Ag Labor
American agriculture depends on a skilled, reliable workforce to help grow and raise our sustainable food supply. We need reform to our guestworker visa program that provides security to farmers and their employees.
Priority Issues for Indiana Farmers
Every year, Indiana Farm Bureau members come together to identify the issues that matter most to Hoosier farmers and rural communities. Through our grassroots policy process, members from all 92 counties share their experiences, set priorities, and guide the work our public policy team carries forward at the local, state, and national levels.
This member-driven approach ensures that Farm Bureau advocacy stays focused on protecting family farms, strengthening rural communities, and securing the future of Indiana agriculture.
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2026 Priority: Encourage investment in agriculture
INFB supports policies that improve the economic outlook for farms and help create opportunities for passing the farm onto the next generation.
- Enact lasting farmland property tax relief. With escalating input costs, cash rents, land prices and property taxes, it will be difficult for farmers just to break even as low corn and soybean prices persist.
- Create incentives for rural entrepreneurship and agricultural diversification.
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2026 Priority: Strengthen rural communities
Strong rural communities are vitally important for Farm Bureau members. Farms and agribusinesses contribute heavily to Indiana’s economy, and those contributions are only made possible by thriving rural communities with infrastructure that can support the local workforce.
- Invest in robust education, healthcare and emergency services.
- Build infrastructure for local food production and value-added economic development.
- Prioritize effective, efficient and responsive local government services.
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2026 Priority: Support Indiana's farms and farmers
Although farmers are getting more efficient with the tools they have every year, productive farmland is still essential to growing the food, fuel and fiber the world is counting on.
- Protect prime agricultural soils and natural resources.
- Ensure zoning and land use regulations accommodate modern agriculture.
- Incentivize renewable energy projects to be located on non-productive ground.
- Water policy remains a priority as stakeholders continue reviewing the state’s inventory and begin forming a framework for regulatory use.
- Energy affordability.
- Urge the state to prioritize the development of small modular nuclear reactors at existing or decommissioned energy producing facilities.
- Support cost-effective energy generation such as converting existing coal plants to less-expensive natural gas.
- Unmanned Aerial Systems (Drones).
Implement civil and criminal penalties for nefarious unmanned aircraft system use over agricultural land and facilities.
- Protect prime agricultural soils and natural resources.
On the Map
The county Farm Bureaus marked in each map highlighted that issue as a priority for the 2026 legislative session.
Click on the download button for a PDF version of the map. Contact ppt@infb.org with any questions.
National Issues
Indiana farmers don’t just need a voice at the Statehouse—they also need strong representation in Washington, D.C. That’s why Indiana Farm Bureau works closely with the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) to advocate on national issues that impact farms, rural communities, and the future of agriculture.
By leaning into Farm Bureau’s strength as the unified voice of agriculture, we ensure Hoosier farmers are heard in federal debates on everything from farm policy and trade to conservation and rural development.
Together, INFB and AFBF are moving the needle on the issues that matter most to farmers and protecting the resources and opportunities they need to succeed.
More Resources from AFBF
Farm Bill
The farm bill is a critical tool for ensuring our nation’s food supply remains secure. Funding for this comprehensive package, which could more accurately be called a food and farm bill, includes risk management tools for farmers, access to nutrition for low-income families, conservation programs and investments in agricultural research.
Taxes
Farmers and ranchers need a tax code that provides certainty and recognizes their unique financial challenges as they work to provide a secure food supply for our nation.
Trade
Agricultural trade is critical to our national economy and to the economic sustainability of family farms and ranches, but nonscientific trade barriers and tariffs restrict farmers’ ability to compete in global markets.
Energy
Farm Bureau advocates policies that will create a diverse, domestic energy supply to fuel America’s economic growth and prosperity while strengthening our energy security.
