Earlier this fall, Country Financial made changes to their insurance policy requirements which would result in a member reduction in the Illinois Farm Bureau. This change, explains Holly Spangler, senior editor of Prairie Farmer magazine, eliminates the Illinois Farm Bureau membership requirement.
“Country Financial is an affiliate company belonging to Illinois Farm Bureau. It was set up many, many, many years ago to be a way to get better, insurance prices for farmers. Over time, some of that evolved to where they had both farmer members and nonfarmer members,” explains Spangler. “So if you’re a person who doesn’t farm but you just need insurance on your car or your house; if you want to go to Country Financial, you could get that. But, in order to do that, you had to become a member of the Illinois Farm Bureau. As of September, they have changed that. They voted to change that and to make that not a requirement.”
Mediation between the Illinois Farm Bureau and the American Farm Bureau Federation resulted in the AFBF Executive Board voting to expel IFB from membership effective December 20, 2024. The Illinois Farm Bureau has filed suit against AFBF to continue the use of the name “Illinois Farm Bureau”.
