After seeing other parts of the world, I’m proud to be an American farmer

Greetings to all of my farmer friends and neighbors from our farm here in rural Morgan County. This is my first column as the Chair of the Indiana Soybean Alliance’s Membership & Policy Committee (M&P). I’m looking forward to sharing my thoughts and opinions with all of you during the next year. I am focused on building on the policies that previous leaders have started, plus I want to initiate new ideas to help Hoosier farmers, too.

Many of us are required to wear more than one hat on the farm. Some of us produce both row crops and livestock. Other farmers also work on school boards, church leadership, 4-H or some other service in addition to running a farm. These roles are different, but also fit the unique talents that we all possess.

Those of us who serve as ISA directors also wear two hats. ISA is Indiana’s soybean checkoff program. As checkoff directors, we work to enhance the viability of Indiana soybean farmers through the effective and efficient investment of soybean checkoff funds. ISA assists soybean farmers through its strategic initiatives of market development; environmental, social and economic sustainability; value creation and producer engagement. Checkoff funds, however, cannot be used to advocate for pro-farmer policies in the government halls in Indianapolis or Washington, D.C.