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Indianapolis-based company Gripp is the winner of this year’s American Farm Bureau Federation Ag Innovation Challenge competition. The challenge provides opportunities for Farm Bureau members to showcase business innovations being developed for agriculture.

Gripp, which offers farmers an operator-centric way to keep records of assets in combination with communication tools to keep everyone connected, received a total of $100,000 for winning the challenge, courtesy of AFBF in partnership with Farm Credit. Gripp is led by co-founder and CEO Tracey Wiedmeyer, an Indiana Farm Bureau member from Marion County, and Jenkin Lee, co-founder and chief product officer.

“Winning the Ag Innovation Challenge represents continued validation to not only the challenges facing farmers today but also the way we’ve decided to solve them,” said Wiedmeyer. “Farmers need cost-effective, no-nonsense tools that work for them.”

Gripp is grateful for the support and guidance of Farm Bureau and Farm Credit and for the access they’ve provided to farmers and experts across the agriculture industry. “We’ve met so many great people who’ve been invested in our success,” Wiedmeyer said.

Gripp was one of four finalist teams that received $10,000 and competed for the top prize of an additional $90,000 last month at the AFBF convention in San Antonio, Texas, in front of an audience of Farm Bureau members, investors and industry representatives. Prior to that, 10 semi-finalist teams participated in a virtual pitch round in October 2024 with three judges representing various sectors of the agricultural supply chain.

“Indiana Farm Bureau is so proud of what Gripp has accomplished on the national stage at AFBF convention,” said Randy Kron, INFB president. “Indiana is a tech hub here in the Midwest, and this win spotlights how entrepreneurs in the ag innovation space can efficiently support farmers in their mission to feed the world.”

The other final four teams that participated in the challenge were Labby from New York, which was named runner-up in the contest, Halio from Utah and RhizeBio from North Carolina.

This is the 11^th year of the Ag Innovation Challenge, which was the first national business competition focused exclusively on rural entrepreneurs launching agriculture- and food-related businesses.

AFBF recognized these innovative businesses in partnership with sponsors Farm Credit, Bayer Crop Science, John Deere, Farm Bureau Bank, Farm Bureau Financial Services and T-Mobile.

Learn more about the competition on AFBF’s website.

National leadership positions

INFB President Randy Kron was reelected to a two-year term to represent the Midwest region on the AFBF board. Also reelected to represent the Midwest were Dan Glessing, Minnesota; Brent Johnson, Iowa; and Joe Newland, Kansas.

Isabella Chism of Indiana was reelected to a two-year term as chair of the AFBF Women’s Leadership Committee. Lorenda Overman of North Carolina was reelected vice chair.

Young Farmers & Ranchers

Isaac and Kyla Schroeder, INFB members from Perry County, placed in the top 10 for the AFBF YF&R Excellence in Agriculture Award. Also representing Indiana at the national level were Logan Springstun of Warrick County, who competed in the YF&R Discussion Meet, and Cory and Emily Studebaker of Whitley County, who competed for the AFBF YF&R Achievement Award.

Veteran Farmer Award of Excellence

Col. Joe Ricker of Hancock County was recognized as the recipient of American Farm Bureau’s 2024 Veteran Farmer Award of Excellence. Last year was the first for this award, which celebrates veteran farmers and the critical role they play in agriculture and local communities.

Ricker is the founder of At Ease Orchard (ateaseorchard.org), a nonprofit that introduces veterans, first responders and their family members to beekeeping and other farm activities. He also founded Veterans IN Farming (vetsinfarming.wildapricot.org), which provides veterans in Indiana with training and support to succeed in farming.

AFB Foundation for Agriculture

Indiana was one of 28 states that won the Apex Award, given to state Farm Bureaus that have increased total contributions to the foundation by 10% or more over the previous year. Indiana also won the Leader Award in recognition of the fact that each INFB board member donated $50 or more to the foundation.

Nearly 5,000 people registered to attend the 2025 AFBF convention. Planning for the 2026 convention has already begun. The event will be held Jan. 9-14, 2026, in Anaheim, California.