This is an Indiana Farm Bureau membership minute…Find your voice, become a member of Indiana Farm Bureau. So what does Find Your Voice mean for members? Megan Ritter, Executive Director of Administration says there are many ways members can find their voice, so it depends on individual members’ needs at any given time.
“Whether that’s being active at the statehouse or even locally in their community,” she said. “We have county Farm Bureaus in all 92 counties across the state and it’s about making sure rural Hoosiers, farm families really have a voice in what their destiny is, what their local communities look like, and the policies or programs that will make rural Indiana a better place to work and live.”
As a grassroots organization, more members finding their voice helps strengthen the grassroots network. One area of focus for Indiana Farm Bureau is elected officials at every level, educating members on how to work with them, and then connecting the two.
“It’s really important that farm families be able to make those connections and educate legislators and decision makers. We focus a lot on coming to the statehouse or taking farmers from Indiana to Washington DC, but we also focus very much at that local level too, visiting with your county commissioners and county council members. Those folks can have a big impact on what your rural communities really look like across the state, and so we encourage that level of activity as well.”
Ritter added, “One of the things that we hear from farmers and rural families across the state is that people don’t understand agriculture, and that’s a key component of finding your voice in Farm Bureau, talking together and sharing the story of Indiana agriculture.”
You can become an Indiana Farm Bureau member by joining online at www.infb.org/findyourvoice.