Sustainability

Our Belief

Many family farms started decades, even centuries ago, and operate on a multi-generational basis. These farms exist because much care went into the land and the environment in order to sustain the farm to this day. Farmers live where they work and eat the food they produce so they value clean air, water, and land for themselves, their families, and communities. Farmers implement innovative ways to improve production practices to maintain soil health and productivity in order to guarantee its viability for the next generation.

American Farm Bureau Federation Policy on Sustainability

What Our Farmers Are Doing

• The Centennial and Sesquicentennial Farms Program
  The Centennial Farms program honors generations of farmers who have worked to maintain family farms in Illinois. To qualify for Centennial Farm status, an agricultural property must have been owned by the same family of lineal or collateral descendants for at least 100 years. A lineal descendant is a person in the direct line of descent, such as a child or a grandchild. A collateral descendent is not a direct descendent, but is otherwise closely related, such as a brother, sister, uncle, aunt, nephew, niece or cousin.
• Conservation Tillage Farming Techniques
  Adoption of such techniques over the past 20 years was greatly enhanced by the introduction of biotech crops, which allow farmers to raise a quality crop while reducing or eliminating plowing and tillage.
• Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food Compass
  Use USDA and other research and data to better understand agriculture and the local and regional food systems in your area or around the U.S.
• From The Illinois Farmer
  Hear testimony from Illinois farmers on what they are already doing to sustainably manage their farms and learn more about the Council on Best Management Practices.