Indiana corn and soybean farmers shared their top legislative priorities with state legislators at the Statehouse in Indianapolis on Thursday. The annual Indiana Corn Growers Association & Indiana Soybean Alliance Legislative Breakfast provides farmers with the opportunity to talk directly with their legislators about key issues facing their farming operations.
“Hoosier farmers are critical drivers of Indiana’s economy, and it’s important for legislators to hear from farmers about what’s going on around our state,” said Jeanette Merritt, chair of ISA’s membership and policy committee. “To be able to tell legislators about the current conditions of rural roads and the desperate need for additional funding to improve our transportation systems is an important tool in advocating for our members.”
In addition to increased funding for rural roads, ICGA and ISA members are focused on correcting the state’s farmland property tax system, which has been disproportionally taxing Indiana farmers.
“Not only have farmland property tax rates increased 47 percent since 2008, without action, the base farmland tax rate could increase another 67 percent in the next three years. Addressing issues like this are vital to ensuring the future success of our Indiana farmers, and this is a great opportunity for our farmers to share that message with our legislators,” said Mike Nichols, ICGA president. “Our annual breakfast let’s ICGA members share with our legislators the issue that are important to our industry – issues like transportation funding, farmland property tax reform, and the growing availability of biofuels in Indiana.”
Additional support for the morning activities was provided by Dow AgroSciences, Farm Credit Mid-America, Beck’s, ADM, Indiana Ethanol Producers Association, and the Indiana Dairy Producers Association.