As harvest is upon us, the Warren-Henderson Farm Bureau® reminds motorists and farmers to be mindful when traveling roadways. We wish everyone a safe and successful harvest! Click here to read about safety reminders & tips on passing farm machinery. For further farm safety information, visit: The National Education Center for Agricultural Safety.
Carle Farm Property Direction Form: Rural Health & Farm Safety Education for Families | Carle.org

Gifts of grain are a unique and underutilized way to make a charitable gift. For farm operators, gifting grain directly, rather than selling the grain and making a gift from the proceeds, may provide a more significant tax savings. Contributing grain allows you to avoid the sale of the commodity as income, while the production costs may still be deductible.

OSF HealthCare and Warren-Henderson Farm Bureau are teaming up to promote Bushels for Care this harvest season. Currently, OSF Holy Family Medical Center in Monmouth is in the midst of a major emergency department redesign. Bushels for Care dollars donated toward OSF HealthCare at this time will go toward this new emergency department project. Click here to learn more.

Representative Dan Swanson is partnering with the Knox, Bureau, and Henry County Farm Bureaus® to host a farmland assessment meeting in each of the three counties. The purpose of these meetings is to discuss ongoing increases in the assessed value of farmland. The meetings will be held on Monday, November 29 at:

• 8:30 a.m. - 10:30 a.m. | Carl Sandburg College Auditorium 2400 Tom L. Wilson Blvd., Galesburg
• 1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. | Lavender Crest Winery 5401 US Highway 6, Colona
• 5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. | Bureau County Metro Center 837 Park Avenue West, Princeton

Warren-Henderson Farm Bureau® has worked in conjunction with Rockford Map Publishers on new 2021 plat books (the book contains Warren and Henderson Counties). The plat books, printed by Kellogg Printing, are now available for purchase at W-HFB Monmouth and Stronghurst offices. Plat Books are $28.00 (this includes tax) for members and $40.00 (this includes tax) for non-members. Shipping options are available, payment must be received in advance: Add $5.00 to your plat book payment for the shipping of one book; $2.00 for each additional shipped book.

The 2022 Illinois Farm Bureau Young Leader Conference will take place January 21 – February 22 at the Embassy Suites in East Peoria. This annual conference serves as a networking event for young farmers, ag professionals, and their families who are affected by the same ag industry issues and wish to increase their knowledge and skillsets. The keynote speaker for the conference will be Dr. Temple Grandin.
If interested in attending, please email whfb@whfarmbureau.org or call 309-734-9401.
Click here for a tentative YL Conference Agenda.

Steven D. Johnson, Ph.D. served as the Farm & Ag Business Management Specialist in Central Iowa for Iowa State University Extension and Outreach for 21 years, retiring in early 2021. He specializes in topics related to government farm programs, crop insurance, crop marketing, grain contracts, farmland leasing and other crop risk management strategies.

On November 16th, Steve presented "Managing Crop Price & Input Cost Volatility" Topics included: Crop Supply/Demand & Price Outlook, Estimating '22 Crop Costs, and Strategies for Managing Profit Margin Risks.

Members who were unable to attend and would like the presentation slides sent to them: contact W-HFB at 309-734-9401 or whfb@whfarmbureau.org.

Chad Bell of Mercer County and Tyler and Cassie Schleich of Warren County took top honors in Illinois Farm Bureau’s Young Leader awards. The Schleichs were awarded the Excellence in Agriculture Award, which recognizes members who are outstanding leaders and actively contributing to Farm Bureau, other agricultural organizations and their communities. Applicants may also be actively farming, but their primary source of income is not production ag. Click here to read more.

Warren-Henderson Farm Bureau is offering funding for agriculture-related training opportunities for fire districts in Warren & Henderson counties. W-HFB will fund an ag-related training session for 1-2 people in a district department per calendar year. The expense covered will only be for the training portion of the event (no travel, per diem, meal costs, etc.). If the application is accepted, the fire district will need to submit training documentation/invoice to W-HFB to receive funding.
Click here for an online application
Click here to fill out a fillable PDF application

The Warren-Henderson Farm Bureau Women’s Committee packed 100 lunches for farmers on October 20th. The lunches, consisting of chips, granola bars, raisins, mints, cookies, and a sandwich or beef sticks and cheese, were packed and delivered to area elevators. Lunches were taken to Big River Resources, Berwick Grain, Cameron Grain, Consolidated Grain and Barge of Gladstone, Farmers Grain of Roseville, and Stronghurst Grain. Many thanks to Sue Campbell, Jill Cook, Janelle Duckwiler, Anna & Sophia Sharp, and Lori Schrock for their efforts to feed hungry workers!

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – Illinois Farm Bureau kicked off its series of 2021-22 Live Local, Shop Local Winter Workshops this month. The program’s Monthly Business Development Series starts in October and runs through January 2022.
            The workshop series provides a chance for farm and food businesses to gain new skills, expand their business and connect with industry peers facing similar challenges. Most of these workshops will be delivered online through a web-based platform, with some offering in-person opportunities.
The Winter Workshop lineup and number of sessions offered for each is the following:

• E-Commerce (4 sessions)
• Farmers Market (6 sessions)
• QuickBooks (1 session)
• Grant Writing (1 session)
• Human Resources (2 sessions)

In mid-September, Warren-Henderson Farm Bureau® hosted its Progressive Agriculture Farm Safety Day for area 5th grade students. The purpose of holding this annual all-day event is to teach students safety tips regarding various topics that do and could potentially pertain to them.
Click here to read about the event.

The Warren-Henderson Farm Bureau Women’s/Ag-in-the-Classroom committee and the Prime Beef Festival sponsored their annual Agricultural Education Day for kids on Friday, September 10th at Fairview Center United Methodist Church outside of Monmouth. Approximately 90 fourth grade students from ICS and United school districts attended this annual event. During this morning program students rotated through seven different stations where they learned about the various agriculture topics: Machinery; Soils & Fertilizer; Soybeans; Corn; Beef; Pork; and Sheep. Click here to read more about the event.

Farmers in western Illinois have soils well suited for corn and soybean production. And based on information shared during the Warren-Henderson Farm Bureau Nutrient Stewardship Field Day, Aug. 26, farmers also have new local research results to make the most of that resource. Illinois Farm Bureau (IFB) partnered with Warren-Henderson Farm Bureau and University of Illinois Extension during the 2019, 2020 and 2021 growing seasons to evaluate nitrogen use in strip-till corn in a field near Kirkwood. Click here to read more about the event.

Click here to view information on all IFB Nutrient Stewardship Grant Projects.