CCFB News» October 2018

Ford/Lincoln Farm Bureau Conquest Cash Program
October 15, 2018 – January 2, 2019
Members could save $1,000 on Ford & $1,250 on Lincoln

Hurry! During the promotional period, members who qualify for the Farm Bureau Association eCertificate Offer will be eligible to receive an additional $500 Conquest Bonus Cash towards the purchase or lease of an eligible new 2018/2019 MY Ford vehicle, if they have a non-Ford/Lincoln or Mercury vehicle registered in their household that is 1995 or newer.

Solar opportunities continue to pop up around Illinois, and Clay Electric Cooperative Vice President Ed VanHoose recommends gathering plenty of information if you’re thinking about pursuing an agreement.

Did you know that Morton, Illinois processes 80% of the world’s canned pumpkin, is considered the Pumpkin capital of the world<

USDA projects net farm income will decline by $9.8 billion (13 percent) this year, compared to 2017, to the lowest level since 2009.And, while lower commodity prices are a key factor in the projections (receipts are projected to drop by $2.5 billion for milk and $1.9 billion for cash corn), another driver of the sobering economic outlook involves rising input costs and debt levels.

The Master Gardeners are in the Farm Bureau office this fall season to answer questions from members and the general public related to gardening and horticulture.

Tate Mesbergen, a custom hay farmer from Greeley, Colorado, didn’t just break a world record this summer, he literally chopped it down. Mesbergen cut a whopping 348 acres of hay in 8 hours on his family’s farm and neighboring fields in Colorado to set a world record in the Guinness Book of Record; that’s  more than 100 acres better than previous world record!

I want to visit a farm but haven’t been able to. What would I see? Answered by Bona Heinsohn

VIRTUAL SCHOOL LAUNCHES ONLINE AG CLASSES (FarmWeek) - The school year recently commenced for Illinois Virtual School agriculture students – a first in the online school’s history.  The online school for the Illinois State Board of Education has students enrolled in introduction to agriculture, agriscience and veterinary science this semester, said Kip Pygman, director of Illinois Virtual School.

Scott Vander Griend, a Cook County Farm Bureau member from the Southside, and his friend & business partner Justin Verburg began making batches of homebrew about 10 years ago, giving much of it to their friends.  Those same friends encouraged the two to start their own brewery and after much thought and research, they decided to give it a try.

Recipe reprinted with permission from member Jessica Miller from our 2018 Cookfresh Recipe Collection Brochure.

You can submit your recipes for the 2018 Cookfresh Recipe Brochure by mailing to the Farm Bureau or to [email protected].

USDA TO PURCHASE $50 MILLION OF MILK (Ag Web)-USDA will purchase 12 to 15 million gallons of fat free, low-fat, reduced fat and whole milk to help shore up struggling dairy farmers and provide fluid milk to Americans in need. USDA will distribute it to food assistance programs and food banks across the U.S. The purchase is not part of USDA’s recently announced tariff aid package.

One third of Americans still feeling pain of the Great Recession. The housing market crash that emerged in late 2007 and snowballed into the worldwide economic crisis now known as the Great Recession is still being felt today.

Each month we are highlighting a Cook County Farm Bureau Board Member: This month's "Face of CCFB" is...Gerry Kopping

As a young teen, I donned my Troxel helmet, grabbed my English saddle, and mounted a rotten, chubby pony.  That beast is why I will never own a pony.  Plutchie taught me the basics: grooming,  tacking up, walk, trot, canter, and novice jumping.

Corn and more corn, soybeans, wild turkeys, deer, cattle, a double rainbow and we hadn't even arrived yet.

I vividly remember looking over the spiral-bound, wide-ruled notebook folded open on Grandpa’s farm shop bench. On the paper, he scribed a list of things to do in thick pencil lead and all capital letters. His distinctive, slanted, all-caps handwriting emulated the feeling of authority and speed with its raw, yet refined, formation of words.

It’s 1973 and young Bobby Rohrer is on the edge of the couch ready for the show to begin. Yes, the opening to the 1970’s TV show the Six Million Dollar Man.  I loved that show as a kid.