Iroquois County’s rich agricultural history and production is being highlighted by the county board.
The board March 10 approved a resolution in support of Iroquois County agriculture, which was initiated by board member John Zumwalt.
Zumwalt noted that the National Agricultural Statistics Service recently highlighted Iroquois County for its corn and soybean production. According to the NASS, Iroquois County is second in the nation in corn production and is fourth nationally in soybean production.
In 2022 Iroquois County had 309,500 acres planted in corn and 305,000 acres harvested with a yield per acre of 212.4 bushels. The total production for the county was 64,782,000 bushels.
In 2022 Iroquois County had 299,500 acres planted in soybeans and 298,500 acres harvested with a yield of 63.8 bushels. The total production for the county was 19,044,000 bushels.
Zumwalt said after the county board meeting March 10, “It’s good to reaffirm our resolution on Iroquois County because of the census and agriculture has new statistics and also because of the election. We’re on a two-year election cycle, we have so many new board members on the board that may not know of our commitment to agriculture, so we needed to kind of bring them up to speed and let everyone know where we stand and do everything that we can to support agriculture in the county,” he said.
McLean County in Illinois is first in corn production. Illinois leads the US in total soybean production, he said.
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The resolution mentions that Iroquois County has 1,516 farms and agriculture supports 3,658 jobs, which is estimated to be 38 percent of total jobs in the county. Agriculture provides an exempted $308 million in added value, according to the resolution, and farm property provides 38 percent of taxable value and provides services to residents. The resolution also mentions that “Illinois farmers support the food security of our citizens; the international pandemic displayed the importance of American food systems, processing and supply chain weaknesses”.
“New livestock development accounts for additional jobs creating additional economic growth within the county; and …”farmers are dedicated to caring for their animals in ways that also benefit the land; using tools and technology to better manage soil nutrients, water runoff and air quality on the farm, farmers are using fewer natural resources and reducing their carbon footprint while producing more food…”.
“Farmland is a finite resource that is vital to agriculture, food production, and the economic well-being of our county; and …farmers in Illinois face multiple layers of regulation involving state and federal agencies providing a compressive, robust regulatory program for all farms including those raising livestock…and data and information from state regulatory agencies demonstrates environmental issues from agriculture are an extremely rare occurrence….”.
“The county recognizes the value agriculture contributes to our county and the rural way of life is the backbone of our country; efforts should be made to accommodate future success of the rural community. Now, therefore the Iroquois County Board acknowledges and supports agriculture within our county; the jobs crated, taxes generated, technologies embraced and environmental practices implemented by farmers makes agriculture a valuable industry within our county.,’ reads the resolution.
“The County of Iroquois elected board and county staff will work to support and promote the development of agriculture for the benefit of our county and all its residents.”
The resolution was approved by the county board unanimously and will be sent to the Illinois General Assembly, the Speaker of the House, the President of the Senate and to Gov. J.B. Pritzker.
