Agriculture Summit In Chicago Approaches

Sep 30, 2013 7:18 AM

Jim Anderson - Illinois Radio Network

The Illinois Farm Bureau is planning a summit on agriculture, and it’s taking place in Chicago. It’s the big city, but it has a history in agriculture: “If you look back in the history of Chicago you have the Chicago Union Stockyards, and so agriculture has (been) and always will be a big part of Chicago and I think when you get into a big city like this, and all of the other business and industry, it’s easy to forget that agriculture contributes to that,” says Rachel Torbert of the Farm Bureau.

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They’re having this summit in Chicago, Torbert says, to build awareness of the statewide agriculture sector, and bringing agriculture to the attention of businesses that are involved in it, but don’t think about it because they don’t see the farms.

The Vision for Illinois Agriculture summit on Oct. 21 at the University of Illinois at Chicago, will feature speakers from the production and processing sides of the business, academia, government and the commodity exchanges. Subjects will include biotechnology and GMOs, the seed industry, environmental concerns for farmers, government policy, food safety, the agriculture economy, transportation and livestock issues.

The idea is to assure that Illinois continues to have a friendly business environment for agriculture.

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