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IL Farm Bureau president recaps D.C. trip

Illinois Farm Bureau president Brian Duncan says members shared three priorities with lawmakers in a recent trip to Washington. 

He tells Brownfield the farm bill topped the list…

“Soon,” he says, “and that farm bill to have a fix for California’s prop 12 in it, protection of Interstate commerce.”

Duncan, who farms in Ogle County, says labor issues were also a focus…

“I talked about labor reforms,” He says, “The need to roll back the wage rate calculation; the need to freeze H2-A rates at 2023 levels; just the need for agriculture to have an available, affordable workforce.”

He says he lobbied against proposed changes to the GREET model, which would negatively impact the potential development of the sustainable aviation fuel industry in the state…

“We saw the Biden administration delay their announcement on the GREET model.”  He says, “It was supposed to come March 1st. They delayed it. We hope that’s a good sign that they’ve started to hear that modifications to the GREET model mean you’re not adopting the GREET model.”

Duncan met with both Illinois senators and several representatives while in D.C. 

AUDIO: Brian Duncan, ILFB president