Springfield.

 

"These meetings are three hours in length and intended to provide producers and landowners with everything they will need to make their important farm bill decisions," said IFB's Doug Yoder, senior director of affiliate and risk management.

 

The sessions also will include demonstrations of online tools farmers can use to determine which option is best for their individual farms.

 

Yoder, along with Gary Schnitkey, U of I professor of agricultural economics, and Jonathan Coppess, U of I assistant professor of agricultural law and policy, will lead the sessions.

 

They are free, but require pre-registration. To register, click here.

Voting delegates at the 96th annual meeting of the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) approved Illinois Farm Bureau's (IFB) policy submittals regarding unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), and the way in which double crop soybeans are treated when farmers file crop insurance claims.

 

In addition to successful policy submittals, IFB President Richard Guebert, Jr., was elected to a two-year term on the AFBF board of directors, representing the Midwest region.

 

IFB Young Leaders also took home national awards, with Sean Arians of Woodford County winning the national Young Farmers and Ranchers discussion meet and Matt and Jenna Kilgus of Livingston County being named runners up in the Young Farmers and Ranchers Achievement Award. Caleb and Kimberly May of Christian County competed for the Young Farmers and Ranchers Excellence in Agriculture award.

 

The AFBF annual meeting took place January 10-13 in San Diego. An estimated 4,500 people from 50 states and Puerto Rico attended, including 355 farmer and rancher delegates who voted on grassroots policies and policy amendments.

 

As a case in point, the farmdoc daily articles on October 14, 2014 and December 18, 2014 illustrate the sensitivity of expected program payments to alternative price projections for 2014/15. Long- term corn price projections are available from several sources, including the USDA's 10-year baseline forecasts. Given the importance of the program participation decision, the accuracy of these long-term forecasts is of obvious relevance.

 

The purpose of this article is to examine the historical accuracy of two sources of long-term forecasts: i) the USDA's 10-year baseline forecasts; and ii) the corn futures market.

 

More at farmdocdaily