Champaign, April 25, 2000: Twenty-four conservation, outdoor recreation, and family farm advocacy organizations in Illinois today sent a letter to Illinois Farm Bureau president, Ron Warfield, requesting that, "Illinois Farm Bureau end its history of resisting efforts to find long-term solutions to polluted agricultural runoff."

"Polluted agricultural runoff is the number one water quality problem in Illinois, and Farm Bureau leadership has ignored this problem for too long," said Robert Moore, Executive Director of Prairie Rivers Network. "Enough is enough."

The twenty-four organizations signing the letter not only criticized Illinois Farm Bureau’s past opposition to clean water initiatives, but suggested ways the Farm Bureau could be part of the solution to agricultural runoff, instead of part of the problem.

The letter suggested several long-term, sustainable solutions that Illinois Farm Bureau could implement to assist farmers and improve water quality. The organizations asked that Farm Bureau:

• Provide and underwrite risk management tools and programs from Farm Bureau’s insurance companies to assist farmers in transition towards more profitable, sustainable agricultural practices, by reducing practice of using high inputs of pollution-causing chemicals.
• Support measures that minimize impacts on farmers and other downstream neighbors from increased water flow from excessive drainage.
• Provide and underwrite assistance and expertise for farmers willing to move from chemical-intensive, row crop agriculture to a diversified enterprise agriculture, perhaps in the certified organic sector of food markets.

The Illinois Farm Bureau has actively opposed the development of watershed restoration plans, also known as Total Maximum Daily Load studies or TMDLs. Under the Clean Water Act, states must develop these plans for waters not meeting clean water goals. These scientific studies would quantify pollution from all sources, including agricultural lands, and create a plan to meet water quality goals.

"Their opposition to TMDLs even hurts efforts where agriculture is not a major source of pollution," said Jeff Swano, Executive Director of Salt Creek Watershed Network, a Chicago-area conservation group. Swano’s organization is closely involved with a TMDL study being developed to combat pollution in the Salt Creek, a stream in suburban Chicago.

They have also opposed local governments’ authority to curtail agricultural pollution. Even though Illinois Farm Bureau has repeatedly supported local authority over other environmental concerns, it opposes local control when those concerns include siting of mega-livestock facilities and controlling agricultural runoff.

"They’re against local control if it is gives family farmers an advantage over agribusiness," according to Karen Hudson of F.A.R.M. and the G.R.A.C.E. Factory Farm Project. "They should rename themselves the Factory Farm Bureau."

The impacts of agribusiness on natural resources worries those who live along the state’s rivers and streams ­ and with good reason.

• Over 500 water bodies are polluted by nutrients, such as farm fertilizers.
• About 470 water bodies are affected by siltation, causing our streams, lakes, and backwaters to slowly fill with silt, decreasing water storage capacity and decreasing the quality of wildlife habitat. State agencies estimate that 158 million tons of soil erode each year from croplands.
• Industrial-scale livestock and poultry operations impair over 130 water bodies.
• Agricultural pollutants, such as nutrients, sediments, and farm chemicals impair eighteen Illinois drinking water sources, forcing communities to invest in expensive treatment technologies.

Illinois Farm Bureau

Bloomington, Illinois

Dear Mr. Warfield:

We the undersigned environmental, conservation, family farm, and sportsmen’s groups request that Illinois Farm Bureau end its history of resisting efforts to find long-term solutions to polluted agricultural runoff.

Agriculture is the number one source of water pollution in Illinois. Yet, large scale agriculture is not held to the same measures of accountability as other industries­in spite of the fact that over 77 percent of Illinois land, or over 27 million acres, is in agricultural production.

Some of the impacts of the agricultural industry in Illinois:

• Agricultural pollutants, such as nutrients, sediments, and agricultural chemicals impair eighteen Illinois drinking water sources, forcing these and other communities to resort to expensive treatment technologies.

• Over 500 water bodies are impaired by nutrients which affect aquatic life, drinking water quality, the recreational use of our state’s waters, and water quality beyond our borders.

• About 470 water bodies are impaired by sediments filling in lakes, backwaters and wetlands, decreasing water storage capacity, and decreasing the quality of aquatic habitat. State agencies estimate that 158 million tons of soil erode each year from croplands.
• Feedlots, animal holding or management areas, or manure lagoons impair over 130 water bodies.

• Over 180 water bodies are impaired by channelization that results in increased flooding, reduced habitat and increased erosion.
• Over 90 percent of Illinois’ original wetlands, or over 7 million acres, have been drained, mostly for agricultural production, resulting in increased flooding and decreased water quality.
• Many of the impacts from agriculture result in a loss of habitat and breeding areas for waterfowl, sport fish and other species.

