PEORIA, Ill. – The Illinois Agri-Food Alliance (ILAFA) launched its “Agnitor” (pronounced Ag-niter) program about a year and a half ago to address the perpetual shortage of agricultural workers and educators in the state. The worker shortage is one of around six high-impact issues of the ILAFA, its manager, Tyler Strom, told a large group gathered at the USDA’s Peoria Ag Lab for a meeting of the local economic development council’s AgTech Connect program. The AgTech group was allowed rare access to the facility, officially known as the National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research (NCAUR), to hear presentations from a host of state agricultural leaders, including Strom.

“We are a statewide organization, a nonprofit that works on contract-for-collaboration around key issues of importance to the food and ag economy,” said Strom, who operates a specialty direct-to-market farm about an hour west of Chicago after being raised on a row crop farm. “These are issues like workforce development and education, issues around infrastructure, issues around climate…this is where an effort called FARM Illinois started as a food and agricultural roadmap for Illinois.”

Strom explained that the Food and Agriculture Road Map for Illinois (FARM Illinois) was established to develop a comprehensive strategic plan to enable Illinois and the Chicago region to become a leading global hub for food and agriculture system innovation. Released in May 2015, the FARM Illinois roadmap outlined strategic recommendations to set a standard for how the food and agriculture system can improve health, contribute to the economy, create jobs, employ new technologies, preserve the environment, adapt to a changing climate and help underserved communities.

ILAFA then organized as a statewide association to coordinate efforts across the food and agriculture system and implement the recommendations in the strategic roadmap. The nonprofit is composed of distinguished leaders with renowned experience in agriculture, international markets, global food security, sustainability, community development and related issues.

“ILAFA has 250 stakeholders representing many of the key organizations and companies in food and ag in this state,” Strom said. “Over the past year we have convened all these parties to really think critically about the future of Illinois’ food and ag ecosystem and how we can do a better job of breaking down barriers, working across the supply chain to think critically about how we can work better around these key issues.”

Anticipating and preparing for new trends and practices in agriculture are critical components of the success of ILAFA programs, especially in the specialty crop space. Urban agriculture and community food startups remain on the increase in the Chicago area, challenging the food processing system while enhancing opportunities for growers. The entrepreneurial, investment and insurance ecosystems within Illinois agriculture are also of interest to ILAFA.

Core ILAFA studies are carried out by working groups utilizing cross-sector collaboration. One of their prominent areas of focus in recent years has been on workforce development. Their workforce collaborative consists of a group of volunteers focusing on challenges to the educational talent pool for food and agriculture. The Illinois Agri-Food Workforce Collaborative was formed by ILAFA to address workforce shortages in those industries.

“Considering all of the assets we have in the state and the supply chain, Illinois ought to be the premier destination for training the talent needed for food and agriculture. But there are systemic challenges that need to be addressed that require public-private support in moving forward,” Strom said.

One of the fundamental challenges, he continued, is that people are simply not choosing to seek employment in food and agriculture. ILAFA seeks to change both the awareness level and perception of these employment opportunities. To reach more students with information about career opportunities, they rolled out the Agnitor program in 2023 to promote agriculture, food and natural resources employment opportunities within the state.

“We want to reach students directly by going into classrooms and connecting them with industry professionals to speak to students directly, and are able to relate in ways that show that agriculture is an exciting and diverse career choice,” Strom explained.

ILAFA also provides a collaborative environment for stakeholders to engage in lively discussion and exchange of ideas pertaining to some of the most pressing issues impacting the food and agriculture system. One such issue is PFAS in water, soils and biosolids, a key issue to ILAFA members.

“We’re seeing a need and opportunity to engage the wider agri-food public in talking about PFAS as a critical issue,” said Strom. “How do we understand the regulations and the impact on farmers that are going to be coming down? Where are the innovations occurring to create alternatives to PFAS and how can Illinois be a leader in the PFAS revolution?”

To help sort that out, the ILAFA will soon host a conference on PFAS.

Opportunities in PFAS remediation and advancing Illinois’ food and ag sectors will be at the forefront of ILAFA’s 2050 Vision project, which aims to develop a statewide strategy for Illinois’ $184 billion agri-food sector.

For more information, visit www.ilagrifood.org and www.Agnitor.org.