AFBF votes to terminate IFB

Illinois Farm Bureau membership in the American Farm Bureau Federation is set to be terminated effective Dec. 20.

The AFBF Board of Directors voted on the termination this week after unsuccessful meetings with Illinois Farm Bureau leaders in Bloomington which included IFB President Brian Duncan.

A statement posted to the farmweeknow.com website from Duncan says they believe AFBF is choosing to abandon IFB’s over 70,000 farmer members because the affiliate insurance company, COUNTRY Financial, does not want to force non-farmers to join.

AFBF President Zipply Duvall wrote in an e-mail to state presidents that the action is based on IFB’s decision to allow COUNTRY Financial to eliminate the Farm Bureau membership eligibility requirement for nonfarm insurance policyholders in Illinois.

Only around 78,000 of the nearly 400,000 Illinois Farm Bureau members are farmer members. The national organization has around 5.9 million members and gets $5 in dues per Farm Bureau member, regardless if they are a farmer or not.