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Goals Follow Upon the Non-Profit Advocacy Group's Recent Successes
Illinois Stewardship Alliance — the state's leading public policy advocate for local food and farmers — has released its agenda of priorities to pursue during the Illinois Legislature's 2025 session.
The following issues lineup from the Alliance was voted upon and approved at the organization's virtual annual meeting Tuesday (December 10), which was attended by more than 100 of the Alliance's members. [Note: I am a member of Illinois Stewardship Alliance and voted to approve the agenda.]
Primary Issues:
Staff and members commit significant resources and capacity to primary issues and the campaigns are estimated to take one to two years.
Continued $2 million in funding for the Local Food Infrastructure Grant (LFIG): The Local Food Infrastructure Grant program is a matching grant program, administered by the [Illinois] Department of Agriculture to help farmers, food businesses, livestock processors, cooperatives and local governments in purchasing equipment for processing, milling, refrigeration, trucking, food hubs, community kitchens and other infrastructure needed to scale up local food production and supply chains to meet the needs of Illinois communities. This program has been a primary issue of our Local Food Farmer Caucus for the past two years, but continued advocacy is needed to secure funding as a permanent part of the budget. (factsheet)
Restore Soil & Water Conservation Districts Funding SB 3964 | HB5876: In the 2024 State Budget, funding for Soil and Water Conservation Districts (SWCDs) was slashed in half, undercutting the ability of county SWCDs to provide critical conservation services and technical assistance to farmers to keep waterways clean and build climate resilience. SB3964 and HB5876 are identical bills introduced seeking to restore SWCD budget to $8.5 million. While protecting SWCD funding has been a priority of our Soil Health Caucus for several years, the drastic budget cuts have raised this urgency and need for this to become a primary issue. (factsheet)
Pass a Statewide Good Food Purchasing Policy (GFPP): Changes Illinois procurement code to encourage values-based procurement and increase transparency in the procurement process so that more state taxpayer dollars are awarded to contracts with Illinois farmers and businesses that are working to implement local, fair, healthy, humane, and sustainable practices. (Factsheet)
On-Farm Poultry Processing Exemption: Amends the Illinois Meat and Poultry Inspection Act to better match USDA's and neighboring states’ on-farm exemptions for poultry producers. Illinois limits exempt processed poultry sales to on-farm and 5,000 head. In Illinois, all sales must be direct-to-consumer. USDA allows up to 20,000 head per year and sales can happen at farmers markets, wholesale, etc. (factsheet)
Illinois Natural Resources and Agricultural Legacy Act: Provide a state incentive for private property owners in Illinois to voluntarily conserve natural areas and farmland that are at risk of conversion to development while enhancing the utilization of federal, local, and private funds to benefit Illinois’s farmland and natural areas (Factsheet)
Secondary Issues:
Staff and members commit significant resources and capacity to secondary issues, but capacity does not supersede the primary issues and the campaigns are estimated to take one to two years.
Improvements to the Illinois Grocery Initiative Grants: Independent and cooperative grocery stores buy from local farms and often help communities in food deserts gain access to fresh food, but many are struggling. The Illinois Grocery Initiative Grants have been incredibly helpful in supporting these stores, but we’ve heard from grocers that a few small legislative changes to this program could make a big impact — such as removing or providing more technical assistance to overcome the Grant Accountability and Transparency Act (GATA) requirements, and making technology, such as new point-of-sale (POS) systems, an eligible expense under the grant. Often stores cannot participate in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and other similar food insecurity initiatives without upgraded POS and Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) technologies. (Factsheet)
Soil Health Week Act: An Act dedicating a celebration to occur annually on the first week of March as Soil Health Week and the Wednesday of that week as Soil Health Day. This Act creates a week-long celebration to raise awareness of the importance of soil health. (Factsheet)
Multi-Year:
Staff and members commit resources and capacity to multi-year issues, with the expectation that these campaigns take significantly more time, from two to four years or more.
Dedicated, long-term source of Conservation Funding for NLRS implementation: Current projections for the bill concept revolve around the idea of a dedicated funding stream for conservation programs that support farmers, the state's Partners for Conservation Program, and Illinois’ Soil Water Conservation Districts, instead of going back to the legislature year after year requesting funding.
Equity legislation, introduced by Rep. Sonya Harper, chair of the state House Agriculture Committee: Farmer Restoration Act and Socially Disadvantaged Farmer Grants (factsheet)
Livestock Management Facilities Act (LMFA): We anticipate that Illinois Environmental Council will introduce some reform to the LMFA to address the impacts of Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs), including local control of siting, setback distances, increased transparency in record-keeping and waste management plans, agronomic rates for manure application, and possibly more. When the draft legislation is available, members will have an opportunity to review it.
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Also at the Alliance's annual meeting:
Members voted overwhelmingly to provide consent to move forward with the Alliance's first long-term Policy Platform, understanding that this draft needs structural edits and improvements before it is released publicly. The draft reflects input the organization received from members at a series of learning-and-listening sessions across Illinois.
The Alliance's strategic plan for 2025-2028 was discussed. Its primary goals are to:
Advance policy for a just and regenerative local food and farm system;
Empower farmer, eater and food system leaders to use our voices; and
Significantly grow our base of supporters to 1,000 members, with members in all 118 state legislative districts
The Alliance also gave shoutouts to the following Member Leaders, who went above and beyond the call of duty in 2024 by participating in the organization's caucuses and campaign teams; leading lawmakers on farm tours; and in general taking every opportunity to be a leader within their community.
These leaders are:
Soil Health Caucus Leader of the Year: Derek Ervin, Glacier's End, Marion, IL
Local Food Caucus Leader of the Year: Mitch Cave, Four Lees Farm, Virginia, IL
Farmer Leader of the Year: Serena Basham, Heirloom Haus, Pawnee, IL
(L)Eater of the Year: Kelly Lay, The Land Connection, Champaign, IL
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