Building Strong Communities

A state-of-the-state on ISA’s work throughout Illinois

by Joli A. Hohenstein

Rural communities are as central to the Illinois Soybean Association's (ISA) mission as farms are to those cities, towns and villages. After all, ag is the primary economic driver in many counties and in rural areas. The stronger these rural communities grow, the stronger our state’s agriculture industry becomes— and in turn, the 43,000 soybean farmers in Illinois gain strength in their support network.

Every day, ISA upholds the interests of Illinois soybean producers through promotion, advocacy, research and education with the vision of becoming a market leader in sustainable soybean production and profitability. And while you might only see the impact ISA makes in your own town or township, many cogs turn the wheel to distribute the rewards statewide.

With that in mind, our editor thought it was time for an update on the many ways ISA invests in building strong communities—and how you benefit. Here's a window into what’s happening all over the state, and how your fellow rural communities are growing because of it.

Town Halls

These events have long been a great forum for conversation, community and collaboration, and ISA wanted to simultaneously build on the concept and bring farmers back to their community roots.

The goal is engagement with local communities. Town halls enable residents to see how their checkoff dollars are being used. They also give farmers an open, comfortable forum to ask questions about both state and federal legislation that impacts them. ISA wants to involve farmers from all over the state and hear feedback on how current issues affect their farms.

To achieve this engagement, ISA organized a series of five Town Hall Breakfasts at strategic locations throughout the state: Bloomington, Effingham, Maple Park, Springfield and West Frankfort. The events were wildly successful, and more are planned for 2024.

“We had farmers drive from two hours away,” says Ashley Barry, ISA Engagement Manager, “and we brought people together who didn’t know all of the things ISA does. In fact, some of them had never heard of us before.”

The events also allowed ISA to gain insight into what is happening regionally, she says. For example, northern Illinois tends to deal with more environmental issues than southern Illinois, so it's important for the ISA team to be able to hear from northern farmers firsthand about their specific concerns and priorities.

As the Town Halls rolled out, some common threads did emerge. “Farmers wanted to know about the EPA and ESA talking about introducing strategies for herbicides and fungicides and rodenticides,” Barry says. “There is a lot of concern from farmers, and they were asking questions like, ‘How do you prevent a bumblebee from nesting in your field?’ Well, you can’t, and that’s where ISA comes in, working in many ways to protect farmers’ rights.”

Bridge Bundling

Illinois is unique in that 60 percent of its crop goes to export, and its transportation system represents an unusually strong competitive advantage. Our ability to get soybeans from farm to transportation node via road, river and rail has historically been unparalleled.

Yet as in many other states, our infrastructure is aging and with it, our bridges. Ongoing investments are required to maintain and continue their use.

“For too long, we’ve not made these investments,” says Todd Main, Director of Market Development. “That creates a need for getting more from our dwindling resources.”

That’s where bridge bundling comes in. It's exactly what it sounds like: bundling contracts together into one request for proposal so that construction firms can bid multiple jobs at once. The goal is to save money and time on design and procurement. It’s a strategy that reaps huge returns.

“In Illinois, we’ve already saved 30 percent on design alone,” says Main. And that’s just the savings to date. Still more bridges need to be upgraded, and the projected total cost is $6.4 billion.

Eight percent of the bridges in Illinois are load-restricted or can’t be used because they’re falling apart. Of the approximately 20,000 bridges across the state, three out of four are owned at the county or township level. These bridges impact farmers directly and daily.

Although federal funds are available to supplement these repairs, the monies are so widely distributed that counties and townships may only receive 5 percent of what they need to complete the project. For example, it’s not uncommon for a bridge upgrade to cost $400,000. And many times, the federal allocation is only $20,000.

“The state has adopted bridge bundling, and so have the regional economic development organizations and counties,” Main says. “It makes a big difference, and we want to strengthen the economic foundation in our counties.”

