Cook County Farm Bureau Supports the Community
Cook County Farm Bureau Supports the Community
Throughout 2023, Cook County Farm Bureau® has remained engaged with and committed to partnering with and supporting local farmers, students, and local non-profits.
Support for farmers
Cook County Farm Bureau continues to support farmers through marketing enhancement programs like Live Local, Shop Local, Discover Local guides, and Local Farm Products website search function. All of these resources are designed to connect consumers to farmers and local produce. These resources are available at cookcfb.org.
In addition to marketing tools, Farm Bureau supports local farmers through advocacy at the local, state, and national levels.
Policy revisions
Cook County Farm Bureau submitted a resolutions to Illinois Farm Bureau delegates which supports ways to turn non-consumed food into a resource through composting. It also supports reducing the regulatory constraints for on-farm materials, urban food scraps, and processing facilities.
Food pantry support
Together with partners, Cook County Farm Bureau donated much needed food staples and essential non-food items to four Cook County food pantries. Donations were raised in celebration of Food Checkout Day, which celebrates the healthy and nutritious food local farmers grow and raise by providing food or cash donations to people in need.
Over $12,688 was donated to local Cook County pantries in celebration of Food Checkout Day this year and the healthy and nutritious food grown and raised by local farmers.
Agricultural Scholarships
The Cook County Farm Bureau Foundation® awarded $11,000 to four students pursuing an agriculture-related degree. The scholarship program is designed to provide college students pursuing a degree in agriculture, agribusiness, or agriculture-related course of study. Scholarships are awarded on the basis of scholastic ability and financial need.
$450 was donated to the local FFA chapter to help support four students attending the National FFA Convention in Indianapolis.
Agricultural leadership
In addition to student scholarships, Farm Bureau provided two leaders scholarships to attend the Illinois Ag Leadership Program (IALP), a premier agricultural leadership development program.
Conservation and the Environment
Farm Bureau understands the importance of pollinators to our food system and ecosystem. Farm Bureau leaders designed a multi-faceted pollinator project to communicate farmers’ efforts to preserve and increase pollinator habitat as well as to illustrate the connection between pollinators and our food system to urban consumers. This project included the creation of a community pollinator garden at the Farm Bureau building, community presentations, pollinator garden community event, and large-scale community education event hosted in conjunction with the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago.
Monarch club
The Monarch Club, created by the organization in 2023, is open to Farm Bureau members and non-members who have an interest in monarchs, pollinators, and conservation. For more information and to get involved, contact Bona Heinsohn [email protected]
Supporting the local community
To support urban gardens and farms, Cook County Farm Bureau developed the Urban Garden Grant program. The grant program awards six local grants at $350 each for a total of $2,100 to support the purchase of plantings, seeds, and garden materials from Cook County Farm Bureau Member Greenhouses, Farm Stands and Businesses.
Support of local non-profits
As a non-profit itself, Cook County Farm Bureau is acutely aware of the power of non-profit associations and the tremendous outcomes that can occur when non-profit entities work together for a common outcome. To that end, Farm Bureau financially supported Wagner Farm in Glenview, Lake County 4H Fair Animal Auction, Greater Chicagoland Food Depository, Ronald McDonald House Charities® of Chicagoland and Northwest Indiana, the Illinois Agricultural Association Foundation, Cook – DuPage Beekeepers Association, Illinois Farmers Market Association, Illinois Agricultural Leadership Foundation, Animal Agriculture Alliance, the Chicago Farmers Organization and other non-for profits.