The Farm Post eNews

Friday eNews from the Pike and Scott County Farm Bureaus

AUGUST 26, 2016

IL Supremes squash amendment

On Thursday, the Illinois Supreme Court squashed a voter led initiative to place the Independent Map Amendment on the November ballot citing it was unconstitutional. By a 4-3 vote, the Court sided with a lower court ruling.

Dennis FitzSimons, Chairman of Independent Maps, issued the following statement in response to the Illinois Supreme Court's 4 to 3 decision disqualifying the redistricting reform amendment from the ballot:

The Illinois Supreme Court's ruling is extremely disappointing to all of us - to our bi-partisan coalition, to the more than 563,000 Illinois voters who signed petitions to put this important amendment on the ballot and to the many, many more Illinoisans eager for an opportunity to make the Illinois General Assembly more responsive to all of Illinois.The Supreme Court rules give us the opportunity to seek rehearing and our legal team is weighing that option.

Delegates to the 1969-70 Constitutional Convention created a redistricting process they believed would encourage bipartisan mapmaking. It hasn't worked. The result has been partisan maps, fewer competitive elections and voter dissatisfaction.

Drafters of the Illinois Constitution would not recognize the interpretation made by the Supreme Court majority. According to the majority, voters cannot propose sensible changes to the legislative article that would make a meaningful difference in the way legislative district boundaries are drawn.

In short, the system is broken, and the way this Court interprets the Constitution seems likely to prevent its repair.

Share the Pride

Want to share the many benefits being a member of Farm Bureau with your friends and family? Then have them join this premier organization.

You can join the Pike and Scott county farm bureaus by going on-line and completing a membership application by August 31.

With the many member discounts, you really can't afford not to be a member. Check out the many benefits you get with a Farm Bureau membership at PRIDEPlus.

Atrazine on the block, again

With the Environmental Protection Agency in the early stages of considering whether the herbicide atrazine will continue to be available to farmers, Wisconsin corn, wheat and soybean grower Jim Zimmerman recently told the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee how the herbicide's use allows him and thousands of other farmers to use soil-saving growing practices.

"Applying atrazine to control weeds allows farmers to use conservation tillage, a farming method that leaves the stubble or residue from the previous crop to cover the soil's surface after planting," Zimmerman explained. Conservation tillage reduces soil erosion by as much as 90 percent, he continued. "Without atrazine, farmers would have to use higher quantities of other herbicides that are less effective while increasing tillage and threatening soil health and nutrients."

AFBF has issued an Action Alert on the pending EPA docket related to atrazine and is asking Farm Bureau members to file individual comments before Oct. 4. It is particularly important for farmers to note in their comments the significance of the herbicide to their farms, how it helps control weeds, increase crop yield and, where possible, either saves money or helps increase productivity.

Earlier this year, EPA issued a draft ecological assessment of the herbicide, which is a preliminary step in judging whether the chemical will continue to be available for agricultural producers. The draft assessment, if left unchallenged, would significantly impact continued availability of atrazine by jeopardizing its re-registration.

Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs hearing

Farmer of the Year Contest

AFBF is partnering with the Farmers' Almanac to find three farmers or ranchers to be recognized as "Farmers' Almanac Farmer of the Year." Sarah Brown Dirkes, AFBF's external relations director, explained how ideal candidates will be evaluated for the recognition in a recent Newsline.

"How you're innovative, how you support your community and how you're an inspiration to others and a true leader in agriculture," are key factors, Dirkes said. Nominations must be submitted online by Jan. 31 at Farmer of the Year.

Where do school supplies come from?

As schoolkids across the country load up their backpacks and head back to classroom, the American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture has a new blog post to help teachers show students where popular back-to-school supplies come from. From pencils to crayons to blue jeans, chances are your favorite classroom supplies started on a farm!

AFBFA blog post

TODAY IN HISTORY

AUGUST 26, 1968
1968 DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION BEGINS

As delegates arrived in Chicago the last week of August 1968 for the 35th Democratic National Convention, they found that Mayor Richard J. Daley, second only to President Lyndon B. Johnson in political influence, had lined the avenues leading to the convention center with posters of trilling birds and blooming flowers.

Along with these pleasing pictures, he had ordered new redwood fences installed to screen the squalid lots of the aromatic stockyards adjoining the convention site.

At the International Amphitheatre, conventioneers found that the main doors, modeled after a White House portico, had been bulletproofed.

The hall itself was surrounded by a steel fence topped with barbed wire. Inside the fence, clusters of armed and helmeted police mingled with security guards and dark-suited agents of the Secret Service.

At the apex of the stone gates through which all had to enter was a huge sign bearing the unintentionally ironic words, "HELLO DEMOCRATS! WELCOME TO CHICAGO."

The convention would become four-days of rioting and dissent on the streets of Chicago.

Read more at smithsonianmag.com.

UC Press Story

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