INDIANAPOLIS – Broadband will be the legislative priority for Indiana Farm Bureau (INFB) in 2021, according to Randy Kron, the organization’s president.

Speaking Dec. 11, the first day of INFB’s two-day virtual state convention, Kron said COVID-19 has brought the need for better access to broadband to the forefront.

“Expanding broadband to the last mile has been a priority for farm bureau for several years but it’s sometimes hard for others in more urban areas to understand why that was important or even necessary,” he explained. “Then the pandemic came and everyone understood just how important it was to be connected to the internet. We will focus on expanding broadband to the unserved and the underserved in order to support education, remote work, telehealth and agricultural technology. We will need our members to come out in force to support this priority.”

Kron also reflected on the year and the things INFB was able to accomplish before and during the pandemic.

“This has been quite a year,” he stated. “One, to be honest, we can’t leave soon enough. It’s brought hardship and sorrow to so many Hoosier families, but it has also brought a sense of optimism. Despite the terrible blows we’ve had to deal with this year, we’ve been resilient and have bounced back.”

Among the achievements for the organization during the year, Kron mentioned the INFB special recognition license plates offered by the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV). Portions of the plate fee go to the Farm Bureau Foundation.

A bill passed by the Indiana General Assembly on March 11 paved the way for INFB to offer health plans to members. Depending on the plan, members could save 30-70 percent, INFB officials have said. The application process for the program began Oct. 1; coverage will begin Jan. 1, 2021.

Shortly after passage of the bill, “everything changed,” Kron noted. “The pandemic locked us in and locked us out.”

When farmers began having problems with delivery of inputs, INFB asked the governor’s office to open BMV branches so staff could process new commercial driver’s licenses, he said. The organization also provided guidance to members on how best to sell protein directly to consumers.

“Most important, we worked to clear up the misconception that farmers were to blame for the empty meat cases folks were seeing,” Kron said. “The brief closure of two of the state’s primary processing facilities caused a severe disruption in the supply chain and with people not going out to eat, those facilities that remained open needed to retool to shift from wholesale to retail processing, which took time.”

Farm bureau members also organized food drives and donated to food banks and pantries, he added. They made facial masks and other personal protective equipment for hospitals, nursing homes and first responders.

INFB has 270,000 members – about 70,000 are farmer members and the rest are insurance customers. Kron, the organization’s ninth president and a Vanderburgh County farmer, began serving in January 2016.