State Rep. Bob Cherry (R-Greenfield), who is also a farmer in Hancock County, has announced his plans to retire next year from the Indiana House of Representatives after 25 years of service.
Cherry will complete his current term and not seek re-election in 2024 according to a press release.
Cherry represents House District 53, which includes portions of Hancock and Madison counties. He was first elected to office in 1998 with his current term ending in early November 2024.
Cherry currently serves as vice chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, which is responsible for crafting Indiana’s two-year state budget. He also serves as an alternate on the State Budget Committee, and as a member of the House Agriculture and Rural Development Committee, House Elections and Apportionment Committee, and House Rules and Legislative Procedures Committee. Cherry is also chair of the State Fair Advisory Committee and a member of the White River State Park Development Commission.
He will continue to serve on the Indiana State Fair Commission.
Cherry, who has farmed his entire life, has represented Indiana’s agriculture industry and Hoosier farm families in the State legislature throughout his career. In 2013, Cherry co-sponsored a law preventing $57 million in farm property tax increases by making an adjustment to the way assessments are calculated regarding soil productivity.
Cherry’s passion for agriculture as a young man led him from Hancock Central High School (which consolidated with Greenfield High School in 1969) to Purdue University, where he graduated and became an agriculture teacher at the newly-formed Greenfield-Central High School. He later started working with Indiana Farm Bureau on farm policy, which led Cherry to decide to become a lawmaker.
Cherry is the fifth generation to live in the same family farmhouse and own the farmland in Hancock County. He received the Honorary Master Farmer Award from Indiana Prairie Farmer and the Purdue University College of Agriculture in 2022.
“It’s been a great privilege and honor to serve Hancock and Madison counties as well as portions of Rush and Shelby counties under the prior legislative district maps,” said Cherry. “I’ve been blessed to represent our area of the state and I’m so thankful for everyone who supported me along the way.”
