Representing agriculture and rural communities inspires Baird’s work 

By Dave Blower Jr. 

Although he was surprised to receive the Friend of Farmer award this summer during the Indiana Ag Policy Summit in Columbus, Ind., State Rep. Beau Baird (R-Dist. 44), of Greencastle, Ind., certainly positions himself as a friend to agriculture and rural communities. 

Baird has represented his west-central Indiana district since 2018. In the General Assembly, Baird is a member of the Agriculture and Rural Development Committee and the Rules and Legislative Procedures Committee. He is also the chair of both the Environmental Affairs Committee and the State Fair Advisory Committee in the Indiana House of Representatives. 

However, passing new laws and achieving legislative greatness are not his focus. The reason Baird decided to run for the state legislature eight years ago was he merely wanted to help the people of his mostly rural district. 

“The fear that I had is that rural Indiana has a shrinking voice at the Statehouse, and it’s going to continue to shrink as population shifts to Indianapolis and other urban areas,” Baird said. “Being able to be a voice for my community was something that really interested me. I didn’t think, even at that time, how much I would enjoy being a voice for my community. When people or the media talk about legislators, they often talk about how many bills they have passed. That was never of interest to me. I think we have too many laws on the books already.” 

Helping individual constituents motivates Baird. 

“Yesterday I got a call from a farmer because Highway 36 is going to be closed near here between U.S. 231 to the county line,” he explained. “This farmer must cross 36 because half of his fields are on the other side. And he’s like, ‘what are we going to do?’ Because they started taking soybeans out this week. So, I called INDOT this morning at 8 a.m. and said, ‘Hey, I need to know what’s going on with this.’ I can call INDOT, and they will give me an answer. I enjoy that far more than working on legislation or scoring political wins. Being able to help somebody with something that affects their everyday life, that’s what I really enjoy.” 

Family and education 

Baird followed his father, U.S. Rep. Jim Baird (R-Dist. 4), into the Indiana General Assembly. Beau Baird began serving as the Putnam County Republican Chair in 2017. When his father decided to seek a seat in Congress, Baird didn’t immediately plan to run for the state legislature. 

“At the time that Dad decided to run for Congress, I was in three master’s programs all at the same time,” said Baird, who earned graduate degrees international business from IMM Global, and MBA from Purdue’s Krannert School of Management, and a finance degree from Harvard University Graduate School. He was also working full-time as an executive with Indiana Home Care Plus, operating a large Quarter Horse Ranch at home, and helping his father’s campaign for Congress. 

However, after talking to Republican leaders from other counties in District 44, Baird started to consider running. As he has for many subjects, Baird decided to ask his father for advice in December 2017. 

“This is the first time in my life that Dad never gave me advice,” he said. “I mean, Dad has always had an opinion on anything. And when I asked him, he wouldn’t even answer. He just said I had to make the choice for myself, and it had to be for the right reasons. Since he wouldn’t help me, I didn’t tell him my decision until he read it in the newspaper. That was comical. I think he knew where my heart was.” 

Baird was honored with the Friend of Farmer award, in part, for his efforts in getting a state soybean checkoff fallback bill passed earlier this year. That bill only goes into effect if the federal soybean checkoff program is ever rescinded by Congress. Nearly all soybean-producing states have similar laws. 

Baird has seen the benefits of soybean program market development during his world travels. Recently he traveled to Asia and made a note of soybeans in local diets. 

“While I was in Taiwan this summer, I saw people eating fried, crispy soybean strips, and I was in Cambodia recently and saw more fried soybean snacks,” Baird said. “While in Cambodia, I saw someone with an American Soybean Association (ASA) shirt, and I talked to him for a while and found out that they are trying to work more soybeans into the local diet.” 

ASA’s World Initiatives for Soy in Human Health (WISHH) program has offices worldwide attempting to encourage developing nations to buy more U.S. soybeans. 

Passion for Quarter Horses 

Among Baird’s passions is owning and operating a Quarter Horse ranch. His love for riding horses came from his mother, Danise, and her family. Although they mainly road Standardbreds in competition. 

Baird’s interest in Quarter Horses started in high school when he acquired a mare named “Jackie,” who he showed at the Indiana State Fair. He became a serious rider at that time and became the No. 1 rider in the nation. When he left for college at Purdue University, he participated on a horse judging team, and he would travel to Texas to ride horses in the summer. During one of those summer days, he came across a mare that he thought had excellent genetics for the future. 

“I just fell in love with that mare, and I asked the owner for a price; it was far more than I could pay as a college student,” Baird said. “I thought that mare would be a producer, and I tried to buy it again but the mare was out of my price point. Later I’m back at Purdue, and I got a call from the mare’s owner asking me if I would still be interested. Th price was substantially lower, but still not low enough. I told her ‘yes.’ I didn’t know how I was going to pay for it. I ended up selling stuff and made it happen. The first baby that I brought out of that mare was the No. 1 highest money earner of all time in our industry.” 

Whether in the Statehouse or the show ring, Baird is proving that his instincts have been accurate.