(light music) (camera shutter beeping) (upbeat music) - Thanks for joining us on this special edition of "In Focus."

I'm Fred Martino.

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Du Quoin State Fair.

We're gonna be talking about that and Illinois's pivotal agriculture industry.

Joining us Du Quoin's State Fair Manager, Josh Gross, and Illinois Department of Agriculture Director, Jerry Costello II.

Thank you both for being here today.

- Thank you for having us.

- Fred, great to be here.

Just happy to be with you.

- Great to have both of you here.

And I wanna start with the fair, which is underway.

Josh, amazing, this is the 100th anniversary.

Tell us about some of the highlights.

- You know, it's a special year.

Very rarely do you get to be a part of something that's a 100th anniversary.

So when you do, you gotta take it pretty serious.

And I think that's something we've done.

Everyone in the Department of Agriculture, everyone at the Du Quoin State Fair, we're excited to be a part of it.

We've had a lot of improvements on the grounds over the last 12 months, whether they have been building renovations, whether they have been infrastructure improvements.

The entertainment value of this fair, we feel like we've really grown and made something special for the whole region.

We think we've really got a little bit of something for everybody.

It's just we know how important this fair is to the entire Southern Illinois region and to the Southern Illinois economy.

And having an anniversary year fair is something that we are just really excited to celebrate.

- And I know a lot of work goes into this, that you work for an entire year getting ready for this event.

It is a lot of work, and in addition to working to get the fair going, there's been a lot of improvements at the fairgrounds.

I was able to come out there and see some of those.

Tell me about some of the improvements.

- Sure, well, Governor Pritzker has really worked on getting some capital development dollars to come to the Du Quoin Fairgrounds.

He's visited numerous times.

They realize just how much of an engine it really truly is for Southern Illinois.

So we were able to get some capital development dollars and start renovations on both our front gate and our grandstand this year.

The grandstand is the larger project, of course, just based on the scope of and size of that building.

We're getting some tuckpointing done.

There's some original painting that has had to be abated and removed.

And we've got new painting.

And the whole undercarriage and ceiling of the grandstand itself, it's night and day how much better and how much improved that will look.

- Yeah, night and day, for sure.

With this photo that's on your Facebook page, we can see the before and after image.

It's a great image.

You've got a lot of great images on that Facebook page.

- We've tried to highlight the history and the improvements that have been going on over the last few months, specifically.

There's obviously been construction around the building for the better part of the year now.

And the public, the community, has been driving through and taking their own pictures and kind of showcasing the things and the improvements that they're seeing.

You know, that's building, it's an iconic building.

It's been taken care of and maintained to the best of the ability for decades.

It was in time for some renovations.

And I think that's what we're getting between the, as I said, the tuckpointing, the glass block window replacements, the neon lights, which is something that we're really excited about.

Those neons, in my childhood, were something that, when you came to the fair, that building stood out.

It just made you excited when you walked by it.

It fit the fair, and one of the main reasons was because of the color that came through the glass blocks in the front of building.

And that hasn't worked for a long time, so that's something that we highlighted as a major improvement that we wanted to bring back and that everybody that has been going to the fair for decades and their families that have been going for decades I think are gonna appreciate seeing those turned on again.

- Very exciting stuff.

Well, Jerry, I know that young people, always involved in the fair, of course.

This is a highlight.

And there is some other good news this year, because the Illinois Department of Agriculture announced that Future Farmers of America dues for every student taking ag education classes across the state are gonna be covered this fall.

- Fred, that is absolutely the case.

And whether you look at Future Farmers of America, FFA, you look at 4-H, youth and agriculture is so, so important.

Ag's the number one industry in the state of Illinois.

It's roughly a 19 billion annual economic impact.

We export 8.5 billion from the state of Illinois, agriculture related.

We're number one in the production of soybeans, number two in the production of corn, number one in the production of horseradish, number one in the production of pumpkins, we're number four in the production of pork.

It's such an important economic driver, and these kids are the future of agriculture in our state.

