What We're Working On

New bipartisan measures aimed at ensuring the preservation of family farms in the event of a family member’s death were announced after years of attempting to reform the Illinois Estate and Generation Transfer Tax Act.

Supported by Illinois Farm Bureau, Senate Bill 2921, introduced by State Sen. Dave Koehler, D-Peoria, and House Bill 4600, introduced by State Rep. Sharon Chung, D-Bloomington, are identical bills that if passed would change the state’s estate tax, specific to farms.


“Illinois Farm Bureau is proud to support the Family Farm Preservation Act because our policy supports the preservation of family farms and this is a bipartisan effort to keep farm families on the family farm,” said Brian Duncan, IFB president. “We are grateful and excited to see members from all four caucuses (lend their support for the legislation).”

The measures are aimed at addressing the discrepancy between escalating farm estate evaluations and annual farm income.

A U.S. new bill, referred to as the Consistent Egg Labels Act, could soon prevent the practice of mislabeling imitation or plant-based egg products using the term “egg.”

The bill states that food can only be labeled as an egg or egg product if the food is, contains as a primary ingredient, or is derived from the reproductive output of avian poultry species, including an albumen or yolk, that was enclosed in a calcium-based shell.

Farm Bill Focus on gaining the passage of a five-year Farm Bill before the current temporary Farm Bill expires in September 2024. A concerted effort will be to seek its passage in the first quarter of the year.

The Farm Bureau Board of Directors established the 2024 State Legislative Priorities at the December Board Meeting.

Members of Congress have introduced the TRUTH in Labeling Act- short for Transparency, Readability, Understandability, Truth and Helpfulness- that would direct the Food and Drug Administration to develop new front-of-package labels for foods and beverages sold in the U.S.

Cook County Farm Bureau® works hard to be a leader on legislative and regulatory issues that impact Farm Bureau members. As we prepare to represent farmers’ interests, we’re reaching out to you to determine what our highest priority advocacy activities should be in 2024.

Cook County Farm Bureau Board approved a resolution addressing the tremendous amount of food that is landfilled. In Illinois, twenty percent of the nineteen million tons of general landfilled waste is comprised of food.


Forty percent of all food in the United State gets wasted. One in seven Americans are food insecure. In Illinois, more than one million people struggle with hunger and food insecurity. While rescuing and redistributing surplus food is not a cure for hunger, it is an important stopgap in meeting immediate anti-hunger efforts.

Food insecurity is defined as the lack of consistent access to enough food for an active, healthy life. It affects approximately 33.8 million people in the United States and is linked to lower food quality and a higher probability of chronic disease diagnosis.


The Greater Chicagoland Food Depository projects that over 613,000 Cook County residents live in food insecure households. According to data from the Cook County Department of Public Health, the south and west suburbs of Cook County shoulder the greatest burden of low income and low food access, with over 35 percent of the population living in these land tracts are either low income or low food access.

The Illinois Nutrient Loss Reduction Strategy guides state efforts to improve water quality by reducing nutrient levels in our lakes, streams, and rivers. The strategy lays out best management practices for reducing nutrient loads from point sources (e.g. wastewater treatment plants) and non-point sources (e.g. agricultural lands), with long-term goals of reducing loads of total phosphorus and nitrogen by 45%, with interim reduction goals of 15% nitrate-nitrogen and 25% total phosphorus by 2025.

Livestock processing plays an important role in Cook County's economy.