EAST PEORIA, Ill. — Hundreds of beef cattlemen and -women from throughout Illinois and the United States gathered in the Peoria area June 20-22 for the Illinois Beef Assoc. (IBA) Summer Conference and Industry Tours.

The itinerary included the annual IBA Beef Awards Banquet, Cattlemen’s College, educational workshops, tours of Caterpillar, Inc. world headquarters and foundries, Keystone-Red Brand and Funk Farms Trust and the IBA annual meeting at Funk Farms’ Research Acres.

Profitability, sustainability, environmental regulations and concern over animal rights organizations’ influence on policymaking and public perception were topics on the front burner during the banquet June 20. Guest speakers included Bill Christ, Illinois Corn Marketing Board (ICMB) chair; Colleen Callahan, state director of the USDA Office of Rural Development; Forrest L. Roberts, National Cattlemen’s Beef Assoc. CEO; and Mary Bell, Caterpillar vice president of Building Construction Products.

According to Christ, a grain and cattle producer from nearby Woodford County, onerous regulations enacted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and other government agencies are “costing commerce in this country $1.4 trillion per year. By the year 2050 nine billion people will be on this earth, and if you and I aren’t allowed to (do our jobs) of raising corn and growing beef, there are going to be a lot of hungry people.”

He noted how important it is for agricultural commodity groups and farmers to work together to bring greater education and awareness of the importance of modern agriculture to the public, academia and policymakers.

“Agriculture is under attack. (Farmers) are the true minority in this country right now,” Christ said. “One cooking event on British television brought on the ‘pink slime’ situation, and all of a sudden plants are closing and 650 people are laid off. That’s how fragile agriculture is.”

It is up to farmers to speak up in the face of criticism, half-truths and lies propagated by animal rights groups such as People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), said Christ, whose family has farmed the same land in Woodford County for 140 years.

“Every time the HSUS airs a commercial, millions of dollars goes into HSUS to fight production agriculture,” he said. “I don’t know where these people think the food is going to come from.”

His farm has featured row crops and cattle since the day it was established, coexisting in harmony much like the livestock and corn industries have in recent years, he said. “Let’s continue to work together,” urged Christ, who is also a member of the U.S. Grain Council’s Asian Trade Team and the Illinois Livestock Development Board.

Several awards were presented during the banquet, including IBA Farm Family of the Year, which went to Larson Farms Partnership of Maple Park. IBA officials said Ray and Carol Larson, son, Norm, and his wife, Barb, daughter, Lynn Martz, and her husband, Mike, along with grandson, Justin, his wife, Jamie, and great-grandson, Jaxston have set a great standard for answering consumer questions regarding food, farmers and farming.

The family has opened their operation to non-farmers as part of the Illinois Farm Families initiative, while representing the IBA, the Illinois Soybean Assoc., ICMB, Illinois Farm Bureau and the Illinois Pork Producers Assoc. The family is always eager to share their knowledge of effective ways to reach out to the state’s consumers about beef and farming, according to IBA President Jeff Beasley, who presented the award.

Larson Farms Partnership also received the honor of the 2012 IBA Environmental Stewardship Award, presented to conservation-minded beef cattle producers who showcase stewardship and business practices that coexist in progressive farms and ranches. Dave Seibert, retired University of Illinois extension animal systems educator, presented the award.

Seibert also acknowledged the recipients of the IBA Seedstock Breeder of the Year award, Jim and Ann Berry from Wildberry Farms of Hanover, and IBA’s Commercial Producer of the Year winner, Quarter B Farms of Pleasant Plains and Cattle Manager Cal Jillson.

Recipients of IBA scholarship awards were also acknowledged, as were winners of IBA’s Outstanding Affiliate Membership awards.

Many beef producers attending the banquet were brought to tears by heartfelt eulogies for Maralee Johnson, who succumbed to a brain tumor on March 21 after 23 years of leadership with the IBA, including executive vice president for the past 13 years. Johnson, of Springfield, was 61 at the time of her passing. “As I look around, there is one person missing from this (occasion), and that is Marilee,” said Callahan, who was a friend, colleague and college roommate of Johnson.

Johnson is survived by a son, Brent (wife, Elizabeth), of Springfield; a daughter, Lindsay, of Northampton, United Kingdom; her mother; two grandsons; and two brothers.