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Area visits top year's ag news


Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue visits Chenoa last summer / CIFN file photo.

Some interesting visits to the area are among The Central Illinois Farm Network’s top stories of 2017.

Visitors from Australia visited Clayton Rosenberger’s farm near Chenoa. The tour included over 30 clients of John Deere dealerships in western Australia, which is traditionally a large cereal cropping area. Growers in that part of the world grow mainly wheat with some barley and canola.

“We do have some legume crops similar to soybeans, but predominately where we are it’s all dry land cropping,” explained Ross Rithers, CEO of Ag Implements.

Rosenberger was glad to host the Australians on his farm and said he will remember the day for a long time. Out of all the places in the world, Australia is one he would like to visit.

“I figured this is as close as I’ll ever get to it because it’s a 22-hour flight from what they are telling me.”

Growers on the other side of world use vertical tillage equipment and field cultivators but don’t use planters since most of the crops are air seeded. They were very impressed with the large planter parked next to Rosenberger’s lane.

U.S. Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue made a brief stop at the Evergreen FS Plant in Chenoa as part of a five-state RV tour, discussing topics ranging from legislation to trade.

“As a Georgia boy, I’m a little jealous of the way these corn and beans look out here,” Perdue joked.

Perdue said he wished members of the public could understand the environmental protection and safety standards those in the agriculture industry follow every day.

“Our farmers are the best stewards and they’re working very hard to make sure our waterways are safe.”

According to Perdue, the president is working hard to ensure waterways continue to work so the fertile Mississippi Valley area can continue to feed the world. Perdue hopes to see a balanced approach to the next farm bill where farmers are given the freedom to farm.

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