Two Illinois County Farm Bureaus were among 12 in the nation selected as winners in the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) County Activities of Excellence (CAE) Award. The Woodford County Farm Bureau (WCFB), headquartered in Eureka (county population 38,664), and the Kane County Farm Bureau (KCFB), located in St. Charles (county population 534,216), each had winning programs featured during the virtual 2021 AFBF Annual Conference, Jan. 10-13.

In Eureka, the WCFB’s Women’s Committee responded to both the COVID-19 pandemic and the unique needs of small school districts by stepping up their “Lesson in a Bucket” initiative that delivers Agriculture in the Classroom materials to third-grade teachers at nine public schools and one private classroom within the small school district. In all, the buckets are available to around 500 students each year.

“After experimenting with having local speakers come into the classrooms we decided we could get more reach for the program with the Lesson in a Bucket,” said Malena Cook, WCFB manager. “We collect 25 gallon buckets – most farmers have them laying around – and we pack them with Ag in the Classroom lessons for teachers to use at their convenience.”

The women’s committee offers six themed lesson buckets, including information on grain (corn and soybeans), livestock (cattle and pigs) and natural resources (soils, seed and pollinators). In addition, Illinois Ag Mags and activity sheets, books and more are included in the buckets. When a classroom completes the activities in one bucket, their instructor can simply request another for delivery. 

In addition, each classroom is assigned an “ag pen pal” to correspond with when questions or special requests arrive. “The pen pals are ladies from our women’s committee as well,” Cook said. “They are able to answer any questions the teachers may have, and the pen pals may also share farm news and snapshots from their own farms with the teachers and students, which the kids absolutely love.”

The bucket program actually began on a limited basis in 2015, but was expanded in 2018 to include all schools within the district. “It happened to work out nicely as a program when the pandemic occurred,” Cook said. The AFBF evidently agreed.

In St. Charles, KCFB Manager Steve Arnold said their CAE award-winning project originated with a public policy success, the passage of a stormwater ordinance that allowed farmers to install “stormwater best management practices” rather than stormwater detention during new development on farms and buildings. To celebrate that success, KCFB volunteers planted a pollinator-rain garden on their property, just a few feet from a road that carries more than 50,000 vehicles per day. The county’s water resources department supplied plant materials for the project.

Arnold explained that the rain garden method volunteers decided on helps address stormwater runoff from the WCFB parking lot, while the pollinator garden serves to highlight efforts of farmers to restore habitat. The project was bestowed a “Conservation at WORK” designation from an area conservation group and was featured in local news media reports. 

“We were well pleased to receive this award,” Arnold said. “We were honestly pleased we were able to come up with an activity and a project that could bring together safely a limited number of volunteers during the pandemic. A pollinator-rain garden is not uncommon, but I think what was unique about ours is that we created it in recognition of a public policy success for our farmers.”

The garden, partially funded through grant funds from the Illinois Farm Bureau, is also intended to inspire passersby to devote some of their own property to pollinator-friendly plants when possible. It also honors the farm bureau’s commitment to working in a democratic manner with their local county board of commissioners and other regulatory bodies to achieve fair and beneficial results for all.

Community reaction has been 100 percent positive, according to Arnold, though he expects the formal garden will have more of an impact when it begins to grow out.

“At only 75 feet off the road the garden is in a highly visible location. Not only does it attract attention and create a positive impression of farmers, it is in a location where people can see it develop and grow,” he said. “It is a very attractive addition to our property that will also attract pollinators and be beneficial for our environment.”

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the 2021 AFBF Convention was held via an online format. Winners of AFBF CAE awards have their expenses paid for their next trip to an in-person annual AFBF Convention.