Delegates at the Illinois Farm Bureau Annual Meeting approved resolutions dealing with the upcoming 2012 Farm Bill and the EPA at the Bureau's 96th annual meeting Dec. 4-7 in St. Louis.

In a resolution related to the 2012 Farm Bill, delegates created a top tier of favored programs that includes direct payments and enhancements to both the Average Crop Revenue Election program and crop insurance. The resolution comes in anticipation of the American Farm Bureau Federation annual meeting in Atlanta in January.

The resolution indicates the delegation's support for a bill that is consistent with U.S. obligations under the World Trade Organization and maintains funding levels in the 2008 Farm Bill.

Delegates approved new policy language supporting a requirement for the EPA to collaborate with the USDA in the development of conservation and clean air and water regulations impacting agriculture.

Delegates also approved a sense of the delegate body resolution urging Congress to hold a series of oversight hearings on EPA's 'regulatory overreach,' to pass legislation to strip the agency of its authority to regulate greenhouse gases, and to cut the agency's budget as an effort to "restore common sense to environmental regulation."

"We believe EPA has greatly overstepped its authority and has burdened the nation's farmers over the past two years with a seemingly never-ending and overwhelming onslaught of new and proposed regulations," says Philip Nelson, IFB President.

The delegate voting was the culmination of the IFB's resolutions process which began over the summer, during which county farm bureaus and their individual members can offer resolutions for consideration first by a resolutions committee and, ultimately, by the Bureau's voting delegates.

In addition, three new members were elected to the IFB Board. Beginning two-year terms are Brad Temple of Serena in LaSalle County, District 4; Randy J. Poskin of Ashkum in Iroquois County, District 6; and David L. Severn of St. Augustine in Knox County, District 8.