A big thank you goes to our Farm Bureau Women’s Committee for cleaning and planting new flowers in our FB flower bed under our FB Sign. Thank You, Thank You! It looks terrific!
On Thursday Morning a group of six ladies came to the FB with their shovels, rakes, trash bags, diggers and lots of new spring bulbs to plant. They cleaned, dug out weeds, old mulch and old debris from and around the flower bed. They cleaned around the perennials and then planted mums under the sign. Then lots of spring tulips, daffodils were planted. Finally a layer of red mulch was laid over the bed.

Be sure and take a look the next time you drive by the building.


Click on the Above Link a see the picture

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has finalized a regulation extending the deadline to November 10, 2011 for complying with requirements of the Spill Prevention, Control and Countermeasures (SPCC) rule for a very limited number of farms. The extension of November 10, 2011 applies to farms that came into operation after August, 2002.

While the EPA changed the compliance date for certain new farms from November 2010 to November 2011, farms in operation before 2002 are already under the requirements of the SPCC rule and should have a plan in place or updated to comply with the new requirements by November 10, 2010.

Facilities that exceed the thresholds of the rules must prepare and implement an SPCC plan that may be kept at the farm and must have a secondary containment structure (or use double walled tanks) around their tanks.

A couple of Tiers have been established for farms. Tier I facilities are farms with 10,000 gallons or less aggregate storage capacity that have no individual aboveground oil container greater than 5,000 gallons. Tier I facilities can self-certify and use an EPA-created plan template without having to have a professional engineer (PE) certified plan.

Tier II facilities (aggregated capacity of 10,000 gallons or less and an individual storage tank larger than 5,000 gallons) can also self-certify a plan, but it would not be EPA’s template. Facilities with greater than 10,000 gallon storage capacity must have oversight or a plan approval by a professional engineer.

If you still have questions about the new SPCC Rules(Spill Prevention, Countrol and Countermeasures) this chart should help you understand what you need to do.

If you need to file the templates check for a more detailed report on our "Latest News" section on our website.

Action Request on the Estate Tax



Please remember to call Senator Durbin (202-224-2152) and Senator Burris (202-224-2854) and ask them to support the Lincoln-Kyl amendment on the estate tax and bring it for a vote.



Be sure to report your contacts by calling 800-879-1976 or e-mailing fbact@ilfb.org and your county Farm Bureau.



To highlight the action request with our members, the following President's Commentary appeared in FarmWeek this week.





Clock Ticking Down for Estate Tax Reform



The Federal Estate Tax -- commonly known to farmers as the "death tax" -- is now in a dreadful state of limbo in Congress. Your help is needed to push through reform.



Those who support the estate tax say it is an effective way to stop the accumulation of family dynasties. It is a "rich person's" tax, or so it is said, with less than 5% of Americans paying anything at all.



But Congress has long recognized the estate tax can hit the middle class, and especially the owners of small businesses such as farms. That's why lawmakers put an escalating exemption in the law in 2001, gradually raising the amount of estate exempted from $1 million to $3.5 million in 2009.



Sounds like a lot of money. But it just barely kept ahead of increases in farmland prices over the past decade. And now, unless the law is changed, the broadly supported exemption is scheduled to snap back to 2001 levels.



Time is literally running out for Congressional action regarding the estate tax. The tax returns on Jan. 1, 2011, with a rate of 55 percent and a $1 million exemption. With such a low exemption, many more farmers and small business owners will be forced to pay estate taxes next year.



I have heard from farmers concerned that if they were to pass away, their children may be left without enough cash on hand to pay the tax and may be forced to sell off land in order to keep their operation going. These farm families worked their whole lives to build a business could be forced to give much of it away.



Congress is aware of the negative consequences of the tax for farmers and small business owners, but nothing has been done. Businesses that require tremendous capital but are often in a cash short position cannot afford to pay the high estate taxes dictated by the new law. Congress is heading into the pre-election home stretch and it is important that action takes place now!



