Farmers Push for Accountability During Contentious Illinois Farm Bureau Meeting

Emotion was high as farmers gathered in Chicago over the weekend for the 110th Annual Meeting of the Illinois Farm Bureau (IFB). President Brian Duncan and Vice President Evan Hultine expressed frustration with the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) over the ongoing membership dispute.

In September, Country Financial announced IFB membership will no longer be required of its non-farm customers. Country Financial is an affiliate company of IFB and the same people, including Duncan and Hultine, serve on the respective boards. 

As a result of the membership decision, AFBF has said IFB’s membership to the national organization will be terminated. After a failed mediation between the groups in November, IFB filed a lawsuit in McLean County circuit court “to hold AFBF accountable” and protect its members.

Leadership Replacement Attempt

Some members’ distrust of state leadership was evident, particularly in Monday’s business meeting. The morning session began with a motion from Ben Hugenberg of Adams County to amend the agenda. He sought to add new business that would facilitate the removal and replacement of Duncan and Hultine.

Ultimately, outside counsel Paul Winters and parliamentarian Nancy Sylvester determined the motion was “out of order” as 20 days written notice to the membership is required to remove a director. A motion was made to appeal the decision, leading to more than two hours of tense procedural discussion and a secret paper ballot vote.

After the paper ballots were tallied, it was announced the prevailing side “agrees with the ruling of the chair that the vote on removal of the president is out of order and shall not be placed on the agenda.” Ultimately, the delegate body determined the president and vice president will remain in their roles for the second year of their two year terms and the rest of the meeting got underway shortly before lunch.

In other action, four of the nine district directors up for reelection did not win their races. In addition to their role on the Illinois Farm Bureau board, district directors sit on Country Financial’s board of directors. New district directors were elected in Districts 6, 8, 12, and 14.

Vice President as IFB Employee

Later in the meeting two bylaw changes were proposed. They each failed after several minutes of discussion.

First, was a proposal from the IFB board to reclassify the vice president as a part-timen employee. This would have allowed IFB to compensate the vice president via a salary instead of a per diem. 

Jennifer Vance, IFB general counsel was called on to explain, “Iowa Farm Bureau was under audit by the Internal Revenue Service and there was a provision…pointed out…that indicates that anybody who is an officer of the organization who doesn’t provide just very minimal services or who doesn’t just get paid for reimbursement of their expenses, has to be classified as an employee.”

The IFB board already took a vote to reclassify the position beginning Jan. 1, 2025, to a part-time salaried position, Vance noted.

One delegate questioned, “And your reasoning behind putting the cart ahead of the horse here and not allowing us as delegates of this organization to vote up or down?”

“We have to follow the law regardless of what the bylaws say,” Vance said.

The delegate continued, “You’re stating even if we speak in opposition and defeat this bylaw, he’s going to become an employee of the organization regardless?”

“Correct,” said Vance.

The proposal was defeated with just 38% support.

In a press conference immediately following the annual meeting, Duncan expressed confidence in “other options.”

“Tomorrow, let’s analyze what our options are. We are an organization that follows the law, and let’s see what we can do to comply with the law and still comply with our bylaws. I think there’s a pathway forward,” he said. “I’ve got really, really smart people working on that issue.”

Shorter Officer Terms

Secondly, a proposal from Kane County to reduce the terms of president and vice president to one year effective in 2025 was presented.

A Kane County delegate explained that IFB leaders were elected annually prior to 1994. Terms were extended to two years due to the amount of delegates’ time elections consume. However, there have only been five contested elections over the last 30 years, said the delegate, calling that argument “moot.”

Most counties elect their leaders annually, the Kane County delegate added.

A Tazewell County delegate spoke against the proposal, “I feel like a lot of time would be spent on campaigning and it changes how one is able to do their job.”

Another delegate echoed, “I think a person who has two years to work on things can get things started and [is] more likely to get them completed. That they are pushing to try to have betterment for the Illinois Farm Bureau. We all need to come together and do what is best for Illinois Farm Bureau, not for a few who have some bruised egos.” His statement was met with applause from the crowd.

“We need to be more united,” said another delegate. “We’re looking divided today. With everything going on in the industry, we really need to look united.”

A Clark County delegate responded, “I think the issue with a lot of this is accountability. A lot of folks in the room, including us, feel left out. We’re ignored. We’re not consulted. Maybe that’s some of our fault, but when you’re up for election every year you’ve got to listen more than you do when you’ve got a free year to ride.”

The proposal to shorten the terms of top IFB leadership positions was defeated with just 34% support.