We kicked off the month of August with a congressional visit from Rep. Darin LaHood (R-IL16) and his staff. We have been in communication with Rep. LaHood’s office for a few years now and really appreciated them accepting our offer to host a field visit. It was an excellent opportunity for our family to share not only about Spring Grove Nursery, but about the other diverse businesses our greater family farm operates together. He came with insightful questions about the green industry, and we were able to share resources from Landscape Illinois and AmericanHort about the scope of our industry, specialty crop production, and diversified agriculture in our district. Rep. LaHood’s district is the 10th top-producing agricultural district in the country, however most of that is attributed to conventional corn and soy production and pumpkins. He shared that he had never visited a tree nursery before, and it opened his eyes to the long-term agricultural planning and struggles existing in the row-crop USDA systems many in our industry are forced to navigate. We felt overall very positive about our visit with Congressman LaHood and think it is important to foster relationships with our elected officials, regardless of party affiliation. We look forward to continuing our conversations about how our representatives can actually represent *US*. These conversations remind us that our work in the fields is part of a larger network of growers, leaders, and community members committed to cultivating a greener future.
