For the past four years, it has been my honor and privilege to serve as the Chief Executive Officer of the Illinois Soybean Association (ISA). When the Board of Directors selected me for this role, one of the things we committed to do together was to make a difference for farmers across the state of Illinois. One of the many things I find rewarding is seeing the team grow across the organization. We’ve worked to build a strong bench of industry experts and passionate advocates for agriculture who stand at the ready to collaborate with other interested groups.

In our Market Development team, we are focused on supporting farmers both domestically and abroad. Since I began at ISA, we’ve also developed an internal Agronomy team that is working with many instate researchers and on-farm trial networks to ensure Illinois soybean farmers continue to have access to cutting edge and relevant information to support their farms.

Over the past four years, we’ve had the opportunity to develop a new strategic plan under the leadership and direction of our volunteer Board of Directors. This process began at the height of the COVID pandemic. It took the vision of our Board and the commitment of our staff to realign our organization to meet new priorities of the organization. One of those priorities was the creation of a Government Relations committee on our Board of Directors. Like many other Illinois commodity groups, policy and legislative engagement has always been an element of ISA’s work. Yet the creation of this dedicated committee of farmer leaders working hand in hand with our staff has delivered deeper value to the work we’re doing on behalf of Illinois farmers.

In this state, we have a major challenge. The geography of our state alone means that the majority of legislators in our state’s General Assembly and congressional delegation are from districts that include less and less of rural Illinois and productive farmland. This is a trend that is happening nationally, but in Illinois, we are experiencing it at an increasingly rapid pace. As part of our strategic plan, ISA has committed to telling Illinois farmers’ stories and communicating their needs to lawmakers to ensure they can continue their farming operations. This educational effort is a monumental undertaking. Oftentimes, legislators have some familiarity with parts of agriculture. But when they see the whole landscape, they’re often impressed by the breadth of impact that we have on our state and the world.

Another key part of our strategy is to develop policy expertise that specifically focuses on issues that impact Illinois farmers. These impacts are seen in markets, regulation of production practices, access to farm programs, conservation support, reliable transportation networks, and other key areas. To support these, we have recently expanded our Government Relations team to include nine staff members. They work directly on achieving better legislative and regulatory outcomes for Illinois farmers. The team is based partly in our Bloomington office but also has members based in our suburban Lombard office, allowing more direct access to legislators in that region. This year, Illinois Soybean Growers (ISG) also opened a legislative office just across the street from the State Capitol in Springfield to serve as a base of operations to engage during legislative session.

As you will read throughout this magazine issue and into the future, we will continue to bring you updates and information about key issues affecting Illinois soybean farmers. The work we are doing together is resulting in high-value, high-impact benefits for Illinois farmers. As CEO of your Illinois Soybean Association – the state’s largest soybean-focused farm organization – I’m proud of the work our team is doing. I’m honored to have the support of our Board of Directors as we work together to better serve every farmer across Illinois.