So to your point, what this will actually do, Governor Pritzker and the General Assembly appropriated $550,000 to pay those dues for FFA members.

Currently, there's 23,000 FFA members in the state of Illinois.

That is a record, but there are are 37,000 high school kids taking ag classes in the state of Illinois.

This will allow for those 37,000 kids to be FFA members.

So it's an increase of 14,000, from 23,000 to 37.

FFA, it's so important in so many ways, so we're thrilled to be able to do this.

- And such a great time to do it.

You know, a lot of people watching this show have heard about the labor shortage in many industries.

I understand though that this is particularly an issue in agriculture where many farmers are at or near retirement age.

What else do you think can be done to encourage more interest in agriculture careers?

- So, Fred, that's a terrific question.

And I would tell you, one of the things that we at the Department of Agriculture do, we work together with the four ag schools in the state of Illinois.

So that would be U of I, Western Illinois University, Illinois State, and my alma mater, SIU.

So it's very, very important that we work to focus on agriculture as the number one industry in the state trying to make sure kids understand the economic opportunities so when they're going to school, they go to school, a lot of times, in those vocational aspects.

Agriculture involves so much technology nowadays.

Anybody that looks at an agricultural piece of equipment, if you climb into a new combine, what have you, the GPS is the technical aspect of agriculture, precision agriculture.

Things have changed, and the average age of a farmer in the state of Illinois is about 57 to 58 years old.

So, they're getting up in age and it's so, so important that we have this future generation of ag leaders, we have them well trained.

And not only that, when they graduate high school, we keep them in the state of Illinois to go to college here, to stay in the state of Illinois, and to grow into jobs in our number-one industry.

- Outstanding, Josh, how do you see the fair as a way to kind of expand this knowledge of agriculture, have, in addition to young people, more residents, more visitors, better understand the importance of agriculture in our state?

- Well, just like the director said, I mean, the agriculture community is arguably the most important community in the entire state of Illinois because of the economic impact it carries.

The fair was founded as an agriculture fair.

It always was, it was agriculture first and entertainment second.

And like most fairs, you know, entertainment always seems to grow.

The agriculture didn't grow at the same rate as entertainment, but we're turning that around, we think.

So our livestock shows are all increasing in numbers.

The home goods, the Exhibition Hall shows what we call our home book, has all of our craft fairs, all of our produce and vegetable shows and contests.

Those are things that, my mom canned and did everything and she would enter into the baking contests.

And my grandmas did the same thing.

And some of that has lost along the ways, but it's like everything else, it's very cyclical.

And we're seeing a considerable growth in our entries that we're getting, primarily in the baking categories.

The produce, it's been an interesting year for produce for the farmers, i'll tell you that.

So I think we're gonna start to see those come on out.

We've gotten a lot of rain here lately.

Hopefully not too much, but I think the industry, the area as a whole, we want it to go back to the way it was.

We want it to be an agricultural first fair to where there's entertainment as well.

And I think that's the direction we're trending.

- Well, beyond the fair, tell us about events that you're planning at the fairgrounds all year long.

- Sure, so the fairgrounds as a whole, we do over 200 events a year.

Most people would not guess that.

They think of us as an 11-day fairgrounds, basically.

And while the fair is definitely our marquee event and we're very happy to celebrate that, the things that we do the other 360 day or 350 days a year are equally important to the communities around us.

So whether it's a horse show that we bring in over the weekend that brings 500 people out there that camp for three or four days, buy their food, buy their gas, buy their needed items while they're there at the local stores, or whether it's the races that we do all winter long that people come in and will bring in 1,000 families for their racers that just come in here, or whether it's the softball or baseball tournaments that we host for six weeks during the winter, the economic reach of the fairgrounds is much larger than the 11 days that we showcase.

You know, we're in the process of working with SIU to develop a good economic impact study on current numbers and what the fairgrounds truly means to the region.

The numbers we've used in the past, it was a $6 million impact for the region.

So we feel like that number is obviously gotten dated.

