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April 3, 2020
Impact of virus on farm Veterinarian weighs-in on COVID-19
AGRINEWS PHOTO/MARTHA BLUM
Kay Kuenker holds a puzzle piece shaped like an arrowhead that was part of a group exercise during the Women’s Seminar. Kuenker says all individuals have personality traits that can be changed through awareness and continuous effort.
By Tom C. Doran
Life is a journey Personality traits focus of Compeer women’s seminar By Martha Blum
AGRINEWS PUBLICATIONS
OTTAWA, Ill. — A person’s values and beliefs are developed from genetics, nurture and experiences. “Our values and beliefs start forming when you’re conceived,” said Kay Kuenker, business management consultant and coach for The Leadership Trail. “What you give your thoughts to creates circuitry that starts to drive habits.” Needs drive humans from the time they are born, Kuenker explained during a presentation at the Women’s Seminar sponsored by Compeer Financial. “If someone needs to be included, they might have been left out when they were growing up so that drives adult behavior,” she said. All individuals have certain personality attributes. “Personality is about finished by the time you’re 35, but what’s beautiful is you can change it,” Kuenker said. “It just takes awareness and continuous effort.” Every emotion triggers a chemical reaction in a person’s body. “Stress can trigger adrenalin or cortisone and sometimes that is good if you have a deadline or you are chased by someone,” Kuenker said. “We divert oxygen from our brain, so we can flee or fight.” See JOURNEY, Page A2
SEE SECTION B
INSIDE
Food banks face virus challenges A3 Truckers get overweight permit relief B4 Illinois pig numbers show increase C5 AgriTrucker B4 Alan Guebert C6
Farms For Sale C1
Auction Calendar B1
Livestock C4
Lifestyle A7
Business C7
Opinion C6
Classifieds C2
Science B6
Donna’s Day A8
Weather A6
Vol. 43 No. 6
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NIK JAKOBS PHOTO
Aaron Mosher, operations manager and location manager for the Sterling location of Rock River Lumber and Grain, unloads grain at the company’s Sterling location. Rock River Lumber and Grain is one of several agribusinesses that have started the Food Bank Fund to benefit food banks.
Farmers give back during virus crisis Donate grain in drive for food banks By Jeannine Otto
AGRINEWS PUBLICATIONS
STERLING, Ill. — Farmers are no strangers to difficult times. They’re also not strangers to stepping up to help neighbors in need. A Sauk Valley farmer has set the wheels in motion so farmers can turn donations of grain into cash to help food banks that are helping families impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. “We are all in this together,
and this is unprecedented. We’ve never been faced with a challenge like this,” said Nik Jakobs. Jakobs farms with his father, brothers and other family members as part of Jakobs Brothers Farms, a corn, soybean, wheat and beef cattle operation in rural Sterling. He’s been keeping up with the news about COVID-19 and the rapid spread of the coronavirus across the country and knew that he and other farmers could do something to help. He made a call to Northern Illinois Food Bank and discovered that food banks are facing increased demand from the feeding programs they serve. “It’s not necessarily that we have a massive problem at this minute, but I thought,
what if we are quarantined for a month or two months and if people are out of work for months? This is going to be a really big problem, and I wanted to get out in front of it, not wait for the problem to occur, but try to be proactive,” Jakobs said. He talked to Carey Bauer, co-manager at Rock River Lumber and Grain in Sterling. “I asked him if I could get a bunch of local farmers, could you create a food bank fund and then we could start distributing that money out to food banks in our area?” Jakobs said. Bauer was all in with the idea. So, Jakobs made a list of around 20 local farmers. See DONATE, Page A4
Decades of dedication Hiatt inducted into ISPFMRA Hall of Fame By Tom C. Doran
AGRINEWS PUBLICATIONS
PONTIAC, Ill. — A 45-year member was recently named to the Illinois Society of Professional Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers Hall of Fame. Rick Hiatt, of Hiatt Enterprises LLC, Pontiac, received the honor at ISPFMRA’s annual meeting in recognition of his long service to the organization that includes various officer and committee capacities. He currently coordinates the organization’s investment funds, is a member of the chapter’s memorial scholarship program and serves as District 3 vice president for the American Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers. He has held numerous offices with the Illinois chapter, including president. He’s also a liaison with the Community Bankers Association of Illinois. Hiatt holds both Accredited Farm Manager and Accredited Rural Appraiser designations from ASFMRA. Farming has been part of Hiatt’s life since day one, and the new hall of famer reflected on his early life and his career path in an interview with Illinois AgriNews.
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — We’ve read countless stories about the spread of COVID-19, also known as the coronavirus, but what impact could it have on the planting season and livestock production? Veterinarian Jim Lowe, an expert in infectious diseases at the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine, shared his perspective in a March 24 farmLowe doc-hosted webinar. His efforts on infectious diseases include extensive zoonotic work, particularly around influenza, in partnership with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Zoonotic is any disease that can be transmitted from one species to another. Here are several COVID-19 topics Lowe covered in the webinar. Did the coronavirus move from animals to humans? “That unfortunately occurs more frequently than we would like. We think most of the diseases that originated in humans came from another animal and in some cases disease that originated in animals. “For example, we believe porcine reproductive respiratory migrated from mice into pigs. This cross-species transmission is somewhat frequent. “The difference is that it doesn’t often take hold in the new species. A virus moves from a bat to a human, but the virus isn’t well adapted and it doesn’t replicate in humans and it doesn’t pass from human to human. See IMPACT, Page A4
Applicator training canceled By Tom C. Doran
AGRINEWS PUBLICATIONS
CAREER PATH TURN Hiatt was hired after college as a farm manager at Pontiac National Bank and was asked how his career path veered from studying ag education at SIU to banking.
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Pesticide applicator training and testing clinics and dicamba in-person classroom training have been canceled as a precaution against the spread of the coronavirus. T he pesticide applicator training and testing clinics cancellations were announced by the Illinois Department of Agriculture and University of Illinois Extension. These cancellations include the Peoria, Champaign, Moline, Matteson, Collinsville, Springfield, Alsip, Carterville, Skokie, Des Plaines, St. Charles, Springfield and DeKalb on-site testing locations. Applicators also cannot schedule or walk-in to take exams at the Springfield or DeKalb IDA offices until further notice. U of I will contact all those who registered for the clinics and will work to issue refunds for those who paid to attend the clinics.
See HIATT, Page A4
See TRAINING, Page A2
Rick Hiatt (left), of Hiatt Enterprises LLC, Pontiac, was named to the Illinois Society of Professional Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers Hall of Fame. Presenting the plaque citing the achievement at the group’s annual meeting is Dan Legner, past president of the organization. EARLY LIFE He was born and raised on a farm near Streator, and the family moved to Watseka during his school years when his father got a position with the Iroquois County Farm Bureau. Hiatt was very active in the Watseka FFA and the 4-H programs in the county and credited those experiences into molding his career path. After high school, he attended Southern Illinois University at Carbondale where he earned an agriculture ed-
ucation degree, followed by four years of service in the U.S. Navy. Upon his honorable discharge, Hiatt enrolled in graduate school at SIU to study ag economics.