INDIANAPOLIS – The Indiana Farm Bureau’s (INFB) policy priorities for the 2024 state legislative session include rural viability, and taxation and fiscal matters. The farm bureau also hopes to work with legislators on land use and property rights.

INFB staff planned to meet with legislators during the annual Organization Day Breakfast on Nov. 21.

“Thankfully, we have a pretty ag-friendly legislature here in Indiana,” Randy Kron, INFB president, told Farm World. “We have members come to the Indiana Statehouse from all areas of the state to advocate for agriculture throughout each legislative session. The reason farm bureau is unique and incredibly effective in our relationships with legislators is because they know we create our policy with the backing from our grassroots in all 92 counties.”

One in 10 Hoosiers work in the ag industry, which contributes about $35 million to the state’s economy, Kron noted. The legislators understand that policies impacting agriculture have a ripple effect beyond the farm gate, he added.

Under the general topic of rural viability, INFB said it would focus on increasing the availability of quality childcare, more funding for emergency services and rural infrastructure, and preserving farmland. High-speed broadband has been a priority for the organization for years.

“Where you live should not dictate level of access,” Kron explained. “Given the influx of funding from federal and state, INFB will continue to advocate for policies that expand broadband access to the last acre.

“The transportation funding formula favors urban and suburban communities. So, INFB will advocate for future-facing policy, with an emphasis on increasing infrastructure funding in rural areas, including emergency services, roads and bridges.”

As for taxation and fiscal policy, Kron said INFB staff will begin meeting with a newly formed tax task force during the coming months to dig deeper into issues members are dealing with when it comes to taxes. The task force hadn’t made any recommendations as of press time, so the organization doesn’t know what kind of adjustments to the farmland formula it wants to see, he said.

“We do know that if there’s any offset made to residential taxes in the future, we don’t want to see that burden shifted to farmland,” Kron said. “When tax assessments were sent out earlier this year, most residential assessments saw more than a 10 percent increase from the year before. Farmland saw that increase, too. On an individual dollar-per-dollar comparison, it’s not much. But add that increase up for thousands of acres and it becomes a problem. Couple that with net farm incomes being down and producers will struggle to recover.”

With land use and property rights, Kron said in years past, INFB has focused on water quality, but this year, they’re going to focus more on water quantity.

“The new LEAP project in Boone County and this conversation about water withdrawal from the Tippecanoe County area has brought the issue more into the spotlight,” Kron said. “But as we’ve started talking to members around the state, this water quantity concern is much more widespread than we all had a real appreciation for.”

The LEAP (for Limitless Exploration/Advanced Pace) project is a sustainable community, thriving with greater ecological diversity through regenerative development, according to the Indiana Economic Development Corp. website.

“We’re currently working on forming a water task force where we’ll meet with a group of members to really dig into this, to help us think long-term about water, whether it’s regulation guidance or something else,” he said. “We’re trying to plan for the future of Indiana, not only today, but maybe 10 or 20 years down the road.”

The upcoming legislative session will be important to agriculture, Kron said, “because we’re really digging into issues that may have lasting effects on food production and quality of life. Keeping our rural communities thriving will require better broadband access, more high quality child care options and more funding for emergency services, roads and bridges to keep the next generation coming back to the farm.”

Keeping tax and fiscal policies in check is important to protect producers’ bottom lines, he said. Consumers want prices at the supermarket to go down, and one of the ways to do that is to control the tax burden placed on Hoosier producers, Kron said.

“Land use and property rights have been major talking points in the past few legislative sessions, and we don’t see that changing this year,” he explained. “With more than 80 percent of land in Indiana devoted to farms, forests and woodlands, agriculture will continue to be threatened by development. We want to keep farmers farming, and work on preserving ag land and water before it actually becomes an issue.”