It’s not a problem until it affects me.

That may not be a conscious philosophy, but having observed politicians, voters and taxpayers for a few decades, it seems a large number of our fellow humans operate under some version of the sentiment.

The rest of the column could focus on human and civil rights abuses at home and abroad. And while I haven’t been able to focus on much else all weekend, the concept of “yeah, but that news is about other people” also echoed when reading an interview Tom C. Doran of AgriNews conducted with Brian Duncan, the Illinois Farm Bureau president.

Although the two chatted at the state fair’s Ag Day, Doran published their conversation Sunday afternoon. Things got concerning immediately with the answer to the first potentially benign question regarding IFB’s top concerns.

“I think the thing we talk about that kind of overarches everything right now is farm income,” said Duncan, who farms livestock and grain in Ogle County. “We’re very concerned as we continue to read the economic reports coming out of the University of Illinois. Every farm’s got a little bit of a different economic story but – in general – this year, last year, next year, an awful lot of our members are going to be upside down.”

Duncan said cattle farmers are in good shape after “a rough ride” while hold farming “has a big hole to backfill, and row crops, I’m hoping we can find a bottom pretty soon.”

He continued to explain broader challenges, such as uncertainty about the viability of previously stable export markets and the potential effects of the federal government revisiting settled science that had provided a reliable consistency for year-over-year approaches to agriculture. He also noted uncertainty regarding “Environmental Quality Incentives Program dollars – some of that funding that was maybe not appropriated that we had farmers counting on.”

With regard to Springfield, there is never common ground on estate and property taxes. And although Duncan didn’t raise the topic, it’s hard not to think about “Paid to Stay,” last month’s in-depth report from Capitol News Illinois, ProPublica and the Saluki Local Reporting Lab regarding federal farm subsidies in areas forever transformed through recent Mississippi River flooding (tinyurl.com/FederalFarmTrap).

Mix these concerns with the possibility of a $20 billion economic rescue package for Argentina, which state Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, flagged because that nation’s farmers historically undercut American soybean producers’ sales to China.

Much of this is unfortunately gibberish to my fellow suburbanites. But the Illinois ag sector is vital to the local, state and national economies. Even lawmakers whose districts somehow include no farmland can play a role in making sure constituents understand how challenges for agriculture affect us all.

• Scott T. Holland writes about state government issues for Shaw Local News Network. He can be reached at sholland@shawmedia.com.