Watch now: Central Illinois farmers ready for COVID funding In this July 24, 2019 file photo, soybean field contrasts with corn planted next to it in a low-lying area east of Bloomington. DAVID PROEBER, HERALD & REVIEW NEWS SERVICE KADE HEATHER BLOOMINGTON — Mike Briggs’ goal for his farm in 2021 has been to “get
Watch now: Central Illinois farmers ready for COVID funding
In this July 24, 2019 file photo, soybean field contrasts with corn planted next to it in a low-lying area east of Bloomington.
BLOOMINGTON — Mike Briggs’ goal for his farm in 2021 has been to “get back to life as normal.”
He’s aiming to revert to the point where he doesn’t need compensation from the government — something that helped his business stay afloat last year amid the coronavirus pandemic, and again with another cash infusion in April. That’s when the federal government produced funding mechanisms for farmers to sustain the market during COVID-19.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced in March $11.5 billion in funding for farmers — about half of which was a continuation of programs established last year, including another round of $20 per acre direct payments to farmers.
“We’re looking forward to a good year, hopefully,” said Briggs, 41, who runs M&M Briggs Farms in northern Champaign County with his wife.
Briggs
They recently started planting corn and soybeans on their “small family farm,” as business is trending upward this year after a gloomy 2020. COVID-19-induced shutdowns caused a pause in many industries that led to farmers having trouble finding buyers for their products.
“Last spring we saw a steady and consistent decline in the prices for some of the major commodities, in particular the major commodities that Illinois farmers produce — corn, soybean, cattle prices,” said Nicholas Paulson, an agriculture and consumer economics professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
The second installment of the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program, also CFAP2, is likely the most impactful program for Illinois farmers.
The CFAP2 consists of flat-rate $20 per acre payments that go to farmers who produce certain crops, with corn and soybeans on the list.
“There are obviously cattle producers and dairy producers in the state that’ll benefit from some of the new and additional funding that was a part of the announcement, but for the majority of the producers in Illinois that are corn and soybean farmers, it’s really probably that $20 per acre payment that (will be most impactful),” Paulson said.
Briggs said he already received his CFAP2 payment and knows what they’ll spend it on.
“For us it’s just going to pay for this year’s inputs – the seed, fertilizer, the chemicals, everything we need to get through this growing season,” Briggs said.
The pandemic never halted day-to-day operations at M&M Briggs Farms, but “things were definitely getting tight.”
“With the way the markets were there for a while, there was a lot of stuff slowing down it seemed like in terms of trade, so it (federal funding) was nice to have to kind of help us get through,” said Briggs, the former Champaign County Farm Bureau president.
The new payments issued in April are essentially covering losses associated with what farmers were producing in 2019.
“Prices are up now, they’ve been up since August of 2020, but that price decline that was experienced in the first half of last year, that’s really what these payments are designed to offset, and then it just takes time to get the money out,” Paulson said. “So, they might be receiving it at a time that’s perceived as a period where they don’t need it, but it’s really covering losses from an earlier timeframe.”
Woodland wildflowers are putting on a show this spring in Central Illinois locations such as Comlara Park, Bloomington’s Hedge Apple Woods and the ParkLands Foundation Merwin Preserve.
Briggs concurred that prices have increased lately, giving the illusion that extra payments aren’t necessarily needed right now; however, he says the funds were needed and have made a difference for their business.
“I think the biggest thing from us, from a farmer’s standpoint, is we were very appreciative of it (federal funding) at a time when it wasn’t easy for a lot of farms to get through that year,” Briggs said. “Our goal now is to hopefully get back to life as normal and not need any more of that as we move forward.”
A guide to political redistricting in Illinois
What’s at stake for voters?
At stake is who will represent voters in Springfield and in Washington. The process has raised questions of fairness and whether it ends up with politicians picking their voters rather than voters picking their representatives.
In 2014 and 2016, signature-gathering efforts were made to change the state constitution to create an appointed commission to redistrict the legislature, taking the process out of the hands of lawmakers and removing much of the political influence in drawing map lines.
