General Session

Thursday, January 6

Welcome & Conference Overview

General Session I

Federico guerrero, Consulate General of El Salvador
[Handout: None]

Consul Guerrero earned an Industrial Engineering degree from University "Jose Matias Delgado" of El Salvador in 2015, and recently finished a Master in Finance and Economy from Bircham International University. He has also worked for the National Registry of Natural Persons and while working there he was a volunteer translator for the International Firefighters Programs in El Salvador. From 2010 to 2015 he worked for Telus International Company of El Salvador in tech-related matters. From 2015 to 2019 he worked for AES El Salvador, a multinational that covers more than 80% of Electrical Grid in El Salvador. In November 2019 he joined the Foreign Service as Vice-Consul of El Salvador in Los Angeles, California. While holding that position he was promoted and appointed as Consul General of El Salvador in Chicago.

General Session II - Keynote Speaker

Hugh McPherson, Maize Quest
[HANDOUT: 4 Pillars FOR GROWTH]

Hugh McPherson is either incredibly rude or just plain crazy. This year he will tell nearly 1,000,000 people at 80 farms, in 27 states, 3 provinces, and 4 countries to GET LOST! In fact, the very polite entrepreneur, and Maze Master of Maize Quest issues the ‘GET LOST!’ command purely in the spirit of fun to all who visit the Maize Quest Fun Park at Maple Lawn Farms in York County. A member of the fifth generation to live at Maple Lawn Farms, Hugh has agriculture in his blood. After graduating from Penn State University in 1997, Hugh wanted to return to the farm and looked for something unique that he could add to the family operation. He created Maize Quest, the Cornfield Maze Adventure that year as a family affair and grew it into a full-time business. Maize Quest has become the center of a network of farmers looking to diversify their businesses with entertainment. The operator network has grown from one farm to 80 locations in the US, UK, and Canada.

Banquet Keynote Speaker, Dinner & Awards

Randy Graham, Illinois Specialty Growers Association
Alicia Nesbary-Moore, Herban Produce
Ken Johnson, University of Illinois Extension
[HANDOUT: Herban Produce]

Alicia Nesbary-Moore CVO (Chief Veggie Officer) of Herban Produce. Alicia is not only passionate about serving and growing her community through access to healthy food and education but is a Professor of Cellular and Molecular Biology at Chicago City Colleges as well. Alicia cultivates an environment that focuses on empowering residents of minority neighborhoods that have suffered decades of disinvestment. Under her leadership, Herban strives to bring a helping hand -- and fresh start -- to deprived city blocks in the midst of a community that historically has been a food desert.

 

Friday, January 7

General Session I
New Micro Farm Crop Insurance

Doug Yoder, Country Financial
[Handout: MICRO FARM POLICY]

This session will cover a Micro Farm crop insurance option, new for 2022, specifically for agricultural producers with small farms who sell locally. The new Micro Farm policy simplifies record keeping and covers post-production costs like washing and value-added products. The new policy is offered through Whole-Farm Revenue Protection (WFRP) and it has distinct provisions that can provide more access to the program, including: no expense or individual commodity reporting needed which simplifies the record keeping requirements for producers, revenue from post-production costs such as washing and packaging commodities and value-added products, are considered allowable revenue. The Micro Farm policy is available to producers who have a farm operation that earns an average allowable revenue of $100,000 or less, or for carryover insureds, an average allowable revenue of $125,000 or less.

General Session II - Keynote Speaker
Climate Change: Impacts and Opportunities for the Illinois Specialty Crop Sector

Trent Ford, Illinois State Water Survey
[Handout: None]

Changes in the global climate have had implications here in Illinois, from extreme precipitation to warmer summer nights. Model projections show these changes, and associated impacts for specialty crops in Illinois, will continue and possibly accelerate toward the middle to late part of the 21st century. However, as domestic and global demand for food production increases over the next several decades, it is crucial the Illinois specialty crop industry is resilient to climate change impacts. We'll review the impacts we have seen and are likely to see to specialty crop production in Illinois and will discuss strategies and opportunities to build climate resilience in the specialty crop industry.