And we think it's even larger than that given the economy of scale in Southern Illinois.

So I really feel like that, the fairgrounds as a whole, whether you're coming out for the Street Machines Nationals, whether you're coming out a few weeks after the fair for the Hunting and Fishing Days, or any of the events that I mentioned before, we have such an impact on Carbondale, Murphysboro, Du Quoin and Pinckneyville, Benton and Sesser and all the communities around us.

Those restaurants, those gas stations, those convenient stores would really suffer if something happened on the fairgrounds.

- Okay, Jerry, Josh touched on this.

Some crops, some animals, of course, have been stressed by the heat and the drought this summer.

Tell us about that and how Illinois has been helping, in addition to some of the help we've gotten from Mother Nature with the rains.

- So, Fred, as I think everyone's also aware, farming is an occupation that is dependent on Mother Nature in so many ways.

It's been a different year.

We've had flash droughts that have lasted, you know, three, 3 1/2 weeks in many areas.

If you look about three weeks ago, we'd be talking about an average of two inches of rain in the state of Illinois.

Now, that may mean that one area got six inches and another area didn't get any rain at all.

That's only been exacerbated in the last week to week and a half to where you've seen, you know, torrential downpours in areas.

And just across the river, you've seen areas in Missouri, not too far away from us down here in Southern Illinois, that have received 10 and 12 inches in six, eight hours.

So Mother Nature has wreaked havoc in a number of ways, but in general, I would tell you most crops in the state are in very good shape.

- That's good.

- We're coming off of a tremendous year in 2021 to where we had the highest average in a decade for corn, the highest to second highest.

And then we had the highest in a decade average of soybeans.

So we averaged 202 bushels of corn an acre in the state, 64 1/2 bushels of soybeans.

And then we're also coming off of a record wheat harvest, which was 79 bushels an acre.

So, you know, we worked very well with FSA, Farm Service, and USDA as far as crop damage and making sure that our farmers here in the state of Illinois receive the resources when they do have crop damage and have issues because of, whether it's flooding, drought, storms that come through, tornadoes, what have you.

- Yeah, before long, we'll be seeing lots of pumpkins.

And of course, you said number one in pumpkins nationwide.

- So an an interesting fact is, when you sit down for Thanksgiving dinner and you have your pumpkin pie, somewhere between 80 and 85% of that processed pumpkin comes from Morton, Illinois.

So the entire United States, about 80 to 85% of that processed pumpkin for pumpkin pies- - I didn't know that.

- It comes from Morgan, Illinois.

- My problem is, it's not just Thanksgiving dinner, I'm eating the pumpkin pie for months.

(laughs) But I love it.

Absolutely love it.

Well, in addition to talking about the food and the crops, I don't want this show to go by without noting that the Department of Agriculture does oversee the state's horse racing programs.

I wanna talk about that and how the department encourages the breeding and the racing and ownership of horses in Illinois.

I love seeing them all over the area.

- And, Fred, so what we really focus on and oversee is Illinois conceived and foaled horses.

And we've tried to put an influx of monies into horse racing.

There was a period of time in the not too distant past where not enough money was going into horse racing in the state of Illinois.

And horse racing in Illinois a couple of decades ago was really one of the pinnacles and crown jewels of what we had.

If you look at over the last four years, I'll just give you county fairs, for instance, and I'll round the numbers off, but purses for county fairs four years ago, they were $4,000.

We took 'em to 8,000.

Then last year, they were 11,000.

This year, they're over $13,000.

So in four years, we went from that $4,000 purse to over 13,000.

If you look at the Du Quoin State Fair and what we're doing there, we're putting an extra $100,000 into horse racing.

So it would be spread across four different races, two-year-old colt and filly trotters and two-year-old colt and filly pacers.

And the reason that we looked at doing that with two year olds is because any one of the horses in that race probably has a chance to win.

And many of them were just bought in Illinois as Illinois conceived and foaled horses the year before as yearlings.

