Gov. Pritzker declares agricultural trade crisis in Illinois in new executive order
CHICAGO (WLS) -- Gov. JB Pritzker signed an executive order declaring an agricultural trade crisis in Illinois on Wednesday.
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"This order directs our state agencies to take immediate action, promoting domestic markets for agricultural commodities and expanding health resources for our rural communities," Pritzker said.
Before the signing, Pritzker visited the Curtin Family Farm in Taylorville, Illinois.
His office said he joined farmers to discuss how President Donald Trump's tariffs are impacting the Illinois farming community.
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Pritzker claimed his trade policies have upended markets and driven up production costs for farmers.
In Will County, crop farmers are finishing up their fall harvest.
"We're combining corn. We're down to a few hundred acres to go, trying to take advantage of these picture-perfect days," farmer Dave Kestel said.
Kestel is a fourth-generation corn and soybean farmer in Manhattan.
"My daughter will be the fifth. That's just the coolest thing in the world to be out here and have my daughter working with me. Yeah, I love it," Kestel said.
Hard at work on his corn right now, Kestel is done harvesting his soybean crop for the year.
According to Illinois Department of Agriculture, Illinois is the top soybean producing state in the country.
Last year, Illinois sold roughly $1.4 billion in soybeans to China.
"That market has all but dried up because of Donald Trump's trade war," said Jerry Costello, director of the Illinois Department of Agriculture.
Costello joined Pritzker downstate denouncing the impacts of tariffs on Illinois farmers.
"Farmers are paying more for their inputs and they are receiving less for their crops," Costello said.
And yet, Kestel says his soybeans are still being purchased, not piling up in storage. And while he'd like to see soybean and corn prices go up, he says he's seen worse.
"Our soybean prices are 70 cents a bushel more now than they were a year ago, even with China not buying," Kestel said.
President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are set to meet in South Korea.
"He's playing the same game that China has played forever, and China don't like it because they got somebody standing up to him now," Kestel said.
While Pritzker believes Illinois farmers might lose markets to foreign countries they may never get back, Kestel believes the U.S. trade infrastructure and quality of crop will stand the test of trade wars.
