Bill-backers call for local growing, more organics

Last harvest, Jeff Miller packed organic vegetables into his pickup truck and drove to a farmers market in Palatine. Up at dawn. Behind a stall. Every Saturday, like clockwork. By the end of the season, the Grayslake farmer had pocketed $3,500.

Not bad for a novice working a 2-acre incubator farm. But Miller's proceeds fell far short of the potential that Illinois farmers see if they could fully tap into the state's organic produce market, with annual sales of $500 million. Instead, they produce about 5 percent of the organic food consumed in the state, they say, and 95 percent comes from other states.

"Ideally, I'd like to move to a 5-acre farm," Miller said. "To do that we need more farmers markets, more marketing, more shipping and storage."

After years toiling on tiny farms, organic growers such as Miller might finally get the help they need. For the first time in Illinois, a diverse set of allies, including green activists, small farmers, urban food-policy planners and, most recently, the Illinois Farm Bureau, has joined forces to change the way Illinois residents put food on the table.

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