News

McHenry County’s agricultural industry is valuable and diverse

Submitted by mchenrycfb on Mon, 11/24/2014 - 21:30

My family and I had the opportunity to take a drive down to Missouri this past summer and I noticed a repetitive theme that played out along our 450 mile journey. The theme was very green and featured a taller plant and a shorter plant. The taller plant, corn, occupies 12 million acres of land within Illinois and represents our largest agricultural crop. The shorter plant, soybeans, comes in a distant second occupying 8 million acres. For those of you who are not familiar with an acre, it is an area of land that is a little smaller than a football field. Illinois' 75,000 farms cover more than 26.9 million acres -- nearly 80 percent of the state's total land area. Looking at last year's receipts, Illinois farmers contributed a whopping 17 billion dollars to Illinois' economy.

Here in McHenry County, we plant 120,000 acres of corn, 58,000 acres of soybeans and 3,000 acres of winter wheat. A modest amount of this grain production is fed to our county's livestock. Another modest portion goes to regional ethanol plants and food processors. The lion's share however is not only headed out of our county, but out of our state. Some of this grain hops a ride on a train to chicken producers in the Southern States and some of it finds its way onto an ocean going vessel headed to countries around the world. Last year's corn, wheat and soybean production added 100 million+ dollars to our local economy.

Area Legislative Officials receive “Friend of Agriculture” award

Submitted by mchenrycfb on Thu, 10/16/2014 - 00:08

 McHenry County Farm Bureau is honored to present the "Friend of Agriculture" award to our Illinois General Assembly Members and our Congressional Representatives. Senator Althoff, Representative Franks, Representative Tryon, and Representative Wheeler earned the award for their outstanding voting records and accessibility ratings.

McHenry County Farm Bureau also extends congratulations to Congressman Hultgren and Congressman Roskam for receiving the "Friend of Agriculture" award on the national level.

Summer Ag Institute Photos

Submitted by mchenrycfb on Mon, 06/30/2014 - 16:13

Summer Ag Institute photos have been posted to our Facebook page. Check them out and feel free to tag anyone you know. We would also like to give thanks to the farmers and businesses that allowed us to visit them, the presenters that visited us and the teachers who participated as well! Here is a link to our photos: https://www.facebook.com/pages/McHenryCountyFarmBureau/100812416097?sk=photos_stream  

Milk Days: Highlights and History

Submitted by mchenrycfb on Thu, 06/05/2014 - 16:52

It is a wonderful time of year again, the 73rd annual Milk Days Weekend! Some exciting festival events June 6th-June 8th include: the antique tractor display, a milk run/walk, brunch (with Orion Samuelson emceeing!), the carnival, a petting zoo, and fireworks. The big parade (2+ hours long) on Saturday, June 7th at 1:00 p.m. is one of the biggest traditions you won't want to miss. There is guaranteed fun for the entire family, so be sure to stop out! For more information on their schedule of events, visit www.milkdays.com. We would like to share some history on the development of the Milk Days you know today.

It all started in the spring of 1942 when people gathered to honor the area farmers for their "War Effort" of increasing milk and food production for the servicemen. Seven dairy companies were located within a 15-mile radius of Harvard and more milk was being produced there than anywhere in the United States. Harvard became the self-proclaimed "Milk Center of the World!"