Corn Production Critical to Illinois

As the largest industry in Illinois, agriculture is a primary underpinning of the state’s economy. According to information from the Illinois Department of Agriculture, the state’s 76,000 farms generate more than $9 billion annually in sales of commodities including corn, soybeans and a broad mix of livestock and specialty crops. More than $4 billion in Illinois ag commodities are exported to other countries each year. And, because food processing is the state’s number one manufacturing activity (supported by more than 1,000 food companies), the value of commodities grown in the state is multiplied many times over through the one million jobs required to produce, ship and market end products around the world. Nearly one in four jobs in Illinois is tied, directly or indirectly, to the state’s agriculture industry.

Companies like Syngenta support Illinois agriculture, and thus the state economy, by providing seed and crop protection products farmers need to produce a high-yielding, profitable crop. Many of these products are as critical to farm production as farmers are to the economy of Illinois.

• Nationally, 56 percent of corn production is used in livestock feed, 18 percent is exported, 13 percent goes to ethanol production, 5 percent for high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) used in soft drinks and other foods, and the remaining 8 percent goes to a variety of food and industrial uses including starches, cereals and alcohol. Click here for more information on the corn industry.
  
  
• Illinois farmers harvested 11,160,000 acres of corn in 2003, at a total yield of more than 1.8 billion bushels and a total value of approximately $4.5 billion.
  
  
• Illinois is a leading state in the production of ethanol. Each year, Illinois companies use some 275 million bushels of corn to produce nearly 700 million gallons of ethanol, a valuable product in reducing US dependence on foreign oil. Click here for more information on atrazine’s role in ethanol production.
  
  
• The US EPA estimates that farming without atrazine could cost corn growers $28 per acre due to yield loss and the use of more expensive herbicides. This would reduce the gross margin for the average corn farmer by approximately 20 percent, in a business where net profits are very difficult to maintain from year to year.
  
  
• In 2003, atrazine was used on 77 percent of Illinois corn acreage, making it hands down the most popular crop production product for the state’s corn farmers. Take atrazine away, and Illinois farmers, who grew more than 11 million acres of corn in 2004, are left with lower yields, higher costs and the creation of a $230 million drain on the state’s ag economy.
  
  
• Illinois farmers make a major contribution to the future health and prosperity of the state by responsibly managing their farmland. With 80 percent of the land in Illinois covered by farms, most of which are family-owned, farmers play a critical role in protecting the natural resources of the state. Through best management practices such as conservation tillage, fertilizer management, wildlife refuge support, and the use of buffer zones around waterways, Illinois’ farmers take their environmental responsibilities very seriously.