IFB Marketers to meet with key officials
Participants of the Illinois Farm Bureau Marketers to Washington trip this week will meet with key government officials to discuss issues affecting agriculture.
Dan Grant
Published: Aug 7, 2012
The highlight of the trip will be attendance of the USDA lock-up for the release of the August crop report on Friday.
The highly-anticpated report is expected to feature some major corrections as USDA attempts to get a better handle on the size of the drought-parched crops. USDA's previous national yield estimates of 146 bushels per acre for corn and 40.5 bushels for beans are expected to undergo major downward revisions.
"The corn is done," said Ed Gerstenecker, a farmer from Marion County, who is on the Marketers trip. "A lot of (corn) yields in my area will range from zero to 40 bushels."
Eric Helgen, a farmer from Montgomery County, in the past week harvested a few hundred acres of corn. He said the average yield (96.5 bushels) was about half the normal amount (176 bushels) on his farm.
"It should be a very quick harvest," Helgen said. "We're starting to sound like the Cubs - wait 'til next year."
Marketers to Washington will meet with officials from USDA, EPA, the Risk Management Agency, U.S. Grains Council, and the CFTC, among other visits.
Participants of this year's Marketers to Washington trip are Wayne Anderson (Henry County), Greg Boruff (Rock Island), Randy DeSutter (Knox), Jennifer Fecht (Bureau), Gerstenecker, Kati Hagenbuch (LaSalle), David Hankammer (St. Clair), Helgen, John Longley (Mercer), Jonathon Manual (Piatt), Bruce Meier (McHenry), Phillip Montgomery (DeKalb), Karl Spencer (Jasper), Kimberly Taylor (Perry), and Brad Zwilling (Champaign). Doug Yoder, IFB senior director of marketing and affiliate management, is leading the trip.
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