IFB Annual Report 2025

FROM THE PRESIDENT'S DESK

Farming teaches you early: you can’t predict everything. You plant, you prepare and you pray for good conditions. But you don’t stand still. You keep your eyes on the horizon. That’s what we’ve done this past year at Illinois Farm Bureau.

In 2025, we’ve worked to modernize our tools, sharpen our focus and deliver real value to members across the state. We’re not reinventing who we are; we’re reinforcing it. Every initiative, every campaign, every meeting with lawmakers is rooted in our purpose: to serve, support and advocate for the people who feed and fuel the world.

This report is more than a list of accomplishments. It’s proof of what happens when we speak with one voice and move with one mission.

We pushed forward on major legislative priorities, including strong momentum behind the Family Farm Preservation Act, passage of nuisance wildlife legislation and critical advocacy in Washington to strengthen trade, defend private property rights and protect biofuels. Our members owned these issues, making thousands of calls and showing up in Springfield and D.C. to tell their stories.

We continued modernizing the way we communicate and connect, from the launch of the Advantage campaign to growing our digital platforms, alongside our longtime pillars of award-winning trusted information: FarmWeek and RFD Radio.

We invested in the next generation. Through record-setting scholarships, leadership development and new ways to support career transitions, farm succession and innovation on the ground.

And through it all, we remained grounded in our grassroots. Because that’s where our power comes from.
As you read through this year’s report, I hope you see your fingerprints in the work. Because whether you made a call, hosted a tour, attended a meeting, testified, volunteered or simply renewed your membership, you made a difference.

We’re not done. Not even close. But if this year has proven anything, it’s this: When we stay modern, stay focused, and stay together — we move agriculture forward.

Brian Duncan
IFB President

IFB President Brian Duncan standing in front of a pig stall.

Impactful Advocacy written on top of an image of a group of people on a farm tour.

ILLINOIS FARM BUREAU BRINGS US TOGETHER, PROTECTS OUR RIGHTS, AND GIVES US A UNIFIED VOICE WITH OUR LEGISLATORS AT THE LOCAL, STATE AND NATIONAL LEVEL.

Justin Green
Douglas County | IFB member since 1996

Text written on a black speckled background. Impactful Advocacy - Our members develop grassroots policy that allows us to be a local, state and federal voice with trusted relationships in the legislative, regulatory and industry spaces to serve as an impactful advocate for our members.

Three boxes outlined in black on a grey speckled background. A vertical box with a red barn icon with text, 72 Adopt-A-Legislator farm visits. One horizontal box with text written in it - Implemented IAA Board Positions on 237 BILLS in Springfield next to a red capital building icon. A horizontal box under that with text written in it - 8 first-time urban legislators welcomed into the Adopt-A-Legislator program next to a red government building icon.

A black speckled background with a white outlined box with text written in it - $105,000 awarded across 23 Rural Development Grants with a red bag of money icon next to it.

• Biodiesel sales-tax exemption preserved: Lawmakers considered repealing the biodiesel sales-tax exemption to help fill budget and transit shortfalls, which would effectively place a new fuel tax on farms. IFB’s opposition helped keep the exemption intact.

• Broadband easement: When policy makers and developers weighed changes that could have made it easier to enter private farmland, IFB’s advocacy helped narrow the scope: only electric cooperatives with state or federal broadband grants can use existing electric easements, with clear notice and payment timelines, company-funded indemnity for damages and a 2030 expiration on the authority.

• Pipeline protections: IFB’s input influenced provisions that pause carbon-capture and pipeline construction in wet conditions, gave the Illinois Department of Agriculture authority to halt work when fields would be harmed and spelled out how landowners can receive compensation for surface and drainage damage.

• Grain Belt Express: IFB and landowners prevailed in court, leaving the developer with no right to construct the project and no survey authority on private ground without landowner consent. IFB then alerted members and counties so owners knew they could refuse access and review any offers on their terms.

A man digging in a ditch laying red cords. With a yellow tractor in the background.

• Deer management improvements: Illinois Farm Bureau secured a clearer, faster path for farms to address crop damage caused by deer and helped lower the landowner permit threshold to 20 acres in counties affected by Chronic Wasting Disease.

• Stopping costly mandates; uniting behind the Family Farm Preservation Act: IFB helped block or stall several sweeping proposals, including overreaching wetlands and navigable waters proposals, California vehicle/engine mandates and new local fuel taxes. IFB also united agriculture around the Family Farm Preservation Act, which would lower the estate tax burden on family farms.

• Practical compliance wins: Continuing education can substitute for re-testing certified applicators every three years, and restricted CDLs were extended from 180 to 210 days.

A deer in the middle of a green cornfield at the beginning of summer.

Trusted Information written on an image of a man standing against a fence on a farm looking at his phone.

