Each year, Indiana Farm Bureau gives development grants to county Farm Bureaus to help them promote agriculture or provide agricultural education in their communities. This year's grant recipients are Pulaski, Starke and Warren County Farm Bureau. Pulaski County Farm Bureau volunteers will use their grant to kick off a program that explores different types of food production. Starke County Farm Bureau's grant will help members plan and promote a new collaborative farm to fork event. Warren County Farm Bureau will use its grant to fund a mobile food pantry to improve food access for local families in need as part of the Warren County Food Insecurity and Food Deserts program.

More than 40 Indiana FFA students participated in Indiana Farm Bureau's first-ever FFA Advocacy Day on March 11. After a briefing on Farm Bureau members' agriculture and rural priorities for this legislative session, students had the opportunity to visit with their legislators at the Statehouse to talk about the personal impact of policy decisions such as rural school funding and ag career and tech education funding. INFB's public policy director Katrina Hall was impressed by the students and the day's activities, and hopes to increase the number of participants next year.

Indiana Farm Bureau is celebrating the Agriculture Council of America's (ACA) 16th annual National Ag Day on March 14. INFB's 2nd vice president Isabella Chism is the 2018-19 Ag Day Chair. Chism and INFB president Randy Kron talk about the significance of Ag Day as well as the diversity and importance of farming and agribusiness in Indiana and its impact around the world.

Indiana Farm Bureau's Young Farmers gathered to honor the past and celebrate the future at their 2019 conference. Among the highlights was an official program renaming and refocusing to reflect the growing impact that agribusiness professionals have on the organization.

INFB supports the USDA's decision to open select Farm Services offices in Indiana and across the country for a limited time to provide assistance with existing farm loans and 1099 tax documents.

Several members of Indiana Farm Bureau's Young Farmer program were recognized during INFB's state convention Dec. 6-8. Marissa Mikel of Marion County won the Young Farmer Discussion Meet competition. The competition simulates a committee meeting where common farming and agriculture challenges would be examined. She will go on to compete in the national competition at the American Farm Bureau Federation convention in New Orleans in January. Runners-up were: Kent Burton, Fulton County; Mason Gordon, Rush County; and Amanda Mosiman, Warrick County. The Young Farmers also announced the members of the State Young Farmer Committee, who will represent the 10 INFB Districts in 2019.

Indiana Farm Bureau President Randy Kron and political writer - broadcast commentator Abdul-Hakim Shabazz discussed the current agricultural economy and looked forward to 2019 during a Presidents's Q&A at the INFB State Convention this weekend. Much of the discussion centered around the impact of trade and tariffs on Hoosier farmers.

For the third year in a row, Indiana Farm Bureau has announced the INFB Book of the Year during its annual state convention. The 2019 Book of the Year is "Compost Stew: An A to Z Recipe for the Earth,” written by Mary McKenna Siddals and illustrated by Ashley Wolff. Previous books of the year were "The Kid Who Changed the World written by Andy Andrews and "John Deere, That's Who!" written by Tracy Maurer. INFB's Book of the Year is just one tool of the organization's K-12 agricultural education and outreach efforts.

Indiana Farm Bureau board members and officers as well as public policy team members shared the organization's 2019 priorities with Indiana legislators at INFB's annual Organization Day Breakfast on Nov. 20. Identified as top priorities by Farm Bureau voting members are: rural revitalization, broadband deployment, rural school funding, Kankakee and Yellow Rivers restoration, extraterritorial authority reduction, assessment uniformity and local government funding improvements.

Budget-conscious Hoosiers can expect to pay less than $5 per person this Thanksgiving as Indiana Farm Bureau's annual Market Basket survey shows that meal prices are down 7 percent. Chief among the price reductions is the centerpiece of many Thanksgiving feasts: the turkey. And as INFB 2nd vice president Isabella Chism notes, Indiana had a hand--or more precisely, a leg in this--as the state is ranked fourth in the nation in turkey production.

With the addition of two new staff members, Leslie Hickman and Blaire Bennett, and the promotion of a current staff member, Laura Ruhlman, Indiana Farm Bureau continues to strengthen its county Farm Bureau support structure.

Two Indiana county Farm Bureaus were chosen to receive 2018 County Activities of Excellence (CAE) Awards from the American Farm Bureau Federation. Both were honored for their unique community-based farm-to-fork events.

Indiana Farm Bureau has released the names of the 91 candidates endorsed in the Nov. 6, 2018, general election by its nonpartisan political action committees - ELECT and AgELECT. INFB's director of policy Katrina Hall also explains the organization's process for endorsing ag- and rural-friendly candidates for the U.S. House of Representatives, the Indiana Senate and the Indiana House.

It's time to submit nominations for the Indiana Certified Crop Adviser of the Year Award, which honors advisers who excel in helping farmers in nutrient management, soil and water management, pest management and crop production.

Officials from INFB and four central European agricultural agencies signed a memo of understanding to seek out and grow collaborative opportunities.

Indiana Farm Bureau is pleased to announce the young farmers who were chosen to receive its Excellence in Agriculture Award and Achievement Award for 2018. The Excellence in Agriculture Award goes to Jonathan Spaetti and Derika Lynam-Spaetti. Neal and Lydia Wolheter are the Achievement Award winners.

Indiana Farm Bureau voting members gathered together on Saturday, Aug. 25 for the annual delegate session to set policy direction and positions for the coming year. This was the second year that the session was held at the Hendricks County 4-H Fairgrounds and Conference Complex. The delegate session is one step in the policy-making process, which includes grassroots policy development at the county level, resolutions committee deliberations at the district level, and advocacy during the general assembly and throughout the year.

Indiana Farm Bureau will again host activities and sponsor events at the Indiana State Fair to showcase "Agriculture is Everywhere." Favorites such as the Ag Fact Adventure scavenger hunt; Barn Theater showings of farmer and agribusiness member videos; free popcorn samples and drawing for a year's supply of popcorn; and the three-day Taste from Indiana Farms food tasting and educational event will once again take place in the Farm Bureau Building. This year, INFB also is sponsoring Animal Town and The Supreme Drive, which both showcase Indiana's farm animals.

Shoppers in Indiana will find prices of traditional cookout foods are similar to the past two summers. Indiana Farm Bureau's annual Summer Market Basket survey results show that it will cost a little over $52 to feed 10 people. And as Isabella Chism, INFB 2nd vice president, reminds us, when grocery prices drop, the average food dollar shared by farm families does, too.