Stay Informed

Many individuals and county Farm Bureaus were recognized at the Indiana Farm Bureau State Convention, held Dec. 12-14 in French Lick, Indiana.

A summary of some of the convention highlights follows.

Agriculture in the Classroom Volunteer of the Year

The Volunteer of the Year Award honors an Ag in the Classroom educator who has gone above and beyond for the program in educating the public about the important role agriculture plays in our everyday lives.

This year’s recipient is Anita Biehle, Jennings County. An AITC volunteer for four years, she has taught more than 330 lessons covering topics such as soybeans, apples, bees and honey, dairy, pumpkins, corn and gardening. She has visited eight different schools, carried out lessons at her county fair, presented at Selmier State Forest and Muscatatuck National Wildlife Refuge, and worked with local community youth organizations.

Book of the Year

Right This Very Minute: A Table-to-Farm Book About Food and Farming, by Lisl H. Detlefsen and illustrated by Renée Kurilla, is INFB’s 2025 BOTY.  The goal of the BOTY program, which was launched by the Women’s Leadership Committee in 2017, is to provide county Farm Bureaus and Ag in the Classroom volunteers an additional tool to promote agriculture in their communities. Since its inception, INFB and county Farm Bureaus have distributed more than 11,000 books to schools, teachers and libraries. 

County Activities of Excellence (CAE) program

Four county Farm Bureaus received the CAE award, which is designed to celebrate innovative, action-oriented programs developed by county Farm Bureaus. The categories for these awards mirror the categories of INFB’s strategic plan: advocating, innovating and growing, adding value, and growing engagement.

• Grant County Farm Bureau – Advocating. The Grant County Farm Bureau board’s goal for this past year was to be more involved in advocating for agriculture at the local level. They executed that goal by hosting a “Meet the Candidate” event before the primary election at a local farm shop and inviting candidates for county commissioner and county council to participate. The conversations with the nine candidates in attendance helped their members become more informed voters.
• Steuben County Farm Bureau – Innovating and Growing. Steuben County Farm Bureau hosted a “farmers share breakfast” during the farmers market to show the value of the food dollar to farmers market shoppers. After promoting the event on social media and a local radio program where they highlighted the impact that agriculture has on their county, volunteers served more than 200 people at their breakfast. They also gathered donations from attendees that they later gave to a local food pantry.
• Scott County Farm Bureau – Adding Value by Sharing Knowledge. Scott County Farm Bureau facilitated an ag tour for individuals to learn more about agriculture commodities in the county and the role it plays in their everyday lives. Attendees could participate for free, with lunch provided, and were transported via tour bus to visit four unique farms and learn about the diversity of agriculture in their area.
• Howard County Farm Bureau – Growing Engagement. Howard County Farm Bureau hosted a family-oriented, joint annual meeting with Howard County Purdue Extension with help from FFA members. The event brought together people who are passionate about agriculture so they could share ideas, network and learn about what others were doing. Howard County Farm Bureau saw double the attendance to its annual meeting from previous years, which included members who hadn’t engaged in activities before and nonmembers who were attending their first Farm Bureau event.

Each winning county will receive a $2,000 cash prize to be applied toward improving a program in that county, and they were eligible to send two members each to INFB’s annual state convention with expenses paid.

Farm Family of the Year

The Frame family of Wayne County was this year’s Farm Family of the Year, an award sponsored by Indiana AgriNews and Beck’s Hybrids.

Hovde Award

Dr. Jay Akridge, former Purdue University provost and agriculture dean, received the Frederick L. Hovde Award of Excellence in Educational Service to Rural People of Indiana. The award is presented by the Purdue College of Agriculture with the support of INFB and is given annually to a Purdue faculty or staff member to recognize outstanding educational contributions to the well-being and progress of rural Indiana and to encourage continued achievement and service.

Veteran Farmer Award of Excellence

Retired Army Col. Joe Ricker of Wilkinson, Indiana, is the first recipient of the Veteran Farmer Award of Excellence, which was presented by the American Farm Bureau Federation with support from Farm Credit. The award recognizes veterans or service members for excellence in farming or agriculture and positively impacting local communities.

Ricker will officially receive his award at AFBF’s 2025 convention, to be held in January in San Antonio, Texas.

YF&AP Discussion Meet

­­­Logan Springstun of Warrick County is the winner of the 2024 INFB Discussion Meet and now advances to the national Young Farmer & Rancher Discussion Meet, to be held during the American Farm Bureau Annual Convention Jan. 24-29 in San Antonio, Texas.

As the winner of the Discussion Meet, Springstun receives a $4,000 cash prize from Indiana Farm Bureau Insurance and expenses paid to the national convention in San Antonio, Texas. The three runners-up, who each receive $1,000 from Indiana Farm Bureau Insurance, were Lillian Knust of Vigo County, Jaden Maze of Boone County and Jared Thomas of Knox County.

Other YF&AP Awards

The convention also served as an opportunity to recognize once more the winners of the YF&AP Excellence in Agriculture, Rising Star and Achievement awards, who were announced this fall. The winners are Isaac and Kyla Schroeder, Perry County, Excellence in Agriculture Award; Jayden Simpson, Putnam County, Rising Star; and Cory and Emily Studebaker, Whitley County, Achievement Award.

Donations

• AgELECT – A total of $21,975 in donations were collected for AgELECT, INFB’s state political action committee, through a fundraising lunch featuring Kip Tom. Tom was U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture during President Donald Trump’s first term.
• A silent auction sponsored by the INFB Women’s Leadership Committee raised more than $3,400 to benefit the Farm Bureau Foundation, an INFB program that funds youth scholarships, donations and continuing education scholarships for volunteers and teachers.