State Issues

2023 Legislative Priorities Booklet

2023 Legislative Priorities

Indiana Farm Bureau’s priorities for the 2023 Indiana General Assembly will focus on four general topic areas: rural viability, energy policy, taxes and food security. The goal this year is to be more strategic and to take a longer-term look at priority areas that impact INFB members.

The priorities, which were identified by the INFB board of directors following the August delegate session, are: 

Rural viability

Finding ways to keep rural communities prospering even as more people migrate to suburban and urban centers.

INFB will focus on working with members in rural communities to help find solutions to many of the challenges facing rural Indiana, such as lack of or insufficient broadband internet access, and the need for increased workforce development and improved rural public health. 

Click the button below to watch a recording of an INFB policy call that features insights from experts on the health care challenges impacting Hoosier communities.

Call Recording

Energy policy

Working to find an all-of-the-above energy and climate strategy for Indiana in terms of carbon markets, electric generation and liquid transportation fuels.  

With the growth in electric vehicles, farmers also need to make sure liquid transportation fuels are part of the conversation.

As part of the overall decarbonization and climate discussions that have a lot of impact on the overall energy conversation, INFB also needs to be discussing the evolution of carbon markets. It will continue to be important to find ways for all farmers adopting conservation and innovative farming practices to participate in carbon markets.

Maintaining Property Rights Protections for Subsurface CO2 Sequestration

Members of Indiana Farm Bureau will remember our victory during the 2022 session when they successfully stopped a subsurface sequestration pilot program which would have denied notification and compensation to landowners for the use of their pore space – a violation of their property rights. We expect similar legislation to be filed again this session and we’ll need your help again to make sure that these projects are conducted in a way that upholds and protects property rights.

Wind & Solar

Last year, the members of Indiana Farm Bureau amended our state policy book to clarify that, while we remain supportive of all sources of energy generation, all siting decisions must remain local. 

Tax policy

Finding tax policies that are fair and equitable for all INFB members.

Currently INFB has a lot of the focus on the federal tax policy, such as protecting the step-up in basis, capital gains and estate tax exemptions. At a state and local level, INFB will work to find solutions for the continued funding of rural schools, fire protection and other safety issues that are important to our members.

Food Security

Making sure farmers can continue to farm despite factors such as urban and suburban sprawl and regulation.

Agriculture faces pressures from several directions from continuous urban and suburban sprawl to federal rules on greenhouse gas emissions reporting. These jeopardize members’ ability to farm and produce food for the world. Our mission is to keep farmers farming and we'll work on priority issues that ensure they can.