“Adopted” Legislator Farm Tours

After a great visit to her Chicago District in July, farmers from Clinton and Marion Counties had the opportunity to return the hospitality by hosting their “Adopted” legislator (State Representative Eva-Dina Delgado) for several farm tours in October.

The day started with an outstanding tour and discussion of how technology is incorporated into the dairy industry at Meyer VMS Dairy near Breese.  The Meyer family welcomed Representative Delgado to the farm to showcase how robots have been used for the past ten years to milk the farm’s 200+ cow herd.  Paul Meyer also covered their approach to regenerative agriculture by utilizing cover crops, the nutrients from the farm’s manure production, and technology.

After a picnic-style lunch overlooking the Meyer family farm’s newest addition (a pumpkin patch), Representative Delgado had an opportunity to ride along with Henrichs Farms as they harvested corn nearby.  Rep. Delgado rode a few rounds in the combine for some discussion with Bryan Henrichs, before switching equipment to the tractor and auger cart to unload on the go and dump in the waiting semi.

The tour then made a stop at Main Steet Pastures, where hosts Chad and Jill Vonderhaar provide direct-to-consumer products of pork, beef, lamb, poultry, and eggs.  The Vonderhaars talked about their growing business and even provided a fun wagon-ride tour of their farm.  Rep. Delgado even left with a nice gift bag full of products from Main Street Pastures, Sugar Creek Valley Farms, Prairie Farms, and even a couple bottles of Ski.

The final stop of the day included a trip into Marion County for another combine ride… this time to harvest soybeans with Headley Farms of rural Alma.  Rep. Delgado spent a few minutes touring the on-farm grain storage facilities and beef cattle herd, before riding back to the field in the semi with Andy Headley.  Rep. Delgado again had the opportunity to witness the fusion of technology in modern agriculture by riding along for conversation with Win Headley as the combine guided itself within sub-inch GPS accuracy for a few rounds 40-feet wide at a time.

The tour wrapped up with an early dinner back at Headley Farms’ shop, before sending Rep. Delgado on her way back toward Springfield for the week’s upcoming legislative session.  Both the Clinton and Marion County Farm Bureaus sincerely appreciate State Representative Eva-Dina Delgado taking time out of her schedule to spend the day with us learning more about agriculture!  We look forward to continuing to foster our relationship and valuable exchange of information.

About the Adopt-A-Legislator Program – Illinois Farm Bureau developed its Adopt-A-Legislator® program in 2001 with the purpose of building long-term personal relationships between urban state legislators and farmers from across the state.  The goal of the program is to educate urban legislators about agriculture – our state’s largest industry – and rural life, while also helping our members better understand the needs and concerns of an urban district.

Additional photos from the visit can be found on the Clinton County Farm Bureau’s Facebook page