Stay Informed

For the ninth year in a row, Indiana Farm Bureau increased its total membership over 2024. In summary, the membership year ended with:

• 276,207 total memberships, representing a gain of 5,662 members from 2023’s total.
• INFB’s largest membership gain since 2002.
• 66,238 voting memberships, which represents 98.82% of 2023’s voting memberships.

“These successes don’t come to us by accident,” said INFB President Randy Kron. “Volunteers and staff across all 92 counties invest their time together throughout the year because we believe in the future of agriculture, and in Farm Bureau’s role in securing it

Listed below are some of the other activities, events and initiatives that INFB, its staff and its members worked on in 2024.

Advocacy

• Members from 78 counties traveled to Indianapolis to meet with their legislators during the 2024 session, focusing on INFB’s priority issues: land use and property rights, taxes and rural viability.
• Members connected with the session in other ways, too, including responding to action alerts and tuning in to the Friday legislative updates. County Farm Bureaus also hosted a total of 64 town halls and third house meetings.
• Approximately $50,000 was raised in 2024 for Indiana Farm Bureau ELECT and AgELECT, the organization’s federal- and state-level nonpartisan political action committees.
• All 78 candidates endorsed by ELECT and AgELECT won their races in the Nov. 5 general election.
• Taxes and water rights were the top priorities discussed by delegates during the 2024 delegate session, held in August. Other major topics included renewable energy, land use and rural broadband.

Collegiate Farm Bureau/FFA

Thirty-three students representing all three active Collegiate Farm Bureau chapters – Purdue, Vincennes and Huntington universities – participated in INFB’s Collegiate Discussion Meet. The winner was Lilly Pryor of Huntington University, who will represent Indiana at the American Farm Bureau Federation’s FUSION conference in March.

INFB also participated in youth events that included a leadership luncheon for the FFA officer team, premier sponsor of the state FFA convention, and staff participation in FFA’s Premier Leadership Training.

Educational opportunities

• Indiana Agricultural Law Foundation’s 2024 Estate and Succession Planning for the Family Farm workshop was a virtual event attended by 293 farmers and attorneys.
• The INFB Drainage School was presented virtually and in person, with 52 in-person and 99 virtual participants.
• INAgLaw’s Understanding Agricultural Contracts & Leases seminar was presented virtually to 173 participants.
• New this year was INAgLaw’s Farm Succession Workshop, an intensive day-long workshop during which six multi-generational families worked together with legal experts on succession planning.

Also new this year was a workshop sponsored by the Women’s Leadership Committee (WLC) titled Purposeful Storytelling. Women from across the state met at INFB headquarters and focused on the power of personal storytelling, building confidence when talking about Farm Bureau and how to make an impact locally.

Educational outreach efforts

• INFB’s Ag in the Classroom volunteers gave 1,075 presentations in 2024, reaching more than 57,000 students.
• 2024’s INFB Book of the Year was My Family's Corn Farm by Katie Olthoff. Seventy-one counties and other education outlets participated by distributing nearly 2,000 copies of the book.

Health plans

INFB Health Plans reached an important milestone in the fourth quarter of 2024, reaching nearly 4,900 enrolled plans and providing health coverage to more than 10,000 Hoosiers.

Indiana State Fair

In 2024, INFB focused on reaching consumers and connecting with young people:

• The organization sponsored the Exhibitor Experience and the Supreme Drive and showmanship contests and provided prizes to Supreme Showmanship and Supreme Drive winners.

• Taste From Indiana Farms, sponsored by the WLC, was held at the Indiana Farm Bureau Fall Creek Pavilion. More than 160 volunteers helped at the four-day event, providing food samples and information about agriculture to 9,795 consumers.

Media outreach/coverage

INFB secured 1,130 news stories in 2024. The most popular topics included the Thanksgiving market basket survey, property taxes, Fourth of July market basket survey, water rights, legislative session and state convention. Ninety INFB members representing 36 counties were featured in 290 articles.

Podcast

In its second year of production, The Breakdown with Indiana Farm Bureau, the organization’s monthly podcast, covered topics such as child care, black vultures, agritourism and rural health. Since its launch in January 2023, the program has garnered more than 136 subscribers and 2,700 downloads. In July 2024, it also launched a video component for viewing, which pulled in another 202 audience members who viewed the last six episodes of the year. To learn more, visit infb.org/podcast

Publications

INFB produced a variety of publications in 2024: The Hoosier Farmer, My Indiana Home, the FB Feed, The Dispatch and The Pulse. The latter is a monthly publication about INFB Health Plans for Indiana Farm Bureau Insurance agents. Continued in 2024 were The Check-Up, an electronic publication sent twice yearly to members who have an INFB Health Plan, and Field Notes, an update to county leaders from INFB President Randy Kron.

Social media

INFB’s social media channels continued to grow in 2024. From January through December, INFB’s Facebook followers increased by 8.5%, Instagram followers by 7.5% and LinkedIn followers by 23.5%.

State Convention

• INFB returned to French Lick for its annual convention in 2024, and registrations totaled nearly 1,000 people.
• Delegates reelected INFB President Randy Kron, who was first elected as president in 2015.
• Four counties earned a County Activities of Excellence award, including Grant, Steuben, Scott and Howard.
• The AITC volunteer of the year was Anita Biehle, Jennings County.

Young Farmers & Ag Professionals

• YF&AP Conference had 780 attendees.
• Henry County Farm Bureau’s YF&AP program was recognized with the Outstanding County Young Farmers & Ag Professionals Award given to the top program in the state.
• The YF&AP Discussion Meet was won by Logan Springstun of Warrick County.
• Winning the three other major YF&AP awards in 2024 were Jayden Simpson, Putnam County (Rising Star Award), Isaac and Kyla Schroeder, Perry County (Excellence in Agriculture Award) and Cory and Emily Studebaker, Whitley County (Achievement Award).