The last time USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack visited Kankakee County, farmers were planting soybeans. And when he returned Monday, beans there were being harvested.

Vilsack appeared Oct. 16 at a fourth-generation grain farm in rural Kankakee to host a roundtable with local ag stakeholders about investments USDA is making to advance small to mid-sized farms and enhance local food systems. He was just a few miles from the grain farm he visited with President Joe Biden about 18 months ago in May 2022.

The ag secretary was joined this time around in a machine shed — it featured a pair of John Deere tractors — by U.S. Reps. Robin Kelly, D-Matteson, Jonathan Jackson, D-Chicago, state Sen. Patrick Joyce, D-Essex, and state Reps. Sonya Harper, D-Chicago, and Jason Bunting, R-Emington, and Illinois Department of Agriculture Director Jerry Costello II.

Vilsack used the event to outline his vision for expanding the farm economy “from the middle out” by investing in operations and rural communities that lack resources and by creating new market opportunities for “climate-smart” commodities and “sustainable” ag products.

“All of this is designed to create multiple ways that same farming operation can receive multiple streams of revenue at the same time, beyond simply selling a basic commodity,” Vilsack explained to an audience of farmers and leaders from state commodity groups and food groups.

Essential to that system will be on-farm and rural business infrastructure that allows producers and entrepreneurs to cut their energy costs by utilizing solar arrays or wind technology, Vilsack said, pointing to grants awarded under the Renewable Energy for America Program (REAP).

Excess energy generated through on-farm renewable systems under REAP pooled “with neighboring farms and then go to the electric coop … could potentially create a whole new economy for that farm,” Vilsack explained while grain trucks rolled past the farm.

About $8.6 million in REAP funding was awarded earlier this summer to 274 projects across Illinois, including a $114,000 grant to the Perreault farm that hosted Vilsack Monday.

Matt Perreault, a fourth-generation farmer who manages the corn, soybeans and wheat operation, said the REAP grant will be used to convert his propane-fired grain bin dryer system to an electric-powered system.

“We’re gonna go from a dryer that at full heat dries about 400 bushels an hour to a dryer that’ll dry and cool 1,000 bushels (an hour),” Perreault told FarmWeek. “We’re gonna double the capacity and by blowing the grain into the bin cool, as opposed to hot, be able to run the fans less.”

The shift is expected to save the farm more than 156,000 kWh — enough energy to power 14 homes — and $9,300 in utility bills each year, according to USDA.

Perreault, 34, said he’s utilized a range of USDA programs through his farming career, including a guaranteed Farm Service Agency operation loan; incentives under the Conservation Reserve Program for using filter strips and planting 40 acres of pollinator habitat; and contracts through the Conservation Stewardship Program for planting cereal rye and practicing strip tillage.

The northern Illinois grain farmer also looks to federal risk management tools, and this year for the first time enrolled his double-crop soybeans into crop insurance.

Eligibility for that enhanced coverage benefit was expanded during the Kankakee County farm visit by Vilsack and Biden last year. All 102 counties in Illinois are eligible for the coverage.

Vilsack said Monday the expansion of crop insurance for double-crop beans led to the Risk Management Agency in 2023 processing 4,166 new requests nationwide, with nearly one million additional acres being insured. About 200 more requests were processed in Illinois and that increase led to a 40% increase in winter wheat plantings in the state, according to USDA.

Perreault said this season he planted double-crop beans on two different wheat farms, and while he may not collect a payment on one stand that’s “pretty good looking,” he’s thankful to have the option if things turn south.

Vilsack also spotlighted Monday outcomes of the Fertilizer Production Expansion Program, the program he and Biden announced an additional $250 million in funding for at last year’s Kankakee County farm visit.

Now funded at $900 million, the FPEP has distributed $121 million for 33 projects to expand domestic fertilizer production facilities. None of the awarded projects are in Illinois, but Vilsack said some funding for the state is “coming down the pipeline.”