Educate Legislators and Public About Ag

www.agrinews-pubs.com
Tom Doran
2010-05-13

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. — With a wide majority of legislative officials in Illinois from Cook and the collar counties, the need to disseminate agriculture’s message is that much more important.

“It’s very important that we have the outreach with nearly 70 percent of our elected leaders coming from Chicago and the collar counties,” said Chuck Spencer, Growmark director of government affairs.

At the congressional level, Illinois has 19 U.S. House members, 13 of which are from Cook and the surrounding counties.

“If you start thinking of those demographics, we need to make sure that we get our message out not only to rural Illinois, but also the suburban Illinois individuals as well so they understand production systems,” Spencer said.

“When we actually engage members of either the media or citizens in the urban areas of this state and other urban areas of this country, and you start talking about the technology of a combine, how you transfer the laptop into the planter and you have variable rate technology into the production system, they look at you and say they had no idea that agriculture was so advanced.

“I think that’s a compliment, but it also shows how much work we have in front of us to continue the education process.”

Spencer discussed his role in government affairs when Growmark recently hosted its annual Media Day.

The Growmark cooperative provides its members a broad range of services including fuel, fertilizer, crop protection products, and construction.

Those various divisions make it “increasingly important to have a voice in not only those individuals who are shaping the regulations, but also working with the members who are framing and shaping public policy at the state, federal and provincial levels,” Spencer said.

Just as the media informs people of issues and the news of the day, he said, “We’re going to do that in government affairs from the standpoint of informing elected leaders and regulators of what impacts on the cooperative system their proposals will have.”

“Then, in turn, what impacts that could mean at the producer level or the member level,” he said. “That’s critical.”

Prior to his move to Growmark, Spencer worked in a similar capacity at the Illinois Farm Bureau.

“So I understand the producer level and policy development,” he said. “I also understand the relationships that one needs with their elected leaders to convey the proper and appropriate messages of what agriculture is doing today.”

He noted the vast changes occurring in agriculture “right before our eyes and quietly.”

“We’re starting to see volumes and productivity that we talked about 10 years ago,” he said, “and people said, ‘right, that’ll never happen. 240 or 250 bushel an acre average yield in a corn field?’”

Spencer added there also are broad changes in the construction side of the industry, specifically with the advancements in technology and storage size.

Agriculture also has witnessed recent changes in crop protection products and seed technology.

Referring to the recently released eight-trait seed, “We have people in public policy arenas that are scared to death of that advancement,” Spencer said.

“I think it’s very important from our perspective to bring to the table an explanation of what that means not only as a benefit to the environment, but a benefit to agriculture, and what farmers can gain from having the seed technology in place to do that.

“Most importantly, there is the impact we have on a national and global scale dealing with food, hunger and how we can resolve the challenges we have in production of products for an increasingly affluent global community.

“We have those types of increasing economies in China and India where the middle class is growing. Yet we still remain challenged. Over one-half of the world’s population lives on less than $2 a day, and $2 a day is your minimum caloric intake. Over half of that percentage lives on less than $1 per day. We have a tremendous challenge in front of us to remain productive.”

The world population is increasing by 77 million annually, increasing food demand that much more.

“I think we have an obligation to try to meet that challenge the best we can with our technology, coupled with sound management practices, high ethical standards, and a clear understanding and relationship with the environment,” Spencer said.

It is not only important to educate those in the public policy arena, but also extend that education to consumers “to make them more comfortable with the technology that we use and the educational background that we put into practice on a daily basis,” he said.

“In terms of educational background, we have certified crop advisers and specialists that provide up-to-date analysis and advice to the producers in the field.”

“One of the values I’ve found and areas of greater interest to me in coming to Growmark was the purpose in which they approach the management systems of agriculture,” he added.

“Not only do they have the engineering and design standards that go into construction, but there is a tremendous amount of agronomic study that goes into making recommendations for matching the best seed with the soil type, the slope and the conditions that they face in each of the climate regions in Illinois. All of those factors come into play to provide sound and solid recommendations and ultimately achieving a number of objectives.

“We talk about so many of them environmentally, but we also have to have economic returns to be able to not only purchase the new technology to stay abreast with what’s going on, but also make a living and support our family and keep the local economy going. I think that’s going to be very important for us to convey and it is part of what we do.”

Spencer said the general managers of member companies, employees, officers and farmer members of the board have renewed their initiative to better education themselves about how their message can be conveyed to elected officials.

“With our engagement in the regulatory process in making comments, we’re involved with 73 different associations on a state, national and provincial level,” he said.

“When you start thinking about that involvement and the level of professions that we have engaged in each of them, we have a tremendous opportunity if we coordinate our message of providing that type of input into the regulating community as well as the public policy making community and the general consuming public, showing the effort and education and systematic approach we have to crop production.”

While Growmark does not have a political action committee, the relationship with elected leaders remains important. One example is the upcoming gubernatorial races in Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin and also some eastern states served by Growmark.

“It is important that those candidates for governor have thoughtful and sound agriculture platforms within their candidacy for governor,” Spencer said. “It is very important when you look at our economy of the Midwest, that we have a very clear platform recognizing that agriculture business is important to the state of Illinois.”

“We need to continue to have a very strong Illinois Department of Agriculture to work cooperatively not only with our industry but also in areas of market promotion. They have marketing offices in different countries for international opportunities for Illinois producers of agricultural products and agricultural businesses.

“The Illinois Department of Agriculture is a regulatory, overseeing containment programs for fertilizer facilities, it oversees and inspects the sale of seed. It’s important to not only have high-quality production systems, but to also make sure that producers are protected, as well.”


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