State officials are pushing for widespread use of organic products in DuPage County, and the Illinois Farm Bureau (ILFB) is pushing back.
On a rainy day trip this past Spring, Illinois State Representative for the 48th district, Terra Costa Howard, traded her heels for a pair of boots. As she stepped into the wet mud on a local livestock farm that recently switched to organic practices, she greeted her friends from the ILFB with a smile and handshakes all around.
Curious to learn more about the challenges they faced in their transition to less chemical-intensive farming, Howard jotted down detailed notes while following her friends through the property.
At one point, a member of the ILFB expressed that one of the biggest challenges they face on livestock farms is protecting their herds from getting sick. They say it is nearly impossible to deter harmful pathogens with antibiotic restrictions per organic label and state-level guidelines.
"If one animal falls ill, it's a domino effect, and they all fall ill," Howard explained.
Produce farmers face similar challenges with pesticide restrictions. When one crop becomes infested, they all become infested.
In both cases, farmers often have no choice but to overcompensate for the loss by increasing spending and work hours to alter their practices and replace their livestock or crops.
Until that day on the farm, Howard did not understand why policies on limiting access to conventionally farmed foods on the state and county levels faced pushback from the ILFB. As a mother of three, she always focused on how pesticide and antibiotic consumption through conventional meat and produce impacts the health of DuPage County's younger populations – whose underdeveloped internal organs struggle to digest and excrete them more than adults.
Research extending over the past two decades shows that when the lipophilic toxins in these pesticides and antibiotics bypass digestive and excretory processes, the body stores them in fat tissue.
This bodily reaction has been linked to "a myriad of detrimental effects on health, such as propensity to develop diabetes, obstructive sleep apnea, heart disease, mood disorders, and other
chronic health conditions," according to Duly Healthcare's top-rated immunologist, Dr. Brian Smart.
"I am alarmed by the information revealed in those studies," the District 48 Rep. adds.
In turning that alarm into motivation, Howard supported food quality-related policies proposed by Illinois General Assembly members Elizabeth Hernandez and Bill Booth in 2021. These policies removed conventional foods from school lunches and replaced them with healthier alternatives.
Though, Howard claims that neither schools nor farms can afford this in the long term because transitioning to less chemical-intensive food increases spending for local farmers and prices for consumers.
She believes a more feasible solution would be to formulate a policy that incentivizes lower production costs for organic practices. Such a policy would alleviate the financial burden on farmers, simultaneously lowering consumer prices.
However, doing so would require help from the federal government – a historically difficult task.
In the meantime, the DuPage County Board approved a $5 million allocation for food quality-related support to community members on Tuesday last week. The support came from the Federal American Rescue Plan Act – President Biden's post-COVID plan that directly delivers relief to Americans.
The funds will be distributed as follows:
$1.75 million will go to the Northern Illinois Food Bank to allow for the purchase of fresh produce and other personal health resources.
$1 million will go to the Northern Illinois Food Bank's 46 partner agencies in DuPage County, with which a cash assistance distribution will be created and approved by the County Board in October.
And $2.25 million will be used for investments in distribution infrastructure, including refrigerated vehicles, distribution hub facilities, technology improvements, or future grant opportunities.
In an effort to "help mothers get their families the food and information they need for proper growth and development," the DuPage County Health Department also wants community members to know that they offer the Woman, Infants, and Children program (WIC).
WIC is a supplemental nutrition program in the department's Public Health Services sector.
The program – administered by the Illinois Department of Human Services and backed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture – provides women and their families with access to nutrition screening, nutrition counseling and education, breastfeeding support, and nutritious food support services.
Most notably, the nutritious food support service supplies those in need with healthy food options from a wide range of local sources. Some options are milk, eggs, cheese, fruits and vegetables, whole grains, dry beans, and dry peas.
To Howard, each is a step in the right direction. But, she firmly feels they are not the answer to the longevity of community members or farmers.
State and county officials must first figure out the cost differential for DuPage County farmers to feasibly fuel the community with organic food – factoring in potential risk, too.
Without that, she presumes, "local farms do not have a large enough profit margin to change the way their food is grown and raised."