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Connecting Indiana farmers with state legislators

The annual Corn and Soybean Breakfast at the Statehouse is an opportunity for Indiana’s corn and soybean farmers to talk directly with their legislators about key issues facing Indiana agriculture.  Road and bridge funding is a top priority for farmers during this year’s General Assembly.

Central Indiana farmer Anngie Steinbarger says the state’s deteriorating roads and bridges cause additional challenges for the state’s farmers.  “We’re going through a project on a road where I live,” she says.  “We’re hauling our 2016 corn in to the elevator now, putting it on delayed pricing because they are going to shut down the road in our local area and as they do that – there won’t be a great way for us to get to the elevators.”

AUDIO: Anngie Steinbarger, Indiana farmer

Randy Frye represents Indiana’s 67^th District which includes all of Ripley, Ohio, and Switzerland and parts of Decatur, Jennings, Jefferson, and Dearborn.  He says when Indiana’s farmers visit the statehouse – the legislators listen.  “They are here to meet with and educate legislators,” he says.  “Many educators don’t have a clue where the crops come from – where the corn and soybeans come from.  So the interaction between the legislators and the members of the corn and soybean groups is so important.”

AUDIO: Randy Frye, Indiana’s 67th District

Frye is the coauthor of House Bill 1002, the Transportation infrastructure funding bill that is currently being debated in the Indiana state legislature.

A 2016 study funded completed by the IU Public Policy Institute and funded by the Indiana Corn Marketing Council and the Indiana Soybean Alliance found that repairing and replacing Indiana’s functionally obsolete or structurally-deficient rural roads and bridges over a 20-year period would cost more than $6 billion.