Farm Credit & Pork Producers Partner to Provide
Free Harvest Lunch for Farmers
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Although Illinois farmers faced record price volatility this year in marketing their corn and soybean crops, several thousand farmers hauling grain to area elevators this month are certainly getting the best price for their lunch. |
Farm Credit Services of Illinois and the Illinois Pork Producers Association have teamed up to provide more than 6,000 free grilled pork burger meals during the harvest to farmers. The fourth annual "Free Harvest Lunch Grill Tour" is being held at nearly 40 different grain elevators and agribusinesses this month, in the southern half of Illinois.
“We understand how hectic harvest season is for Illinois farm families. Many farmers never even stop for lunch. So we are creating a rural ‘drive-through’ where folks can enjoy a free hot lunch while unloading their grain at the elevator. And we will send the haulers back to the fields with a pork lunch for the rest of their crew,” says Dave Owens, President and C.E.O. of Farm Credit Services of Illinois. “For as many consumers as each Illinois farmer feeds, it is a privilege for us to feed a few thousand farmers each fall.”
The Illinois Pork Producers Association sponsors the pork burgers through the group’s “Generations of Commitment” community outreach program. The pork burgers are grilled on-site at various grain elevators or agribusinesses by local Farm Credit staff. Pork burger sack lunches are distributed to farmers as they maneuver through the lines of trucks, tractors, wagons, and semi-trailers hauling mostly corn and soybeans to the elevators.
“Our pork producers are proud to share their high-quality products with other farmers, and we are glad there is something we can do to help ease the burden for them at this time of year,” said Jim Kaitschuk, Executive Director of the Illinois Pork Producers Association. “Grain and livestock producers alike are part of the agricultural cycle that feeds the world and strengthens the economy here in Illinois. Working together and supporting each other just comes naturally.”
The Illinois Pork Producers Association (IPPA) is an agricultural trade association representing more than 2,900 pork producers throughout Illinois. IPPA is an affiliate of the National Pork Producers Council and the National Pork Board. The Illinois pork industry contributes more than $1.7 billion and more than 7,800 jobs to the state’s economy.
Farm Credit Services of Illinois is a farmer owned and directed agricultural lending cooperative. With $2.3 billion of assets and 170 employees in 21 branch offices, they provide competitive and flexible farm financing and crop insurance expertise to 8,000 farmers, agribusinesses, and rural landowners in the southern 60 counties of Illinois.