Could The Illinois Farm Bureau Be Expelled from the…

This past September Country Financial let customers know that effective January first of 2025 if they have non-farm policies, they wouldn’t be required to be a member of the Farm Bureau. Farm related policies however would still require membership.

The American Farm Bureau Federation is not okay with this as it would see a significant drop in membership potentially. Not just a nominal drop but possibly from 400,000 down to 78,000 in the Illinois Farm Bureau. That’s not small, but shows that Country Financial policies are mostly NOT farm related.

Consequently, AFBF President Zippy Duvall threatened the IFB with expulsion from the Federation if the IFB didn’t pressure Country Financial to change course immediately.

In 1925 The Illinois Farm Bureau founded Country Companies which later became Country Financial. Country Financial is the largest farm insurer in the Land of Lincoln and doesn’t just operate in Illinois, but in 19 different states.

The AFBF thinks the IFB should’ve known this was coming and acted accordingly to counter Country Financials plan, and that they could still affect the situation.

The IFB says it doesn’t want to “remove itself” from the AFBF, and the board that governs IFB also governs Country Financial. The Illinois Farm Bureau says the decision was Country Financials not the IFB’s and that they want to resolve the “misunderstanding” with AFBF.