A Central Illinois county farm bureau recently completed a successful “Adopt A Legislator” event in Chicago.
The Illinois Farm Bureau program has been ongoing since 2001. The purpose of the program is to building long-term personal relationships between urban state legislators and farmers from across Illinois. The goal of the program is to educate urban legislators about agriculture – Illinois’ largest industry – and rural life, while also helping farm bureau members better understand the needs and concerns of an urban district.
The Menard County Farm Bureau teamed up recently with House Assistant Majority Leader Camille Lilly of Oak Park. Lilly’s district makes up the Austin neighborhood in the greater west side of Chicago along with parts of the western suburbs of Elmwood Park, Franklin Park, Oak Park, and River Grove. Illinois Senate President Don Harmon was also in attendance for the event.
The Menard County Farm Bureau recently co-hosted the “Beef Up the Block” event on July 13th where attendees got to hear about farm to table operations and enjoyed grilled hamburgers and hot dogs. Dan Haynes of the Menard County Farm Bureau told RFD Illinois that all of the meat furnished for the event came from Menard County livestock farms: “We had two different local farms that provided beef. One provided all-beef hot dogs, and they were huge hot dogs…like 1/3 pound hot dogs. Then, we also had the big, locally raised hamburger patties that we took up there. We took several packages and boxes of each. I don’t know exactly how many people we served, but we took 75 hamburgers and probably 100 hot dogs, and we came home with no food. So, we served a lot of people and we got great feedback on the quality of the food and just the experience was beneficial for all, I think.”
Haynes said they used a school facility’s green space and had a local DJ that created a neighborhood cookout atmosphere that allowed for an informal way for everyone to get to know one another and share information.
Menard County farmers were each given a time to speak to the crowd and took questions from those in attendance. To date, the Illinois Farm Bureau has signed up over 70 Illinois legislators in the Adopt A Legislator program.