Parker, Bunting meet with trade groups

DWIGHT, Ill. — International trade, a national barrow competition and local 4-H and FFA activities have kept Dan Parker on the run since he met with AgriNews a month ago.

In his role as an Illinois Corn Growers Association board member, Parker, along with Art Bunting, of Dwight, a member of the Illinois Corn Marketing Board, was in Chicago on Sept. 24 to talk trade and other issues.

“We have a staff member who organized this meeting that started working for Illinois Corn in February. His previous role was with the U.S. Trade Representative in D.C. So, he has a lot of trade background, and then he relocated to Chicago. We also had another staff member whose focus is on trade and exports who came up, and two farmers, Art and myself, to provide our perspective,” Parker said.

Among the trade topics of the meeting was the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement.

“We met with groups to talk about trade. They’re reviewing the USMCA. The comment period for the trade agreement is open right now. So, we met with the Canadian consulate and the Mexican consulate and just wanted to see where we could help each other. We’re all pretty much on the same page,” Parker said.

“We all wanted to continue and it’s been a really good thing for agriculture in all three countries. So, we hope that things are going to stay the same and we reiterated the importance of not only the grain, but also the biofuels as part of it. I think we had really good conversations.

“We also met with a food export individual for the Midwest who helps smaller companies, with under 500 employees, take their processed food product to export. They do advertising for them and connect them with buyers and other countries to expand their business. It really helps our export business that way, too.”

4-H, FFA

Dwight’s annual Harvest Days celebration was held Sept. 18-21 and 4-H and FFA members were busy.

The Parkers’ daughter, Sarah, is a Dwight Township High School senior, FFA chapter president and a 4-H member.

“We grow the Indian corn for the Harvest Days 4-H booth at our house and had all the kids come out. They helped pick it and shuck it back,” Parker said.

“Then we have a big meeting on the weekend before Harvest Days and they all come and tie all the Indian corn, we get the pumpkins, we get mums and we get all that stuff ready to haul in. The kids then sell that on Saturday and Sunday during Harvest Days.”

On the FFA side, the DTHS chapter hosted a tractor show for Harvest Days that included about 18 antique tractors.

Dwight’s FFA also recently hosted a Farm Safety Day at the chapter’s plot with grade school and high school students in attendance.

“They just showed them all the blind spots to be careful of on semis, auger carts and combines,” Parker said.

“They let them sit up in the combine and see for themselves. We parked the FFA adviser’s car behind the combine, and walking up to it, you could tell it was a little ways away, but when they sat in there, they couldn’t see it at all. I think it helped to teach the kids a lot about farm safety.”

National Show

In early September, the family went to a national barrow show in Minnesota.

“We took seven pigs total up there. Sarah got to show her four pigs there and the Bunting kids showed three. They did really good. I think they placed from third down to seventh or so in their classes, and Sarah got top 10 in showmanship in her age group. She was pretty excited about that. It was a pretty good accomplishment up at a national show,” Parker said.