That’s why ISA has funded a study to determine the opportunity cost of not repairing the many bridges in need. “We are foregoing revenue, as farmers have to go miles out of their way and expend fuel and labor and delay shipments,” says Main. “We know we are losing money. Now, we need to know how much.”

Results of the study are expected in fall 2024, but in the meantime, you can help advocate for the work. Contact your elected officials, and help raise awareness of the issue's significance and the scarcity of funding for bridge upgrades. “They can’t help if they don’t know about it,” Main says.

ISA has curated all of the information you need to support bridge bundling and made it easily accessible online at https:// www.ilsoy.org/bridge-bundling/ There, you can see Illinois' bridge report card, keep up with the progress we’re making and go to the dashboard to see the status on bridges in your area.

Broadband Breakthrough

Collaboration and connection are at the heart of everything ISA does, and nowhere is that more apparent than in the Broadband Breakthrough program. Last year, ISA piloted the program with the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, the University of Illinois Extension, the Illinois Broadband Lab and a research team from Illinois State University. They collaborated with community team members in Edgar, Hancock, McLean, Ogle and Schuyler Counties.

Knowing that state-of-theart internet access is vital to the growth and progress of agriculture throughout the state, ISA’s goal is supporting rural communities that are advocating for expanded broadband.

With $42.5 billion in federal funding coming to states from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, we want to make sure our rural communities are ready. Yet, broadband providers are the most vocal about funds distribution, and they benefit most from urban areas. ISA needed to help Illinois’ rural counties act quickly.

“The providers’ economic model is subscriptions, and that works well in urban areas with high population density, but not so well in rural areas,” says Main. “ISA feels strongly that since tax dollars are being used, rural counties should have a share of the pie. We need to change the conversation.”

In order to qualify for the funding, counties have a great deal of footwork to undertake, but many Illinois counties, especially rural counties, face capacity and staffing constraints that make that difficult. That’s where Broadband Breakthrough comes in.

“Illinois is getting a little over $1 billion. That’s motivating. Now we need to get organized and get our fair share,” says Adrianne Furniss, Executive Director of the Benton Institute, which has led counties in four other states through the Broadband Breakthrough program.

The program is structured so that counties form teams of eight to 20 stakeholders, who will become community broadband champions. They come from diverse backgrounds including government economic development, schools, healthcare, nonprofits and or businesses. They understand local needs, assets, politics and risk tolerance. They learn program tools and resources and gain in-depth knowledge of broadband technologies, local providers, business partnership models and funding sources. In the end, they leave the program armed with a community broadband action plan to guide their counties.

“After the four-month program, without exception there’s a core group that becomes strong advocates for broadband,” says Furniss. “I love seeing the lightbulb go off.”

The program’s collaborative and informative approach sets counties up for success. It takes a long time to find broadband partners, and Broadband Breakthrough gives counties the tools to discuss broadband in the community and then set the path to get there.

“Teams have very specific tasks during and after the program,” Furniss explains, “and in the cohort, they’re learning from each other. People really get energized.” One group built a community website; another applied for and received a state grant for a feasibility study to flesh out their infrastructure plan specifics.

Furniss and her team work with the counties to use the various levers of local, state and federal governments to get what they need.

That first cohort of five counties has since completed its 16-week program, and ISA has funded two more cohorts. A second cohort is underway, and at press time, a third cohort was about to launch. In total, 17 counties will complete the program in these three cohorts.

“Having Illinois soy involved by my side really facilitated getting farmers involved for the first time,” says Furniss. “ISA has a relationship with 43,000 soybean farmers within the farming ecosystem and used that network for communications and outreach.”

Broadband Breakthrough lays the groundwork for counties to advocate for what their citizens need and for a long-term commitment to making it happen. “We’re seeding these efforts for an impact with the community. This is a marathon, not a sprint,” says Furniss. “The bottom line is all about rural community health. Better broadband means better everything.”