So we look at this as a way to infuse money into the racing industry in the state of Illinois.

I thank Governor Pritzker for working with us on making sure that we're putting money back into horse racing in the state of Illinois.

- Another great tourism attraction to Illinois.

It's really something, Josh.

And I know there are various equine events at the fairgrounds.

Let's spend a little more time talking about that.

- Sure, yeah, that's actually one the things that we love to celebrate the most is our horse racing.

And our horse event season starts really about the middle of April.

And it'll run till the middle of October.

And right now we average, I think, two open weekends in that six-month window.

Otherwise, every weekend we have a different category of a horse or equine event going on there at the fairgrounds.

So the events we have are primarily Midwest regional events.

We do have some larger events.

We've been able to take our stable of events and promoters that we work with, and we actually have, for lack of a better words, a waiting list from people that wanna come because our facility is, I would put us up with any facility in the Midwest.

The different breeders and the different promoters that come here, the way we have our ground worked, on my team on the fairgrounds does a fantastic job of getting the footing just the right way for the style of event that that we're hosting.

I remember in 2019 when I started on the fairgrounds, I think I had been there maybe two days, and we had an event that weekend and it was cowboy mounted shooting.

And it's an event that, if you haven't seen, I strongly encourage you to go see it because they will dress in Western wear.

Both males and females ride the horses, traditional styles, and with their pistols, black powder pistols, they'll shoot balloons.

And it's a timed event and they'll race through there and they'll zig and zag.

And it's really impressive to watch.

- And when is that again?

- They put on a great show.

So we're actually having it during the fair this year.

- During the fair?

- Yeah, they'll do it twice during the year in different weekends, but we're actually having it, I believe it's on the Tuesday of the fair this year.

And it's a free event open to the public.

It's just really impressive to watch.

And they'll bring in 100 or so riders and they'll just put on a neat show for the public.

- And if folks don't see at the fair, there's another opportunity at some point?

- Yeah, well, we have one in the spring and one in the fall.

And forgive me, I didn't bring those exact dates with me, but it's just an event.

And we have a ton of events like them, but that was my first exposure on the fairgrounds.

And I brought my kids out and we sat there and washed it for half a day.

I mean, it turned into just a really, an entertaining event.

- Sounds like a lot of fun.

Before we run out of time, any other events that you wanna highlight that are happening at the fair?

'Cause we've got a couple weeks here.

- Sure, I mean, the fair itself is, we're really proud of the different events that we've brought in.

We've got the SIU ski team coming out and doing some demonstrations on the weekends.

We've got the DockDogs presentation where they're gonna come out.

And you can enter your dogs if you've got dogs that you want to compete on the weekends.

They do a fantastic job of really kind of getting the crowd excited.

You know, as the director mentioned, as we talked about earlier, our free entertainment lineup is probably the best that it's been in my memory.

We've got 38 Special, we've got Heavy East, we've got a number of bands, national touring bands that have a number of hits that we're all familiar with that we're playing for free this year.

It's something that we really wanted to show the region that we understand that there, in some cases, have been some hard times over the last two years.

And we still realize that people are still, in some cases, trying to get back on their feet.

And one thing we wanna do is give them an event that they can come to and not have to worry about are they gonna have to give something else up later because of it.

So we kept our prices at a point that we think are very manageable for most families in Southern Illinois.

But and the grandstand shows, we've got the horse racing the first Friday and Saturday.

The Friday evening is a free horse race in the grandstand, under the lights.

It's hard to beat horse racing under the lights.

The second weekend, we highlight our car racing.

So there's just a number of things, both free and ticket value things during the fair that there really is a little something for everybody.

- Yeah, absolutely.

Well, in addition to the fair, before we run out of time completely, another agriculture issue I wanted to touch on is also, Jerry, a incredible economic story for the state of Illinois, a real bright spot for the state, and that is cannabis.

The industry has been growing in the state.

Give us an update.

- Fred, absolutely the industry has been growing and we consider Illinois to be a leader in the cannabis industry.

