Indiana Farm Bureau delegates worked through a longer-than-normal delegate session in August as they came to a head on key agricultural issues in the state. After the lengthy discussion, INFB President Randy Kron says that they walked out of the meeting with a clear guiding light to protect farmers’ ability to farm.

“On the water and tax, I think we’ve got enough of a framework on policy,” Kron says. “There’s some flexibility in there, because you’re never going to get everything you want, but we know the direction they want us to move.”

Water quantity regulations and property taxes headlined the delegate session, and Kron predicts that they will stay at the top of INFB’s priorities for the foreseeable future.

Where they stand

The goal of this delegate session was to decide what stance INFB will take on Indiana agriculture issues. Below are the topics that INFB is prioritizing, along with what it will be trying to advocate for in each area.

Water usage. There are currently no water quantity regulations in place, and Kron describes the situation as “whoever draws it out the fastest gets it.” INFB plans to advocate for a statewide monitoring system that will keep tabs on water quantity in the state and get a better feel for where water is going.

There is an internal INFB water task force looking into regulations currently in place and opportunities to provide further protections for agriculture. Kron explains that advocating for water protection for all corners of the agriculture industry — crops, livestock and processing — will help lawmakers understand how broad the industry is.

“We’re raising food, and we always hear that food security is national security,” Kron says. “So, water for agriculture purposes should have some protections.” The next step for INFB is to head to the statehouse and advocate for statutory changes that protect the investments that farmers have made in the field.

LEAP. Coupled with the water quantity issue is LEAP. Kron explains that INFB will tie the need for a water-monitoring system to this issue when it advocates for water regulations with LEAP. Having accurate data could help the state make decisions regarding projects such as LEAP. Kron shares that INFB is not against LEAP, but it thinks there should be more research and transparency.

“We’re not anti-development, and we’re not against any of those projects,” Kron says. “But if we’re going to start moving water around, we must be careful.”

Property taxes. INFB recognizes that people in agriculture pay more for property taxes than what is needed to cover the services they require, as the property tax burden shifts dramatically to agriculture and farmland. However, it believes that property taxes cannot be cut completely because local services require some source of funding.

Rather, Kron shares that the bureau will investigate alternatives. For example, it’ll research whether county budgets could be made leaner or if there could be higher local income tax. At least one legislator is in conversations with INFB about reducing property tax with a sales tax increase on certain services. Kron says that there will be some give and take because the funding must come from somewhere. 

“If we could get rid of property tax, we would be fine with that,” Kron says. “But the devil is in the details.”

Renewable energy development. INFB is a strong proponent of private property rights, and Kron says its body supports renewable energy use. However, he shares that INFB members are torn over leasing farmland for commercial renewable energy projects.

“You have private property rights versus good land use, and that’s a tough one,” Kron says. He adds that INFB had discussions about incentivizing alternative locations for renewable energy development, such as parking lots, rooftops, coal ground and marginal farmland. However, Kron explains that there is no clear definition for marginal farmland, so INFB will do some more research and analysis to find those alternative sites.

Rural broadband. Although INFB has advocated for widespread rural connectivity for the past few years, it still has identified gaps. As Kron puts it, INFB will continue pushing for high-speed internet on every acre.

“We don’t want to lose focus on that, where you get a fair number of acres covered with internet and forget the last ones,” Kron adds. “We don’t want any location to be stranded with no internet.”

INFB will continue to monitor where there are gaps and will watch where state funding is going in terms of these projects. Kron says there also will need to be some subsidies and additional guidelines from lawmakers to ensure companies extend fiber optic services to everyone in their region.