* Farm Progress reporter and Illinois Farm Bureau member Betty Haynes last month…

The last few years have been a roller coaster of controversy and questionable decisions for [Illinois Farm Bureau].

In the fall of 2024, the board voted to no longer require IFB membership for Country Financial nonfarm insurance policy holders, decreasing [IFB] membership to a fraction of what it was.

The American Farm Bureau Federation expelled IFB from AFBF, stating the decision was made by IFB’s affiliate company, rather than by farmer-members. After months of failed mediation, IFB filed a suit against AFBF to reverse the expulsion and pay monetary damages.

Naturally, the situation raised eyebrows in the countryside. At the 2024 IFB Annual Meeting, delegates tried but failed to remove President Brian Duncan and Vice President Evan Hultine for ignoring grassroots members.

And so, for the last year, AFBF and IFB have been in the middle of messy litigation, spending gobs of money fighting one another. And now two farmers are running against the president and vice president during the 2025 annual meeting, in an election set for Dec. 8. […]

As a young IFB member, I’m burned out from the lawsuits. I’m burned out on the seemingly self-serving politics. Most of all, I’m burned out from fighting with one another when our farm and so many others desperately need a voice in Springfield and Washington.

A little bit of background: The Illinois Farm Bureau founded Country Financial in 1925 to insure farmers. Country is an IFB affiliate. The change to no longer longer requiring policyholders to be Illinois Farm Bureau members resulted in a loss of 169,000 IFB members.

* And on Dec. 9, IFB members voted in former IFB president Philip Nelson. WGLT…

New Illinois Farm Bureau President Philip Nelson said one reason he unseated previous organization head Brian Duncan was a legal dispute with the American Farm Bureau Federation [AFBF].

The controversy is over Country Financial’s decision to end its requirement that insurance policy holders be members of the Farm Bureau. The AFBF objected to the loss of revenue in shared dues and threatened to expel the Illinois Farm Bureau from the federation. About a year ago, the Illinois Farm Bureau filed a lawsuit to stop that action. […]

“I think I need to hear their side of it first. I think the first step is sitting down across the table and talking and seeing where we’re at and then we’ll go from there,” said Nelson. […]

He said other priorities involve young farmers and the Farm Bureau board.

“I’d like to empower the board of directors more, so they’re better engaged on the issues and the decisions that are made,” said Nelson. “I’d like to energize the young leaders of our organization. They’re our present, but they’re also our future. And if we’re going to restore credibility in this organization, they’ve got to be a part of it.”

The IFB’s legal bills are now more than $4 million.

* Which brings us to today. Farm Progress…

In what’s being called an unprecedented move, Brian Duncan and four other Illinois farmers who were defeated in their bids for reelection to the Illinois Farm Bureau board last month have declined to resign their seats on the Country Mutual board of directors.

The four former IFB board members are Mark Tuttle, Bob Fecht, Brad Daugherty and John Howard.

Normally, the same group of people serves on both the IFB and Country Mutual boards; board members often describe it as “putting on a different hat” when they step into the Country Mutual board room.

Following an IFB election, defeated officers and directors typically resign from the Country Mutual board, and newly elected officers and directors are seated at the January Country Mutual meeting. In a year when IFB elects a new president, that president would also typically become the new chairman of the Country Mutual board.

Their decision has raised questions and concerns for new IFB president Philip Nelson and for those who were elected with him during the IFB annual meeting in Chicago, held in early December.

* Brownfield Ag News…

Duncan declined an interview with Brownfield, but released the following statement:

“The COUNTRY Board serves one‑year terms that start at the COUNTRY Annual Meetings each April. The next one is on April 22, 2026. Board members can step down earlier if they want to. Some choose to do that when their IFB Board service wraps up, but they don’t have to.

At the April annual meetings, the stockholders for our stock companies (like COUNTRY Life) and the policyholders for our mutual company (COUNTRY Mutual) elect new board members. For the mutual company, the Illinois Farm Bureau board carries proxies for the mutual company policyholders, meaning they vote on their behalf.

These elections aren’t the same as IFB elections because the COUNTRY Boards have their own work to do. When the IFB Board picks COUNTRY Directors, they’re choosing people whose job in that role is to look out for COUNTRY and its clients, not to carry out IFB duties. What matters most is that COUNTRY Directors always stay focused on serving all COUNTRY clients, those in Illinois plus in the 18 other states where COUNTRY operates.

In light of lawsuits that are underway, regardless of who is serving on the COUNTRY Board, we need to maintain a steady focus on what is best for COUNTRY and its clients.”

* Related…

* WGEM | Uncertain future for Illinois Farm Bureau after national membership terminated: According to the 21-page lawsuit, the IFB’s membership with the AFBF was terminated due to the IFB’s affiliate company, COUNTRY Financial, dropping the requirement for non-farm insurance policyholders to become farm bureau members. The lawsuit states that COUNTRY Financial made the change because, beforehand, the underwriting rules could leave policy not being renewed, leaving clients without insurance.

* IPM Newsroom | Illinois Farm Bureau delegates reject president’s bid for 2nd term: A separate policy change that would have made it easier to remove a president and vice president failed by a wide margin. Delegates voted 204-83 against changing organization bylaws to allow delegates to remove those officers via a two-thirds majority vote at an annual, regular, or special meeting. It would have taken effect in January. A midterm effort to oust Duncan failed at last year’s annual meeting amid parliamentary maneuvering that centered on a requirement to give 20 days’ written notice before a president or board member can be removed. Members voted in secret ballot to retain Duncan.

* Farm Progress | AFBF, Illinois Farm Bureau dispute limited to state group, AFBF president says: [AFBF President Zippy Duvall] has said the move to terminate IFB membership was in response to IFB’s decision to allow its controlled affiliate company, Country Financial, to eliminate the Farm Bureau membership eligibility requirement for nonfarm insurance policyholders in Illinois. The move by AFBF to expel IFB by Dec. 20 has been delayed until pending litigation has been settled.