If you look at the Illinois Department of Agriculture just by itself, we've issued 362 licenses just in the last year.

So you've got the original 21 cultivations, which they came about by state police district.

Just in the month of June, we issued 48 craft grow licenses.

So between craft grows, infusers, transporters, that's what makes up those 362 licenses.

What it means to the state of Illinois is about $450 million in revenue.

So to your point, it's something that is a bright spot, as far as tax revenues and growth in the state of Illinois.

I believe we at the Department of Agriculture have done a great job as far as monitoring the cannabis industry.

And I would also tell you that the licenses that we issued, the last 48 were 100% social equity licenses.

So that's also something that we're very, very proud of in the Department of Agriculture.

- So expanding the diversity of ownership?

- It absolutely is, Fred.

And if you look at legislation that was drawn up by the legislature, the Cannabis Regulation Tax Act, that's one thing that was focused on.

And we have absolutely, in the Department of Agriculture, adhered to those guidelines.

And really, I think we've met the goal of the legislation.

So we're very, very proud to say that.

- I think this is really interesting to a lot of people, because while the industry is growing dramatically, there's also growing competition.

More states have legalized adult-use cannabis in addition to medical cannabis.

How do you see the industry continuing to grow here to ensure that Illinois meets that growing competition?

- So we absolutely see the industry growing.

If you look at how many people are employed by the cannabis industry right now, it's just under 5,000 in the state of Illinois.

If you just look in the last couple of years at the massive growth that has taken place, we see that continuing.

And to your point, there are a number of other states who have passed legalized cannabis.

And I don't doubt that, sometime in the future, it will be federally legal.

So I do believe that the federal government looks at the state of Illinois and what we've done, how we've put our program together, as something to where we're a leader in the country as far as the cannabis industry.

- You mentioned the federal government.

And I did wanna touch on that because states can't do this alone, regardless of whether or not it becomes legal at the federal level.

There have been a lot of people saying to Congress, there is a need for help nationally for the industry.

What do you think is most needed at the federal level?

- So if I had to pick one thing that I believe is probably one of the more important aspects, it's the banking industry.

And being able to access banks from an industry that's legal in a state for that federal banking protection, that's something that I really believe needs to be addressed.

- Yeah, and that's something that gets talked about a lot because it's also, some argue, a safety issue because of the situation now without access to banking, people having a lot of cash on hand, this is a concern.

- It absolutely is.

And from an insurance aspect and having monies that are insured by the federal government, that's probably the largest concern.

Obviously, going into the cannabis industry, it's something that takes a good deal of money.

So help from the federal government there would be more than welcome.

- Interesting, I used to live in the western United States before moving here.

More states are also looking at cannabis in terms of an enhancement in terms of tourism.

Do you see that as a possibility for growth in Illinois as well?

- Fred, I would say that it's absolutely a possibility.

As I mentioned, we've licensed craft growers in the state of Illinois out of the Department of Agriculture.

That's a very different and distinct side of the cannabis industry, just like, I mean, we've seen a huge growth in craft breweries in the country or the state of Illinois.

You've seen pockets where those have become extremely popular.

So what craft grow and infusing, so infusers actually take THC oil and infuse it into foods.

So that's a whole different side of the industry- - Lots of possibilities.

- To your point especially, and I think the one people are the most familiar with is Colorado.

But if you look at, you know, from a baking aspect, other type of edible foods, it's really just very interesting how this whole industry has grown.

- Yeah, and of course the issues you mentioned also lead to more growth in online businesses as well, so folks that are looking at this, promoting their work outside of just cannabis, CBD, so lots of interesting stuff.

Jerry, Josh, thank you both for being here.

- Thanks for having us, Fred.

- Thank you.

- Thank you to our guests, Du Quoin State Fair Manager, Josh Gross and Illinois Department of Agriculture Director, Jerry Costello II.

And thank you for joining us for this special edition of "In Focus."

For all of us at WSIU, I'm Fred Martino.

Have a great week, and enjoy the fair.

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