County Farmers Make Time to Address Farm Issues in D.C.
by Mike Orso
You might think managing McHenry County farms, spouses and 14 children between them would keep Jennifer Kinney and Hannah McKee plenty occupied. Yet over the last year, the two have carved out time to venture to Washington, D.C. making their voices heard on a wide variety of public policy issues important to the livelihoods of their families and of other McHenry County and Illinois farmers.
“We just made the time,” said McKee, 41, who raises cattle, hogs, corn, soybeans and hay with her family near Woodstock. “You just say you’re going to do it. All of our kids chipped in. We figured it out.”
Each year, Illinois Farm Bureau (IFB), the state’s largest organization of farmers, provides two opportunities for Farm Bureau members to help advance its national legislative and regulatory agenda in the nation’s capital. Over the years, dozens of McHenry County farmers have leaned on family members and others to help on their farms in order to make the three-day, pavement pounding trip. This year, the first IFB “Leaders to Washington” trip took place in early spring. The next opportunity for a McHenry County farmer and others from throughout Illinois will be September 15-17.
“It was a phenomenal opportunity,” said McKee. “I would highly recommend it.”
While in D.C., McKee and the other eight farmers from all around Illinois worked to advance such things as a proposed, new multi-year federal farm bill, to replace the existing one that has been extended by the U.S. Congress three times since it expired in 2023. The current federal farm bill extension expires at the end of September. The U.S. House passed its version of a new farm bill in April and the U.S. Senate continues work on its version.
“My message to them was that we have to do something to make it a little more economical for us because we buy everything at retail and sell everything at wholesale,” said McKee. “As a citizen, we get really discouraged when things don’t progress as quickly as we like. Going there was really eye opening at all the different channels that things have to go through to get accomplished.”
Jennifer Kinney participated in the IFB “Leaders to Washington” opportunity last September, with the help of her family and employees who kept the flower and vegetable farm near Harvard functioning without a beat. Kinney, 52, joined 10 other farmers from across Illinois in sessions that included discussions with USDA officials, U.S. House Agriculture Committee staff, White House staff, the European Union’s trade representative to the U.S., and Illinois U.S. Senators Richard Durbin and Tammy Duckworth.
“The Farm Bureau staff does a fantastic job of preparing you for each session that you’re going in to,” said Kinney, “If you’re stressed about what you’re going to say, they help you map it all out.”
Seeking to resolve challenges with farm labor issues especially interests Kinney, who employs visiting farm workers through the U.S. Department of Labor’s “H2A temporary agricultural program.” It allows some farmers and other agricultural employers who anticipate a shortage of domestic workers to bring nonimmigrant foreign workers to the United States to perform agricultural labor or services of a temporary or seasonal nature. The department made changes to some related regulations last fall.
“Just to see some of the things that we talked about actually being implemented, it was good,” said Kinney.
Farm Bureau members who farm have until Friday, July 31 to apply to participate in the next IFB “Leaders to Washington” experience. Interested farmers should be involved in the McHenry County Farm Bureau (MCFB) and have a desire to impact Farm Bureau policy into national legislation and regulations. IFB covers airfares, group meals, transportation expenses while in D.C. and half of a participant’s hotel expenses. MCFB also assists participants with expenses associated with the trip.
If interested in participating, contact the MCFB office at (815) 338-1520 or email manager@mchenrycfb.org.
Hannah McKee and daughters Hallie, 6, and Kassidy, 8 offer the family’s home-grown Rush-Mar Farms meats for sale at the Tuesday Woodstock Farmers Market. -“Oh my gosh, go,” said McKee when asked if McHenry County farmers should participate in the Illinois Farm Bureau’s Leaders to Washington experience. “If we don’t push for what we need, nobody will ever know and no one will ever care. We have to be our own voice. We can’t expect people to talk for us.”
Woodstock area farmer Hannah McKee (center) spent three days in March in Washington D.C., advocating for numerous Farm Bureau priority issues. Interested Farm Bureau members who farm should contact the MCFB office in Woodstock to discuss possible participation. (IFB provided photo).
Jennifer Kinney and her family own and operate Piscasaw Gardens farm near Harvard. She also serves as a volunteer MCFB board member. “I think that is good that different people go as much as possible,” said Kinney, about the opportunity to participate in the next Illinois Farm Bureau “Leaders to Washington” experience scheduled for mid-September. She participated in 2025.
Harvard area farmer Jennifer Kinney (far right) joined other Illinois farmers to work on farm issues last September in Washington, D.C. Farmers interested in participating in the next “Leaders to Washington” experience should contact the McHenry County Farm Bureau office before the end of July. (IFB provided photo)