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Director Costello: The state of Illinois agriculture in 2023

Illinois Director of Agriculture Jerry Costello says successes in 2022 paint an optimistic outlook for Illinois agriculture in 2023.

He tells Brownfield the state is celebrating record corn and wheat yields, and near record soybean yields last year. “We are coming off of an incredible year for agriculture in the state of Illinois and I think 2023 can be a great year as well.”

Costello says last year a one-time appropriation was made to pay FFA membership dues for all high school students enrolled in agriculture classes, boosting membership by more than 50%. 

“If you are going to make sure that agriculture stays on track as the number one industry in the state of Illinois, you’ve got to make sure our youth are involved. My goal is to make sure that that appropriation is continued and that we continue our commitment to our kids, to youth in agriculture- FFA and 4-H as well.” 

He says Governor JB Pritzker has been supportive of agriculture and helped increase budgets to better staff the Department of Agriculture. 

“Unfortunately, in the past, a number of extremely important agencies have lost major staffing whether it be the Department of Agriculture or Department of Natural Resources. So, I want to commend and thank Governor Pritzker for helping put money back into the Department of Agriculture.”

Governor Pritzker is scheduled to give his State of the State Address on Wednesday.