But the legal requirements for putting citizen-initiative proposals on the ballot for voters to ratify a proposed state constitutional amendment are extremely narrow. A Cook County judge tossed the 2014 effort, and the Illinois Supreme Court’s Democratic majority voted 4-3 to reject the 2016 effort. In both cases the courts found the proposals went beyond the “structural and procedural” changes allowed for citizen-driven proposals to amend the state constitution.
What is redistricting?
Redistricting is the once-every-decade process of redrawing a state’s political boundaries to reflect population changes after the completion of the decennial federal census.
The process this year will be complicated by delays of getting refined granular census data to the states. That will force many states, including Illinois, to look at using alternative data sources and estimates to redraw map lines. Illinois’ constitution does not require the use of the census data in drawing maps.
How does it work in Illinois?
In Illinois, redistricting is a two-step process, one for redrawing the districts of the state’s 118 House and 59 Senate seats, another for remapping the state’s congressional district boundaries. Currently, under Democratic-drawn maps, Democrats hold majorities over Republicans of 72-45 in the Illinois House, 41-18 in the Illinois Senate and 13-5 in the U.S. House delegation.
Redistricting is traditionally the most political procedure conducted by Illinois lawmakers, the maps’ boundaries a determinant for which political party will control the General Assembly for the next decade as well as partisan control of the state’s congressional delegation in Washington.
The process is complicated, legally technical and often messy. Federal and state laws, and judicial rulings require provisions for racial and ethnic representation, keeping communities of shared interest intact and for districts to be compact, contiguous and as equal in population as possible.
Complying with those requirements in a diverse state, along with partisan political factors, is what prevents districts from simply resembling squares and instead result in odd jagged jigsaw-puzzle-shaped boundaries.
Drawing boundaries based solely on favoring a political party is known as gerrymandering. But legal requirements to design districts to guarantee a chance for representation by racial and ethnic groups is a form of legal gerrymandering that has been upheld by the courts.
Here’s how the state legislative redistricting process works
The state constitution prescribes the process for redistricting General Assembly districts but not congressional representation. For the state legislative remap, lawmakers have until June 30 to approve a map that is put into law. If they fail to meet that deadline, an eight-member commission is formed, made up of two members selected by each of the four partisan leaders of the Illinois House and Senate, to come up with a new map by Aug. 10. If that fails, a ninth partisan tiebreaking member of the commission is chosen by Sept. 5. A new map must be submitted by Oct. 5.
The drafters of the 1970 state constitution thought the tiebreaker provision would never be used by leaving the high stakes of partisan control to chance and force the eight-member commission to come up with an agreed-upon map. Instead, the eight-member panel reached agreement only in 1971. The tiebreaker was implemented in 1981, 1991 and 2001. Democrats won the draw in 1981 and 2001, Republicans in 1991.
Because Democrats controlled the General Assembly and governor’s office in 2011, a map was approved and signed into law by the June 30 deadline. Democrats control the legislature and governor’s office, meaning Republicans this time around will have little input into the legislative mapmaking process.
What’s at stake for politicians and lawmakers?
What’s at stake for politicians in Illinois is the opportunity to shape their own districts, ideally looking for the most politically favorable boundaries that avoid the prospect of a strong challenge from the opposing party.
At the same time, redistricting presents the controlling party with the opportunity to diminish representation from the opposing party by reducing areas favorable to them or forcing them to run against each other for the same district.
Here’s how the congressional redistricting process works
The basic process for congressional redistricting is different from legislative redistricting because the number of U.S. House districts in Illinois depends on population changes around the nation. Illinois now has 18 U.S. House seats, but is expected to lose one and perhaps two seats due to population losses in Illinois coupled with gains elsewhere, mainly in southern states, over the last decade.
The congressional mapmaking process is not prescribed by the state constitution, but state lawmakers have the power to draw the maps so under federal law. Lawmakers failed to come up with congressional maps in 1971, 1981 and 1991, leaving the task to a panel of three federal judges selected from nominees made by Democrats and Republicans as well as other interests.
In 2001, the legislature left the process to the state’s congressional delegation to draw a compromise map, which state lawmakers then approved. In 2011, with Democrats in control of the legislature and governor’s office, as is the case now, a congressional map was approved.
The Illinois House and Senate have scheduled several hearings around the state to take public input into the mapmaking process. But regardless of the outcome, both the legislative and congressional maps are all but certain to face court challenges.
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