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MISSION STATEMENT

To protect and enhance the future of agriculture and our communities.

VISION STATEMENT

To cultivate a thriving agricultural ecosystem to strengthen the viability of Indiana agriculture.

As part of the strategic planning process, the Indiana Farm Bureau board of directors took a fresh look at the organization’s mission and vision statements and developed new statements that more clearly define how INFB sees itself and what it aspires to become.

 “One of the duties of the board of directors is to set the strategic direction of the organization. Having clear and concise mission and vision statements is an important step,” said INFB Vice President Kendell Culp, who served on the board’s strategic plan committee.

“We labored over this for many different sessions,” he added.

A mission statement, according to the Purdue University Cooperative Extension Service, provides a picture of what an organization does and who it serves. A vision statement reaches into the future and says what an organization hopes to be.

While the new statements echo some of the themes of the previous statements, there are some important differences, noted Culp and other members of the committee.

One of the most important differences is the increased emphasis on serving all of agriculture – row crops, livestock, alternative crops but also the agribusinesses and services that are an important part of agriculture. That’s one of the reasons why the word “ecosystem” was used, noted Culp.

“There are a lot of parts to agriculture,” Culp said.

“It means we are all mutually dependent on each other,” added Isabella Chism, INFB 2^nd vice president. “It embodies working together,” not necessarily in lockstep but with each segment of agriculture “striving to be mutually supportive.”

“Protecting and enhancing” also are important concepts, said Kevin Underwood, District 3 director. “It’s about protecting what we already have but protecting and enhancing what we’ll have in the future.”

“They both are looking to the future,” added Culp. “We wanted to make sure agriculture was looking like it was aggressive and progressive and not just protective of where we are today.”

Another major difference is brevity: the new mission statement is 11 words compared to 19 in the previous statement, and the new vision statement is 13 words compared to the previous 21 words.

“They are succinct and to the point and not too wordy,” said Jon Sparks, District 6 director. “It says what our mission is very clearly, and it says something everyone can remember.”

“Just those few simple words really speak to the expansiveness of what we’re trying to do,” which is to support all of Indiana agriculture and the communities where our members live, said Marybeth Feutz, District 9 director. “As agriculture continues to grow and change, Indiana Farm Bureau will be well-positioned to grow and change with it.”