It is time once again to begin planning for a successful Farm Bureau membership year, but the 2019 INFB membership campaign has a new twist.
County Farm Bureaus are being asked to start their major recruitment efforts much earlier – as soon as January – instead of waiting until the summer months. In an attempt to lessen the end-of-year load to achieve total and voting membership gain in 2019, current CRP goals encourage counties to begin signing new members in the first few months of the year.
“The idea is to change the mindset of county Farm Bureaus so that we work membership earlier in the year,” said INFB membership marketing specialist Chelsea Poe. “We know that life gets busy in the fall with the state fair and harvest, so signing new members isn’t always top of our minds during that time.”
State membership contests will align with these goals as well. Instead of holding contests only during the summer months, as has been done in previous years, this year the contests will each span a 3-month period: January through March, April through June and July through September.
The first statewide membership contest of 2019 started Jan. 1 and runs through March 31. Sign up one or more new members and turn in a completed membership application during the contest period to be entered to win a $500 gift card. Check the INFB website for the official rules.