WITH IFB, YOU'RE HEARING FROM FELLOW FARMERS FROM YOUR COMMUNITY. THESE ARE PEOPLE YOU CAN TRUST.

Sharon Pferschy
Kane County | IFB member since 1994

A red speckled background with text written on it. Header - Trusted Information with a white outlined box under that that reads - We deliver trusted news and educational resources of unmatched value so our members can make sound business decisions.

A grey speckled background with three boxes with text written in them. To the left a vertical box with a black laptop icon with text written under it - 500,000+ views on IFB Youtube channel. A horizontal box with text that reads IFB's social media amplified 106 member voices representing 50 counties with a black icon of a two hands holding a cell phone. A horizontal box under that that reads 6 consecutive AFBF Publication of the Year Awards for FarmWeek with a black icon of a trophy next to it.

A red speckled background with a white box outlining text and a number 1. Text reads RFD radio continues to be the biggest and most trusted ag radio network in Illinois.

• IFB hosted seminars that provide trusted information for members. Rules for the Road seminars keep members informed on the latest transportation regulations that could affect their businesses; Nutrient Stewardship Field Days share practical, research-based demonstrations that help members adopt effective nutrient loss reduction strategies on their farms; and other featured events highlight renewable energy and other landowner-specific topics.

• IFB earned six awards from American Farm Bureau Federation for excellence in communications, including best newspaper (FarmWeek).

• IFB partnered with BioSTL and University of Illinois Research Park to organize the AgTech Innovation Showcase, which featured emerging ag technologies and offered members information about new on-farm solutions and a chance to provide practical feedback to the innovators.

A man walking upstairs on the side of a corn silo.

• Illinois Farm Bureau launched the Advantage campaign, promoting the advantage that IFB gives its members through impactful advocacy, trusted information and meaningful development.

• IFB partnered with Southern Illinois University Carbondale to launch Weeds with Karla, a series of articles, videos and interviews from SIUC Associate Professor Karla Gage. The series gives farmers trusted information on research, fresh ideas and practical tools to manage challenging weeds.

• IFB’s video team won a regional EMMY for Outstanding Informational Short Form Content and produced two stories that aired nationally on RFD-TV.

A regional EMMY on a black cloth with a grey background.

Meaningful Development written on an image of a group of people sitting at a conference.

THE OPPORTUNITIES TO NETWORK WITH OTHER FARMERS AND PEOPLE WITH A PASSION FOR AGRICULTURE IS WHAT KEEPS ME COMING BACK TO FARM BUREAU. IT'S A COMMUNITY.

Derek Ochs
Richland County | IFB member since 2017

Text written on a grey speckled background. Meaningful Development. A black outlined box with text written in it - We commit to developing members at every stage of their career through leadership development, networking and enhanced business acumen to improve their opportunity for profitability and build a strong community of agriculturalists.

Three boxes outlined in white on a black background with text inside. To the left a vertical box with a red book icon at the top with text - 643,958 students reached Illinois Agriculture in the Classroom in 2024-25. Two horizontal boxes next to that the top with text in it that reads 500+ Collegiate Farm Bureau members across 12 campuses with a red icon of three people next to it. Under that a box with text that reads 21,000 volunteer hours for Harvest for All, which led the nation with a red clock icon next to it.

A grey speckled background with a box with a black outline with text in it. Inside the box there is a red icon of a cow next to text that reads 3 IVET recipients, helping provide large animal veterinarians to rural communities.

• Everything Local Conference brought together more than 700 attendees and 80 vendors for three days of networking, career development and help growing profit opportunities for the state’s specialty growers.

• Twenty-five members graduated from the Agricultural Leaders of Tomorrow (ALOT) program, a comprehensive leadership-development course focused on communication, engagement, political involvement, ag economics, global issues and more.

• The IAA Foundation Scholarship Program awarded $166,251 in scholarships to 93 students, supporting the next generation of agricultural leaders.

Two women looking at a conference pamphlet at the Everything Local Conference.

• IFB’s Summer Ag Tour gave members an opportunity to develop a broader understanding of Illinois agriculture, touring a barge, a produce and specialty crop farm, potato production equipment, irrigation systems and more.

• Illinois Farm Bureau’s Ag Industry Tour gave Young Leaders a meaningful development experience in Michigan, where they explored specialty crop farms and volunteered with a food rescue program.

Group of people volunteering at a Harvest for All event.

THE ILLINOIS FARM BUREAU

ADVANTAGE

"STANDING UP FOR WHAT'S RIGHT FOR MY FAMILY."

TIM GOULD
HENRY COUNTY

"THE BACKBONE
OF THE STATE'S
LARGEST INDUSTRY."

JUSTIN GREEN
HENRY COUNTY

"IFB WAS OUR
MISSING PIECE."

DEREK OCHS
RICHLAND COUNTY

"A GAME CHANGER."