Even though your Indiana state lawmakers have wrapped up this year’s session of the Indiana General Assembly, ag leaders are already focusing on next year’s legislative session because Indiana lawmakers will be putting together another two-year budget beginning next January.
“How will next year’s state budget affect the Indiana State Department of Agriculture, the Office of Indiana State Chemist, or any of these agencies that impact Indiana’s ag businesses?” says Bruce Kettler, the President and CEO of the Agribusiness Council of Indiana (ACI).
He says he’s also concerned about any state legislation that could put a damper on ag innovation and research.
“We’re always looking at new things like ag technology and how does the policy that’s being worked on in the Statehouse affect those Industries? It’s always the inadvertent pieces of legislation that sometimes aren’t thought about that can be the biggest problems and challenges if you get a law enacted that doesn’t think about that,” he says.
Even though Kettler says he and the ACI policy committee are already thinking about next year’s Indiana General Assembly, the immediate concern impacting Indiana’s ag businesses and the state’s ag economy regard the lack of a new Farm Bill on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.
“We just keep hoping that something’s going to happen with that,” says Kettler. “Frankly, I think at this stage, chances are pretty slim that we’re going to get a Farm Bill this year. I think everybody would like to see it because it gives us some certainty for our farmers and that ultimately affects our Agribusiness Council of Indiana members as well.”
Click HERE for more information about the Agribusiness Council of Indiana (ACI).
Click below to hear C.J. Miller’s full conversation with Bruce Kettler, President and CEO of the Agribusiness Council of Indiana, as they discuss several new state laws that were passed during the 2024 Indiana General Assembly that impact Indiana’s ag businesses.
