Congressman Aaron Schock visited area Farm Bureaus talking with those in attendance about pending free-trade agreements with South Korea, Panama and Colombia.  Schock and other officials took questions at a meeting of the Peoria County Farm Bureau.  He says enacting the agreements would help sustain the agricultural lifeblood of his District.

“The Colombia, panama ad South Korea free trade agreements present hundreds of thousands of new customers for the products that are grown in the fields here in Illinois,” Schock says. 

“They don’t cost the federal government any money to pass.  The president himself has said they will create over 200,000 new jobs in the first six months of their passage.”

Local farmers say much of their corn and soybean crops already go to South Korea, Panama and Colombia.  It’s been widely noted the trade agreements will only improve those exports.   Schock says he hopes Congress can take up the free trade agreements quickly when they return to session next month.