SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – The Illinois State Fair is known for its giant Abe Lincoln statue, hand-sculpted Butter Cow, crispy corn dogs, tractor pulls, livestock contests – and politics. The latter was on display during Agriculture Day, Aug. 8, when U.S. Reps. Nikki Budzinski (D-13th district) held an impromptu press gaggle at the state fair’s Commodities Pavilion.

Among the topics Budzinski, a member of the House Committee on Agriculture, discussed were the fledgling farm bill, the “Big, Beautiful” budget package, changes to the USDA’s (USDA) footprint and programs, and the ever-changing tariff landscape.

“Republicans broke apart the farm bill coalition with the Big, Beautiful Bill,” said Budzinski, whose 13th Illinois congressional district encompasses Macoupin County and parts of St. Clair, Madison, Sangamon, Piatt, Macon and Champaign counties. “There were (disagreeable) reference price adjustments, there were some key components obviously when it comes to nutrition with almost $300 billion in cuts. So, how do we after that come back to the table and sit down to bring the rest of it across the finish line? We should all be talking to each other to figure out a path forward to rebuilding the trust.”

For her part, Budzinski wants to see the farm bill’s safety net strengthened, along with a bipartisan agreement to fund agricultural research and support young and beginning farmers through farm bill programs, among other priorities.

“There’s a lot of work we have to do to support our farmers right now. We have a lot of challenges, and should be at the table working to get a final agreement done,” she said. “But certainly, if there were any further cuts to the nutrition program that would end the conversation. (Also) with the conservation title, while we were hoping to see a $14 billion investment in climate-smart agriculture added to the baseline of the farm bill last congress, they pulled those conservation dollars away with the Big, Beautiful Bill to pay for tax cuts.”

Budzinski sees biofuels as an area where House Republicans and Democrats can meet on common ground. Together, year-round E-15 and a stronger Renewable Fuels Standard could be achieved through bipartisan farm bill action, she said.

Budzinski expressed deep concern about the administration’s clawing back of funding earmarked for Illinois producers and food banks through USDA-led grant programs that pay for local food production. “We have a lot of great local food purchasing partnerships in central and southern Illinois between our growers and food banks, and we’ve got a lot of hungry people out there. The USDA terminated all of those grants, and that has left a lot of our growers and some of those food banks in a tough spot. I’m continuing to advocate to see if some of those programs can be restarted with the USDA,” said Budzinski, who also objects to the uprooting of the USDA from Washington, D.C., and the consolidation of USDA facilities around the nation.

“This specifically hurts our farmers’ ability to get access to technical assistance,” she said. “Cutting more staff will only erode support, and cutting more grant programs our farmers rely on is deeply concerning to me. I think that as a committee we should continue to follow this very closely.”

Budzinski said she raised some of these concerns with USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins when Rollins spoke to the House Ag Committee, along with her disdain for recent export tariffs leveled by President Donald Trump on some of the U.S.’ key agricultural trading partners. 

“I heard from our growers and to be fair, they had a wait and see approach. But what I’m hearing at Ag Day at the state fair is that there is growing concern for what these tariffs are going to mean for growers in particular. Brazil is our number-one competitor, and they will grow more and take more of the market share because they know that with these tariffs and retaliatory tariffs on our soybeans, they are going to be able to sell to some of the markets we sell to today,” Budzinski said.