Farmers in Illinois are two years deep into a fight to raise the the estate tax exemption for family farm operations in the state.
The current rate of $4 million has remained for well over a decade and farmers in Illinois are lobbying state lawmakers to increase it to $6 million. The Family Farm Preservation Act was originally introduced by State Rep. Sharon Chung, D-Bloomington, and State Sen. Dave Koehler, D-Peoria, in 2024.
Darren Davis, a third generation corn and soybean farmer of about 1,200 acres in McLean County, is president of the McLean County Farm Bureau. His organization argues the additional $2 million mirrors the rate of inflation.
“It would have a tremendous effect on the heirs to the estates of farm families,” Davis said in an interview on WGLT’s Sound Ideas.
“A lot of times, when a father or mother passes away and the children inherit the farm, they end up with a pretty big tax bill from the estate tax if it’s over $4 million and [they] can’t afford that.”
In that case, it leaves heirs with the decision to either sell their family farm, or borrow money to pay the additional taxes. Davis said sales are usually made to corporate and out-of-state operations.
“It doesn’t stay local; it doesn’t stay with the family and in farming, family is kind of the deal,” he said. “It’s very important, and we’ve had farms that are centennial farms that have been in families for hundreds of years, and you hate to see it move onto somebody out of state like that.”
Davis argued it benefits more than just the families, saying when farms stay local, money stays local and the economy and history of the county are made stronger.
Perhaps the biggest obstacle to getting the act passed is the tough budget decisions facing Springfield, which Chung previously described as “tricky” this year.
“Obviously, everybody knows it’s difficult for lawmakers to give up money that they currently have, but we could make the case that by keeping farms in our local community, that tax money would stay here and they would get benefit of that,” Davis said.
Though the budget itself may not look optimistic, Davis and the farm bureau have the support of Chung and Koehler, and he thinks there are enough legislators to get behind the effort.
“And I think Gov. [JB] Pritzker has come out with a few comments that he’s willing to look at it and he thinks it’s a good idea,” he said. “If they can craft it right and move money around, I think there’s a lot of support.”
Davis admitted he thought the same last year when the bill failed to pass for the second year.
E15 mandate
Last week, Pritzker wrote to Congress asking to allow the permanent year-round use of E15, arguing sale of the blended fuel — 15% ethanol and 85% gasoline — could stabilize fuel markets.
The proposed mandate would allow the sale of the winter blend of E15 during summer months, which federal regulations have previously blocked due to concerns for an increase in smog.
Davis said in the last four years, many farms in McLean County have not been profitable, but this policy could change that outlook.
“There’s some people that say that if we had year-round E15, it might use an extra 2 billion bushels of corn with our current carry-out for [the] 25/26 crop,” he said. “That would take the carry-out of corn down to zero; if that was the case, ... that would have a tremendous effect on our bottom line and our ability to be profitable.”
As for the price at the pump, Pritzker wants the fuel to offer significant cost savings amid other benefits. Davis said there would likely be a change, but it’s not guaranteed.
“I mean, that all depends on obviously the price of corn at the time, but I’ve heard people say 20 to 30 cents a gallon of savings,” said Davis. “It also reduces some emissions…would help some environmental stuff…it would help local municipalities, more ethanol plants [and] workers working at the plants.”
In an interview with WGLT, Illinois Agriculture Director Jerry Costello said the main reason such a mandate has not been allowed is because of the petroleum industry. Davis’s experience leads him to a similar conclusion.
“There was a lot of resistance when [E15] first came out, but I think the petroleum industry is starting to realize that we need to diversity and use more different types of fuel and this would help go a long way and it would make our oil reserves last longer also, until we can figure out how to do things differently,” he said.
Davis said McLean County farmers grow a lot of corn, they are really good at it and ethanol fuel is an effective use of it.
In other farming matters, Davis said the planting season was looking at a dry start with some concerned about drought. However, the return of March and April showers have reversed those concerns.
According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, much of McLean County is considered to be abnormally dry.
Children’s Discovery Museum and county fair
The Children’s Discovery Museum in Uptown Normal unveiled its newest exhibit this week. Called “From Farm to a Healthy Me,” it focuses on teaching children about where their food comes from and Central Illinois agriculture.
Renovations were done in part with a $1 million gift from the farm bureau.
“We had a walk-through tour last week, and it’s a tremendous exhibit,” said Davis. “I just can’t get over how realistic the displays are. There’s pigs and cattle and there’s a combine and a tractor cab that is completely realistic. It’s one of the nicest things our city has.”
Davis said the exhibit celebrates not just Bloomington-Normal agriculture, but all of the Midwest. That was one of the goals behind the substantial donation to revamp the exhibit.
“Any way that we can promote ag and ag products and where your food comes from to the entire community, that helps, and the more knowledge about where their food comes from and the effect farmers have on everything and how we’re willing to work with everybody to be safe,” he said.
The bureau also is making financial gifts for future projects, including upwards of $1 million over the next three years to maintain and improve the McLean County Fairgrounds on Bloomington's west side.
“We believe the fair is one way of investing in agriculture education for our youth in the community, and we’re glad to do it,” said Davis.
The bureau will promote a new event, “McLean County Fair Fanfare,” with free food, music and games for the public on May 30. It will be held in conjunction with the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers.
“They’ll be hosting their quarter-scale tractor competition,” he said. “It’s a competition for collegiate teams across the country, and their tractor pull is in our grandstands at 7 p.m. on May 30, and that’s also free.”
The McLean County Fair will be held July 29 to Aug. 2.
