(The Center Square) – Illinois corn growers are working to recover from a wet spring, with help from federal taxpayer-funded crop insurance.
Illinois Corn Growers Association District Director and past President Matt Rush from the Wayne County city of Fairfield, said this is one of the most challenging years corn producers have had in a long time.
“We were able to get into the field and get a few things done there the first couple weeks in April, then essentially we were rained out until the middle of May to the end of May. Things were looking good until everything that was planted the first week in June had to be completely redone,” Rush told The Center Square. “We just got a significant amount of rain on June 5th and 6th, all the seed rotted and we had to essentially start back from scratch.”
Rush said farmers were able to utilize federal resources.
“It’s always part of the risk that we take, and we’re thankful that we have crop insurance through the Farm Bill,” Rush added.
The 2018 Farm Bill was extended last December, and the recently-signed “big, beautiful bill” President Donald Trump signed earlier this month provides crop insurance enhancements through 2031.
Rush said recent times have been challenging, but farmers are not just thinking about today.
“Farmers are really good innovators. The cards they’re dealt, they find ways to make it work, but we would love to have some economic certainty. We are in kind a down trend of an economic cycle in the ag industry, and we’re just ready to have some certainty and maybe some trade agreements come through and look for brighter days ahead,” Rush said.
In the Illinois Legislature, Rush said farmers are paying close attention to carbon sequestration bills and how they would affect the state’s corn producers and ethanol plants.
