By DAVE BLOWER JR.
Farm World Editor

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — As Chris Novak wraps up his four-year career as the top executive with the Indiana Soybean Alliance (ISA), he reminisced on the changes during his tenure.

Novak’s last day as executive director of the ISA and the Indiana Corn Growers Assoc. (ISA) and the Indiana Corn Marketing Council (ICMC) is Sept. 26. A few days later on Oct. 1, Novak will take over as the executive director of the National Pork Board (NPB).

“I would have liked to take a little more time off than that, but on Oct. 1, the Pork Board will be hosting state organizations from around the country for an overview of what’s going on in the NPB, and that seemed like a logical time for me to start working with them,” Novak said.

He said the two accomplishments he is most proud of during his stint in Indiana are creating stronger partnerships between farm groups and providing better service to corn and soybean growers – and as a result – all Hoosiers.

Novak said working with the Indiana State Department of Agriculture (ISDA) and the state’s livestock organizations, a partnership called Growing Indiana Agriculture was initiated. Also assisting in this project were Indiana Farm Bureau and the Board of Animal Health. This venture sought to assist the ISDA’s goal of increasing Indiana pork production.

“This is a great example of a partnership,” Novak said. “Pork production in Indiana has increased by 23 percent in the past 3 1/2 to 4 years.”

Similarly, Novak guided the many corn and soybean groups through a merger process to consolidate duplicities and provide more efficient service to corn and soybean growers.

Prior to Novak’s hiring in 2004, Hoosier soybean growers were led by the Indiana Soybean Board (ISB), which managed the state’s soybean checkoff dollars, and the Indiana Soybean Growers Assoc. (ISGA), which provided services for growers that the checkoff was not allowed to do by law. The ISB was supervised by a board of 36 farmers, and the ISGA had an oversight board with 24 members.
Armed with a new strategic plan, Novak was able to merge the two entities into one organization – the ISA – which has 24 soybean growers on its board.

“This is not a unique set-up across the country, but we’re doing it on a larger scale than many other states,” he said.

In addition, the ICMC, which manages corn checkoff dollars, and the ICGA share the leadership team with the Soybean Alliance. This merger of services took place in October 2006.

“We still have 60 farmers involved between the three organizations,” Novak said. “It’s a great thing to have that many farmers volunteer to be involved.”

For the future of the ISA and the state’s corn organizations, he believes they need to become a more active voice in shaping Indiana’s future ag policies.

“We’ve developed great relationships with (Indiana) Gov. (Mitch) Daniels and Lt. Gov. (Becky) Skillman,” Novak explained. “But we need to develop relationships with those in Washington, D.C. as well as those who are in the General Assembly here in Indiana.”
He said that task remains in the lobbying arm of the ISA and the ICGA. There are 850 dues-paying members of the ISA and 600 who belong to the ICGA.

The ISA is conducting a search to fill Novak’s position. Jane Ade Stevens is serving as an interim executive director. The ISA hopes to hire a replacement by the end of the year.