INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. - Last week at the Indiana Statehouse, the promise of bacon on the second-floor lobby lured legislatures and staff alike to a “bacon bar” legislative breakfast where representatives from the Indiana Corn Growers Association (ICGA), Indiana Soybean Alliance (ISA) and others were waiting and ready to discuss agricultural policy.

Among those present were Lieutenant Governor Suzanne Crouch, House Ag Committee Chair Rep. Don Lehe and Indiana Senate Ag Committee Chair Jean Leising. Participants enjoyed turkey, beef and pork bacon in a variety of flavors while discussing current ag policy issues and priorities. ICGA and ISA hosted the breakfast which enjoyed a great turnout, according to ISA Chairman Jim Douglas. 

“This is a great event because the legislators are coming to work and can grab some breakfast and coffee and juice and visit with the farmers; there’s a lot of agribusiness people here and it just makes it easy for them,” Douglas said. “That’s what they need, because they’re very busy during session time and to get their attention it’s got to be convenient. We’ve been in some strange times the past couple years with the disconnect because of Covid and this is a great event to get people together.”

A new  bill on the table for discussion was SB 85, which would establish a Drainage Taskforce to review the responsibilities of landowners and state and local authorities under current laws regarding the drainage of land. The task force would make recommendations and issue a report by Dec. 1, 2023. 

“The drainage task force is especially important, because some federal rules are arguing the waters of state and trying to overstep their boundaries,” he said. “It’s just making it difficult to do any farm improvements and we’ve had some real issues in Indiana with some over-regulation with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and so forth, and so this task force was put together to study and come up with some solutions to form some sensible regulations.”

Leising, the senator backing SB 85, said the drainage task force would tackle the 400 pages of rules the DNR has in place to regulate drainage areas.

“It has to do with potentially reining in the DNR,” Leising said. “I decided we needed a taskforce, and so as a result that bill has moved, and I’m hoping that when the task force gets together with all of the interested parties, they will figure out why we in Indiana would have over 400 pages of rules when some of our neighboring states have less than 10 pages. Something has gone out of whack-- I’m not sure what, but hopefully we can solve that issue as well.”

Perhaps the most important bill of the session is HB 1148 – Veterinary Medicine. This proposal establishes the Indiana Center for Animal Policy to facilitate the coordination of regulatory duties of the Indiana State Board of Animal Health (BOAH). Lehe said the bill would strengthen the relationship and functionality of the two entities overseeing animal health in the state.

“It’s an issue that came to us from the state veterinarian. He said there are more animals in Indiana now than in the history of Indiana, and he’s trying to put together a working relationship between the Board of Animal Health and the state Veterinary Medical Association, and so we’re working on that, and it will be very beneficial to maintain and improve the health of Indiana’s livestock industry.”

Leising said the bill to restructure BOAH will help the state keep on top of  disease threats to Indiana livestock.

“Our Board of Animal Health wanted some changes in their structure, and they thought they could be more effective by working more closely with the Veterinary Medical Association,” Leising said. “I think that many of us just take for granted the animal safety in our state, but when you think of the threat of potentially African Swine Fever from another country coming in—I think we have to always be prepared, and BOAH did a great job on the avian flu a few years ago and so we’ve got to make sure they are prepared and I think this bill will help with that.”

Lehe is completing his final year as a representative and will not be running in the spring primary. He has spent his career of more than 20 years concentrating on ag and rural community issues. Some of his greatest work in this capacity involved advocating for animal ag against anti-large-scale production groups and helping to establish the state corn checkoff. 

“I’ve concentrated on agricultural and rural community issues, because for that time my district has been small towns and rural counties, farms and so forth,” he said. “So, I’ve kind of concentrated on that and I think we’ve done a pretty good job of promoting Indiana agriculture and allowing Indiana farmers to do what they do best.”

Lehe says he may be the only person out of 150 Indiana legislatures currently that actually goes home  every day to farm chores such as feeding cattle or driving a tractor, but there are others in the Indiana house and senate that know their way around a barn.

“We’ve got a lot of people in the legislature that come from farm backgrounds, so they are very familiar with the issues even though they’re just not out there every day,” he said. “So, I’m not alone, we’ve got a lot of people that understand it and support what we try to do. But I encourage farmers to at least get involved and support whoever you think would be good to grow Indiana ag in the right way.”

You do not have to come to the statehouse and eat a lot of bacon to stay connected with your legislatures, Lehe said, but it is helpful. He added that it is essential that the ag community keep in touch with their representatives, which can be done in a variety of ways. 

“You can email or call the legislature, come to the statehouse and talk to them,” he said. “Better yet, come to the committee meeting and testify, because that is the only point in the whole process for public input. An idea first gets drafted by our legislative services, and they go through the whole process and write a bill, which then goes to committee, but at that committee point is the only place for the general public to actually come in and testify and be involved directly with the success or failure of a bill, so I encourage that all the time.”