The Iowa Farm Bureau is thriving and growing today because its members continue to plant the seeds of growth, nurture them and finally harvest those seeds to feed the world, encourage young farmers, protect the environment and make Iowa a better place to live, Craig Hill, Iowa Farm Bureau Federation (IFBF) president told members last week at the organization’s 96th annual meeting in Des Moines.

"No wonder our membership is growing, now with 156,000 member families statewide," Hill said. "More families are seeing the value of Farm Bureau membership because of our success; people want to belong to Farm Bureau. We welcomed more than 2,000 new members this year, the largest membership gain in decades."

The theme of the 2014 IFBF annual meeting, "Seeds of Growth," is a fitting description for the continued success of Farm Bureau, Hill said. "It comes from county leadership; it comes from our grassroots and policy and elections," he said.

Planting the seeds

Farm Bureau ...