This is a high priority for Illinois Farm Bureau and we are actively working on the issue. Farmers and small business owners have limited time to lean on Congress to fix this problem. We encourage every Farm Bureau member to participate in IFB's action request. Contact Senators Durbin and Burris to request their support for the Lincoln-Kyl amendment (which would raise the standard exemption to $5 million and lower the estate tax rate to 35 percent). Also, respond to the action request and contact your congressman today.



We are calling on Congress to provide a higher estate tax exemption and a lower tax rate. A higher exemption will protect average people, giving them a better chance to remain in business after passing through an estate settlement. This week we are organizing an action alert to target congress and push estate tax reform to a vote as soon as possible.



We seek your involvement!







For More Info Contact:

Chris Magnuson, Executive Director of Operations,

News and Communication



Phone (309) 557-3144

Fax (309) 557-2559

E-mail cmagnuson@ilfb.org

to the top











In This Issue

Action Request



Estate Tax Commentary





Upcoming Events





October 26-28, 2010



Managers to Washington



November 8-9, 2010



Resolutions Committee, Bloomington

ACTION MESSAGE

If Congress fails to act on the federal estate tax, it will return in full force in 2011 with a $1 million personal exemption and 55% tax rate.
• Action is needed now!
• Request a vote on the Lincoln/Kyl amendment with the Senator's support.
• (Personalize your message -- how will this impact you if action is not taken?)

CONTACT INFORMATION

• Senator Durbin at 202-224-2152
• Senator Burris at 202-224-2854

Check out this link from Springfield's State Journal-Register highlighting the Murphy Family Mule Farm in Rural Farmersville!

I have a quick update on the corn plot today (9-7-10). The Young Leaders harvested their plot this A.M. I don’t have the final numbers yet but they were real pleased with the results. I do know the low yield was 192.+ p/a and the high was 225.+ p/a something. The moisture ran from 15.2-3 up to 22. When they get me the final numbers I’ll put them on our website.

HAVE A SAFE HARVEST!

I want to thank everyone that bought theme park tickets from us this year. Six Flags St. Louis and Holiday World over in Indiana seem to be the places to go this summer.

Have a Safe Harvest and don’t forget to take time and use your “Drink for Drivers Coupons”.

We continue to have good usage of theme park tickets for the summer of 2010. However, discount ticket sales are soon coming to a close. The last day tickets may be purchase fom us is on August 31.



Thank you all for those that have bought tickets from us.

By Thomas Marten

The Montgomery County Farm Bureau Young Leaders have been enjoying many successes and achievements lately. Brian and Dacia Brown of Hillsboro recently were named finalists in the State of Illinois for the prestigious American Farm Bureau “Excellence in Agriculture” award that highlights and recognizes those who advance the industry outside of production agriculture. Brian is a representative of Bo-Jack Seeds and has been the District 14 Director with the Illinois Farm Bureau Young Leaders. His wife Dacia is an educator with the Hillsboro School District. They will compete during the Illinois Farm Bureau Annual Meeting this December in St. Louis against Tim McDermott of Monroe County. Also competing this December will be Thomas Marten of Raymond for his second showing at state representing Montgomery County and District 14 in the Illinois Farm Bureau Young Leaders Discussion Meet Competition.

During the Illinois State Fair Brant Wernsing, Brian Brown and Thomas Marten represented the county well. They brought home 4th place in the Illinois Farm Bureau Young Leaders Agri-Quiz Bowl after over 8 hours from their first round. They faced teams from across the state to make it into the finals where they fell to Stephenson County who has won the contest for 4 years now. The team was there also to take part in the festivities surrounding the fair’s Agriculture Day spotlighting the importance of the agricultural industry to the state.

The next Young Leaders Meeting will be Tuesday September 7th, 2010 at 8pm in the Montgomery County Farm Bureau Office on the square in Hillsboro. The Farm Bureau Young Leaders is open to any Montgomery County Farm Bureau Member ages 18-35 or the dependent of a member. For more information you may call Bob Lentz, Farm Bureau Manager at 217/532-6171. Be sure to look at the facebook page by searching for “Montgomery County Farm Bureau Young Leaders” or you can follow the link at www.montgomerycountyfb.com.