The leader of the Illinois Farm Bureau says Illinois farmers need to focus on the future, take risks, and try new approaches to succeed. Ellis Grove farmer Richard Guebert Jr. opened the organization’s annual meeting over the weekend in Chicago;

Guebert says net farm income has dropped 50% over the last four years. He believes Farm Bureau and farmers need to anticipate change to be successful;

More than 15-hundred Illinois farmers and family members are participating in the Illinois Farm Bureau Annual Meeting. It continues Monday in Chicago.