• Supporting only voluntary, incentive-driven programs while actively opposing solutions that would make agribusiness accountable for reducing its pollution.
• Denouncing scores of scientific studies that point to agricultural runoff as the source of water quality problems, while producing no convincing evidence that agriculture is not the problem.
• Discouraging the enforcement of current laws that protect water quality like the Clean Water Act and Safe Drinking Water Act. Illinois Farm Bureau opposes use of river cleanup plans (called TMDLs) to reduce agricultural runoff.
• Opposing attempts by the state legislature to prevent water quality degradation.
• Opposing attempts by local governments to control agricultural pollution. The Illinois Farm Bureau has repeatedly shown an interest in local control of problems, but not when local control includes siting mega-livestock facilities or controlling agricultural runoff and stormwater management.
• Opposing wetlands regulations, despite the state’s drastic loss of its original wetlands. The Illinois Farm Bureau seeks expanded exemptions for farmed wetlands, weaker definitions of wetlands, and insists that governments compensate landowners whenever laws affect use of private wetlands, thereby discouraging wetland protection.
• Promoting the activities and broad powers of drainage and levee districts, even when these activities cause habitat loss, water quality degradation and flooding problems for downstream farmers and other rural landowners.

Illinois Farm Bureau and other agricultural industry representatives must take steps to assist farmers in finding long-term, sustainable solutions. Some suggestions to improve water quality and improve assistance to family farmers include:

• Providing and underwriting risk management tools and programs that assist farmers in transition towards more profitable, sustainable agricultural practices, by reducing practice of using high inputs of pollution-causing chemicals.
• Supporting measures that minimize impacts on farmers and other downstream neighbors from increased water flow from excessive drainage.
• Providing and underwriting assistance and expertise for farmers willing to move from chemical-intensive, row crop agriculture to a diversified enterprise agriculture, perhaps in the certified organic sector of food markets.

Current crop insurance programs, lobbied for by Illinois Farm Bureau and subsidized by federal taxpayer dollars, benefit the Illinois Farm Bureau owned insurance company, Country Mutual Insurance Company. Illinois Farm Bureau also benefits from the manufacture and sale of agricultural chemicals through its ownership in Growmark, Inc. Much of the expenses for the suggestions above could be supported with the large annual profits of the Farm Bureau companies and cooperatives that enjoy tax-exempt status.

Farmers care about clean water and a healthy environment. There is a common value of stewardship and a connection to the land and waters that we, the undersigned, and farmers share. We encourage you to end Illinois Farm Bureau’ resistance to sensible, long-term solutions to agricultural runoff, and begin to make genuine, positive contributions in the area of environmental protection. Illinois Farm Bureau’s first steps can be made by adopting these common values of environmental stewardship.

Sincerely,
 
 
 
 

Robert Moore, Executive Director

Prairie Rivers Network

809 S. Fifth Street

Champaign, IL 61820
 
 

Karen Hudson, President

Families Against Rural Messes (F.A.R.M.)

David Jenkins

American Canoe Association

Erik Spenner, Regulatory Affairs Chairman

Chicago Whitewater Association

Gary Mechanic, Executive Director

Des Plaines River Alliance

Nick Nikola

Friends of Critters and Salt Creek

Bob Vogel

Friends of the Rock River

Dr. David Brubaker

Global Resource Action Center for the Environment (G.R.A.C.E.)/ G.R.A.C.E. Factory Farm Project

Marilyn Campbell, Executive Director

Illinois Audubon Society

Kevin Bradley, President

Illinois Paddling Council

Diane Brown

Illinois Public Research Interest Group (IL P.I.R.G.)

Laura Huth, Executive Director

Illinois Student Environmental Network

David Pittman, Co-Chair

Living Upstream/Downstream Committee of the Sun Foundation

Deanna Belz

Living Upstream, Bloomington Chapter

George Burrier, President

Mackinaw Canoe Club

Jay Friberg, President

Prairie Preservation Society of Ogle County

Dr. Martha Marks, Executive Director

REP America (Republicans for Environmental Protection)

Valerie Spale

Salt Creek Greenway Association

Jeff Swano, Executive Director

Salt Creek Watershed Network

Dennis Wandell, President

Salt Fork River Partners

Kathy Jefferies

Save Our Land and Environment, Inc. (S.O.L.E.)

Marianne Byrns, Executive Director

South East Environmental Task Force

Louis Reuschel

Western Illinois Sustainable Agriculture Society

Citizens for Responsible Practices