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Oct. 27, 2016
2016 Logan County Fall Farm Outlook Magazine
Lincoln Daily News
volume increase of more than 200 percent over the
past year.
Barcal said there is not enough corn being grown
organically in the U.S., though it has great market
potential. She had a buyer contact her looking for
Illinois-grown, non-GMO corn, and she assured him,
there was none to be found.
Barcal says this is a concern that needs to be
addressed locally in conversations farmer-to-farmer, to
encourage greater production of non-GMO products.
Director of impact for Iroquois Valley Farms, John
Steven Bianucci, explains how their sustainable
agriculture farming system started as a single family
farm, but has grown to more than 30 farms in eight
states.
Bianucci said the goal is to assist farmers during
the transition years from conventional to organic
production. The firm also works with young farmers
and prospective farmers in assisting them to gain
access to farm ground. They also work with at risk
farms to help them regain their financial stability, to
become self-sufficient and profitable through a buy
and sell back program.
In this program, Bianucci said Iroquois Valley would
purchase a farm, and lease it back to the farmer for
seven years. At the end of that time, the producer
has the option to buy back the farm land, or they
can continue with the lease program. The farm
in question would be transitioned to an organic
and environmentally aware farm, and work within
the vision of Iroquois Valley to offer safe, healthy
alternatives to conventional food production.
Bianucci said that the firm works with grain crops,
alternative crops, dairy and other livestock, as well as
vegetable farms.
What ever your choice in farming practice, Rebecca
Huston of the Illinois State Treasurer’s Office says that
they know that operating cash is difficult to come by
some years. There is a loan guarantee program offered
by the Illinois State Treasurer’s Office, AgInvest, that
works through local banks to help secure loans and
operating cash for area farmers.
While AgInvest has been around for a while,
improvements now allow farmers to secure larger
loans for longer periods of time and it now offers fixed
interest rates.
AgInvest is a subsidy program with interest rates that
make the borrowing more affordable for the producer.
The long list of items that the state will permit in this
program include money for crops, livestock, buildings
or infrastructure and refinancing of debt.
Huston notes that right now, many people don’t know
about this program, including the bankers.
Bill Davison – University of Illinois – The Grand
Prairie Grain Guild
Davison founded the Grand Prairie Grain Guild,
which is now in its second year. He said the mission
of the Guild was to build regional grain markets with
value-added grains. The goal is to use the crops
that are already being produced in scale, and being
transported to Chicago and other market locations as
the infrastructure for transporting other products.
As that system is established, the Grain Guild will
add fruits and vegetables, making it easier and more
affordable to ship Illinois-grown products to the
locations where the demand exists. He said organic
or not, if a farmer is going to produce in a low input
system, different crops need to exist than what we
have today, including corn, soybeans, other legumes,
and other grains such as buckwheat.
Some of the research being done includes working
with crops not typically found in Illinois. Such
products include a variety of wheat, even buckwheat,
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