Bean town: New ISA office set to grow relationships

LOMBARD, Ill. — There isn’t a soybean field in sight of the new Illinois Soybean Association suburban office at 100 22nd Street in Lombard.

But what is within sight — or at least quick driving distance — is something that is almost as important.

“This location has 60 legislators within 20 to 25 miles of it,” said Steve Pitstick, president of the ISA board of directors and a soybean farmer from Maple Park in Kane County.

The new office was officially opened on June 1 with an open house ceremony. The Lombard location replaces the former Chicago office on La Salle Street near the Chicago Board of Trade.

“We were able to move a lot of trade teams through there with a focus on soybeans. Sixty percent of the soybeans that Illinois grows are exported, so that worked out really well,” Pitstick said.

A combination of factors, including a renewed focus on legislative efforts, meant that a move to the suburbs made sense, said Rachel Peabody, director of communications at ISA.

“We realized that the dynamics, from a legislative standpoint, was a lot of the reason why we have that northern Illinois presence. It made a lot of sense for us to consider moving out to the suburbs,” Peabody said.

Lombard, with close proximity to major thoroughfares and both major Chicago airports, was chosen. The decision to move the office was finalized in the fall of 2021, according to Peabody.

“Lombard is very well positioned to put us in close proximity to a lot of those legislative partners that we like to be near, a lot of the municipalities that we work with, with things like biodiesel initiatives,” Peabody said.

Among those initiatives is the B20 Club, entities throughout Illinois that use, supply and support B20 biodiesel.

“You will see us doing a lot of our market development work out of this office. In particular, we’ve been talking about Chicago as a huge market for us for biodiesel, when we talk about the park districts and municipalities that use it, so many of them are up in this area,” Peabody said.

Among the guests at the open house were state lawmakers, including state Sen. Patrick Joyce, D-Kankakee; state Rep. Diane Pappas, D-Bloomingdale; state Rep. Amy Grant, R-Wheaton; and state Rep. Deb Conroy, D-Villa Park.

Chin-Sun Cheng, director of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Chicago, and Daniel Yihung Huang, deputy director of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Chicago, were among the guests, as well.

Both Peabody and Pitstick emphasized that the new office also offers efficiency from a financial standpoint.

“This office was a cost savings for our farmers and we could still maintain an office location up here and be in the thick of everything that happens in the city and be able to host visits and have a quick trip to either airport,” Peabody said.

As president of the board, Pitstick said he recognizes the need to maintain an office presence close to where a bulk of state legislators is located.

“Within the Illinois legislative structure, we need to talk to a lot of people. Bloomington is not necessarily the best place to do that, but a place out here in the western suburbs can be. Because of the population here, we’ve got access to 60 legislators within 20 to 25 miles of this office,” he said.

Pitstick added that as a farmer with an eye on the bottom line and return on investment, he applies those same strategies to the ISA decisions.

“Being able to tell our story in agriculture is why we’re here. We are trying to invest checkoff dollars wisely. This is my money and other farmers’ money and we are trying to make investments that are well thought through, strategically important and will show payback in the future,” Pitstick said.

Peabody said the new Lombard office will be staffed as the ISA adds to staff.

“We are growing our ISA staff and that is something we have been doing for the last couple of years. We are working on getting the right staff in place and we will be adding staff to this office over the summer,” she said.