BY TAMMIE SLOUP
About thirty Illinois Farm Bureau members and staff are in Washington, D.C. this week to advocate for agriculture issues.
The visit is part of IFB’s Leaders to Washington program, which will include meetings with members of Illinois’ congressional delegation, staff at federal agencies and industry representatives on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Members will engage lawmakers on issues including the farm bill, trade, sustainable aviation fuel and the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, among other topics.
“The trip gives our members the opportunity to share their stories and perspectives on legislation and rules impacting their daily lives and their livelihood,” said Ryan Whitehouse, IFB director of national legislation. “It’s important for the elected officials and agencies to hear directly from our farmers and their constituents. Our farmers are the ones voting to send them to Congress and they should be heard.”
The group traveling to Washington, D.C. is larger than in recent years.
“I’m excited to have a larger-than-normal group flying to D.C. to push for Illinois Farm Bureau priorities,” Whitehouse said. “The group includes farmers from across the state and represents different aspects of agriculture and age. I think it’s good for Congress to see Illinois Farm Bureau membership is diverse.”
More than 20 members will participate, including: Gary Asay, Henry County; John Bartman, McHenry; Grant Bend, DeKalb; Michael Bernhard, Kendall-Grundy; Rebecca Biernacki, Cook; Dustin Brinkman, Monroe; Robert Gerstenecker, Clinton; Alison Gibbs, Woodford; Carl Goebel, Christian; Leeson Gord, DeKalb; Scott Groennert, Washington; Adam Henkel, Lee; Blair Hoerbert, Logan; Matthew Kunken, Menard; Wayne Linker, Washington; Mark Litteken, Clinton; Lindsey McKinzie, Edwards; Randall Milliman, Jasper; Tim Poletti, Madison; Jennifer Sauer-Schmidgall, Pike-Scott; Bradley Smith, Carroll; and Mark Tuttle, DeKalb.
Watch FarmWeek and FarmWeekNow.com for coverage of the trip.
Content for this story was provided by FarmWeekNow.com.