Chamber provides independent voice for Illinois businesses

CHICAGO — The Illinois Chamber of Commerce is the independent voice for businesses across the state.

“We are fully independent, we work for our members, with our members money and we don’t take money from the state,” said Lou Sandoval, president and CEO of the Illinois Chamber of Commerce.

The chamber represents over 3,000 members. About 35% of this membership includes large companies such as John Deere, Caterpillar and Abbott Laboratories.

“But the other 65% is the most important — the companies with less than 500 employees that are the backbone of America,” said Sandoval during a presentation at The Chicago Farmers meeting. “They make up 99.6 % of all businesses in the state.”

Agriculture, he said, is the No. 1 contributor to Illinois’ over $1 trillion gross domestic product.

“To stay in that top position and to position our state as a national global leader in food production, agricultural innovation is going to be important,” he said.

Illinois agriculture contributes $51 billion to the Illinois economy, the chamber president reported.

“Agriculture is a significant employer of 400,000-plus jobs, which is one out of every 17 jobs,” Sandoval said.

“We are a leading exporter. Illinois ranks fifth nationally in agricultural exports, which is about $10.6 billion worth of goods,” he said.

Sandoval talked with President Donald Trump on April 8.

“There’s a lot of dialogue going on with Mexico and Canada,” he said. “In July, I’m headed to Canada for an energy meeting with their prime minister to talk about the energy forward vision of the administration.”

Currently, technological advancements are at an inflection point, similar to other times in history, such as when the Model T was invented in 1908.

“By 1915, the horse and buggy were pretty much obsolete,” Sandoval said.

“If you are fighting technology, you’re like the horse and buggy industry,” he said. “Artificial intelligence is coming, so have a seat at the table and get on board.”

Sandoval said he advises everyone to be lifelong learners and develop a growth mindset instead of a fixed mindset.

“The skill of constantly pivoting will take you to the next level and give you resilience as you learn to adapt,” he said.

Sandoval discussed several headwinds that are impacting the agricultural industry, including climate and weather change extremes that are becoming more the norm. As a sailor, he tracks patterns.

“Because we have a hot land mass, the hot air rises and mixes with the cold air at the top of the jet stream and that creates thunderstorms,” he explained. “There is a band from Milwaukee to Oshkosh that we see a ton of weather come in.”

For the past 25 years, Sandoval has competed in the Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac that starts in Chicago and finishes on Mackinac Island.

“The last six years, I’ve seen more and more storms,” he said.

Labor shortages, supply chain disruptions, input cost inflation, land and water access challenges, trade policy, market access uncertainty and demographic and succession issues are also challenges facing the agricultural industry.

“There’s regulatory and political complexity and we’ve been talking to the governor about the estate tax,” Sandoval said.

“You don’t want to sell your farm to a private equity firm, but sometimes your heirs don’t have an option, so we’re chasing money out the door.”

However, the chamber president said, these headwinds can be navigated with technology.

“Iron Ox is a startup company that is using robotics to pull greens off of hydroponic farms,” he said. “These devices are working with human beings to increase yield and productivity and they also continue to work when it’s time for the humans to go home.”

Another example is GUSS that utilizes autonomous spraying technology.

“It is basically a tank on wheels that does watering in apple orchards and pesticide distribution,” Sandoval said.

Illinois universities are an important aspect of technology development, Sandoval said.

“The U of I Research Park is something to be really proud of. It is one of the innovative strengths we have,” Sandoval said.

“For us at the chamber, policy formation includes looking at research funding, so the universities have adequate funding,” he said. “It’s important we fund the universities. We can’t just redistribute the money because that weakens the other universities.”

The chamber focuses on policy advocacy and partnership building.

“We also focus on innovation programs and we are currently in partnership with the Springfield Innovation Center to bring capital to the U of I Springfield campus to invest in ideas that are there,” Sandoval said. “You can’t just have all the venture capital in Chicago. It needs to be distributed throughout the state.”

Collaboration includes four pieces of the wheel — industry, government, academia and community.

“The chamber likes to run point on being the connector,” Sandoval said. “We’re not about picking winners or losers. We’re about making sure all the pieces are talking to each other.”