OGLESBY, IL – Today, at the Illinois Corn August Board Meeting, U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) met with leaders to discuss the impact that rising costs have had on Illinois farmers and the agriculture industry. Among their shared priorities, Duckworth and the members underscored the importance of supporting family farmers by expanding the biofuels market, increasing agricultural exports and improving farm safety net programs as Donald Trump’s policies drive up the costs of supplies and threaten critical federal agricultural programs. Photos from the Illinois Corn Board Meeting can be found on the Senator’s website.
“America has always depended on our nation’s farmers to grow the food and fuel we need, and I’m proud to advocate for them on both the national and international stage,” Duckworth said. “Donald Trump promised no new wars and lower costs. And yet, the cost of everything from diesel to fertilizer to key agricultural inputs continues to skyrocket while he’s focused on building a ballroom for his billionaire buddies. Illinois’s farmers are essential to the strength of our state and our nation, and I will always fight to ensure they have the support they need to succeed.”
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In the Senate, Duckworth has been a leader in supporting and expanding biofuels. To help increase the availability of E15 biofuels, Duckworth helped introduce the bipartisan Nationwide Consumer and Fuel Retailer Choice Act of 2025and the bipartisan Next Generations Fuel Act to allow the year-round, nationwide sale of ethanol blends higher than 10 percent. Duckworth additionally helped introduce the bipartisan Home Front Energy Independence Act to ban Russian oil and expand the use and production of biofuel that’s grown in the American heartland, while providing American families with a less expensive option to fuel their vehicles. In 2024, she helped introduced the Farm to Fly Act to help accelerate the production and development of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF). Earlier this year, Duckworth condemned Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson after he secretly stripped a bipartisan compromise on E15 gasoline from must-pass government funding legislation that would have supported American farmers and lowered costs. Duckworth is also a founding co-chair of the Senate Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) Caucus.
As a member of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Duckworth has been an advocate for Illinois agriculture across the globe and helped secure significant wins for Illinois and American agriculture. After Duckworth’s visit in 2023, Japan announced a regulatory change that will lead to an increase in imports from U.S. biofuel producers, supporting our farmers and growing Illinois’s economy, and following a prior trip to Taiwan in 2022, she helped secure a commitment from Taiwan to purchase an estimated $2.6 billion of our Illinois’s corn and soybeans.
