Ag Industry Puts Heads Together For Strategic Plan
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowKey stakeholders from the state’s agriculture sector have released a strategic plan designed to boost the sector over the next decade. The priorities include supporting infrastructure improvement, extending high-speed broadband to all parts of the state and better coordinating ag education with the private sector. The committee that drafted the plan includes leaders from agricultural boards, universities, industry organizations and government throughout the state.
Other major tenants include: making the connection between environmental stewardship and economic impact, developing a statewide food and ag promotional campaign, promote "a culture of leadership development" throughout industry career paths, launch an economic development team focused on proactive strategies and marketing Indiana’s agbiosciences sector through targeted campaigns. A big section of the report was devoted to detailing Indiana’s agricultural strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.
Indiana Farm Bureau President Randy Kron calls ag a "main economic driver" and says it will take cooperation across the broad spectrum of the industry to provide a boost. He says by government, commodity-focused organizations, universities and industry groups like the Farm Bureau working together, it will make agriculture "more efficient, more effective and better for Indiana."
He says technology continues to play a key role for farmers and will be important in the future to help "step it up a few notches." Kron’s key takeaways from the report include infrastructure (roads and bridges), exports (boosting access from Indiana to the rest of the world through steps such as better connectivity with the ports system and rest of the logistics environment) and boosting access to broadband in rural areas.
You can connect to the full strategic plan by clicking here.
You can read comments on the new plan from industry experts here: