(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — The proposed Peotone airport and the growth of warehouse parks are prompting farm and soil conservation groups to try to stop the reduction in farmland in the south suburbs.
Farm advocates say they renewed their effort opposing the project when Gov. JB Pritzker approved $162 million for a new I-57 interchange near Peotone and related infrastructure projects.
“It might not be super-prime in some of those areas; however, it’s definitely good ground that we can produce good crops over there,” Mark Schneidewind, general manager of the Will County Farm Bureau, said.
The farm bureau recently joined forces with the Will/South Cook Soil and Conservation District and the Iroquois County REIT (real estate investment trust).
“We knew that there was a push for the airport happening again when you start seeing budgets passed at the state level to do some of those interchange projects that aren’t really benefiting anything,” Schneidewind said.
He said new warehouse developments are making it harder for farmers at a time when people want more fruits and vegetables locally grown.
”There’s been more and more people asking for local foods, and so we feel this is a great opportunity to meet those local food needs.”
Schneidewind says solar and wind farms are having an impact on traditional farms, too. He said there needs to be a balance.
“If they’re taking land out of production, we’re not going to get that back,” he said.
Schneidewind says the groups have long opposed an airport for Peotone. For more than 20 years, the state has bought more than 4,200 acres of farmland in Will County for the purpose of building an airport.
The main crops grown on south suburban farms are corn and soybeans.
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