Let me repeat the topic I started to write about 3 weeks ago. Are you a friend of agriculture?
I recently participated in the Illinois Farm Bureau Activator program. We were tasked with reviewing local politicians’ voting records to decide if they should receive endorsements and possible campaign contributions in upcoming elections.
Incumbent politicians were judged on two criteria: their voting record as it pertains to legislation that affects agriculture and rural communities and their engagement/ participation with farmers and Farm Bureau members.
Politicians that were selected would receive an award/recognition, as well as local publicity to the fact that they were endorsed in the upcoming election as a “friend of agriculture.”
I will abstain from making any personal political endorsements from this platform, but I would encourage you to seek out who the recipients were. If your local state senator or representative received this award, you might want to consider this criterion in your decision.
If supporting politicians that are friends of agriculture is not your cup of tea, so to speak, there are other ways you can support agriculture. Please do not trespass with off-road vehicles in our fields or ride your horses through our crops. Seek permission before hunting or fishing on our land. Help keep litter out of the fields by securing your garbage before pickup, and please do not be the inconsiderate drivers that seem to treat our rural roads as the garbage dump.
There is another issue that I am not sure what the answer to is. The rural roads in southern Will County are no longer rural. Motorists, with the help of GPS navigation, traverse the backroads at will. The interface of farm equipment traveling under 20 mph and commuter traffic that sometimes appears to be attempting to break the sound barrier do not mix well.
About 20 years ago I was told a story about a farmer on Route 59 north of Plainfield. He decided it was time to finally sell the farm for development because the road was so busy it was practically impossible to ever find a gap in traffic to pull out of the farm. I wonder how much longer it will be until that happens in my area. I have a farm on a busy north/south county highway that I have had to wait so long I have considered purposely cutting vehicles off if I ever want to leave the field during the evening rush hour.
I suppose if it comes to that I will be the recipient of some horn honking and one finger salutes. Those motorists would probably not be a friend of agriculture at that particular moment.
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