Property taxes, farm labor and drainage major issues for Farm Bureau members

INDIANAPOLIS, IN - Among the major issues for Indiana Farm Bureau in the coming year will be drainage, farm labor, property taxes and local government reorganization.

At its annual policy-setting session, held Aug. 23 in Indianapolis, nearly 300 delegates representing every county in the state gathered for an all-day discussion on issues of importance to agriculture and to set the policy that will guide IFB through the coming year.

Two issues that were discussed at length by delegates were farm labor and drainage. Eventually the delegates voted to refer both to separate task forces that will take in-depth looks at these two complicated issues and report back at next year’s policy session.

Farmers don’t disagree on the importance of drainage, noted IFB President Don Villwock – “The question is, who should pay for it?” he said. “The delegates couldn’t come to a consensus so we will appoint a drainage task force that will consider drainage laws as they affect ditches, streams, rivers and levees and make recommendations for any improvements.”

Farm labor, including immigration, is another area about which delegates decided they needed more information, Villwock said.

“Agriculture is unanimous about having access to a legal workforce but there is frustration about the federal government not taking the action for which it’s responsible,” he said.

“The reality is that a viable migrant workforce is vital to many sectors of the Indiana ag industry,” he added, citing livestock production and processing as well as fruit and vegetable production. This issue, too, will be considered in depth by a task force that will report back to delegates next year.

One issue delegates are already well informed on is property taxes. Delegates, by unanimous votes, made a number of key additions to the sections of the policy that address property taxes.

Among these was language indicating Farm Bureau’s opposition to a proposed amendment to the Indiana Constitution that would discriminates among classes of property.

“Farm Bureau opposes statutory provisions and any state constitutional amendment that would allow different classes of property to have different levels of maximum taxation,” the new policy reads.

“They unanimously approved opposition to this concept, and Farm Bureau will be working hard to oppose the constitutional amendment that would put that into place,” Villwock said.

Also passed unanimously were changes in language that clarified Farm Bureau’s position on local government reorganization.

“Farm Bureau supports the balanced reorganization of county government, other local government units, and local government services after fiscal review that improve efficiency without diminishing rural representation or unnecessarily restricting agricultural practices such as drainage issues, animal feeding practices, manure applications, etc.,” the new policy says.

Source: Indiana Farm Bureau Press Release