Outlined in this special insert is Indiana Farm Bureau’s new strategic plan, which will lead the organization into the next decade. As your president, ensuring the future of this organization and our mission to serve Hoosier farmers is a challenge I have taken up personally.

“Indiana Farm Bureau’s 2021 Strategic Plan: Defining Our Future” is the result of months of effort by members, officers and staff to create a road map that will guide the organization through 2021.

At the beginning of 2016, INFB developed a process for creating the strategic plan, and the most essential part of that process was collecting input from members: county leaders, non-active farmer members, young farmers and our leadership.

We asked for your input about Farm Bureau benefits, challenges, solutions and suggestions for improvement – what we can do at the county and state level – so we could develop a strategic plan that meets your needs and encourages you to become more engaged.

Here’s what you told us:

• Farm Bureau needs to do more to educate non-farmers about agriculture, to provide farmers with more storytelling tools and, ultimately, to create a genuine understanding and appreciation for agriculture.
• Our county Farm Bureaus need more resources to confidently represent agriculture in our communities.
• Members want more and improved communication to and from their counties.
• Members want us to figure out how to bridge the generation gap. How can our most active and engaged members attract our next generation of farmers to be more active and engaged?
• And with the average age of farmers at a tick over 58 years old, attracting and retaining young farmers is an issue that must move from a focus to critically important.

The strategic plan has been accepted by the Indiana Farm Bureau board of directors, and both staff and county leaders have been briefed on the new plan. There will also be communications in addition to this insert through the first quarter of 2017, and the 2017 County Recognition Program will focus on efforts to achieve INFB’s strategic goals. County Farm Bureaus and the INFB board of directors will also be updated annually.

Thank you for your input during the strategic planning process. We have heard you. Now we start the work of achieving the outcomes our members expect.