BY TAMMIE SLOUP
The member survey distributed as part of Illinois Farm Bureau’s Organizational Member Strategy (OMS) received one of the largest responses of any survey conducted by the organization. That feedback, as well as input from 34 focus groups and a county Farm Bureau manager questionnaire, will now be used to guide development of the OMS roadmap.
The OMS aims to determine the current and future state of the organization, including finding whether services and programs provided through IFB and county Farm Bureaus adequately serve members.
Feedback was collected from primarily farmer and agriculture professional members.
About 3,800 completed surveys were analyzed, and focus groups were conducted throughout the state. By this past spring, input was received from all 102 counties.
“We can’t thank our members enough for participating in the survey. We continue to review the results by different demographics to make sure we write a plan that positions us to meet members’ needs into the future,” said IFB Chief Strategy Officer Mark Gebhards.
Of those members surveyed, a substantial proportion identified the organization’s ability to provide informative, up-to-date news and information about agriculture and to provide legislative, regulatory and legal advocacy as core values of the IFB membership. Members indicated using services and programs tied directly to these categories with high frequency. When coupled with many indicating IFB is the only ag-related organization they are part of, this feedback demonstrates IFB is a trusted source of ag-related news and information for its members.
When asked what services would increase the value members place in their membership, they listed farm transition and succession planning support, risk management services, legal services, retirement planning and financial management services, among others.
Four primary themes also emerged from the focus group meetings, the first being that leaders want the organization to better define a value proposition and be clear about the members IFB serves.
Leaders also are interested in broadening membership to better appeal to the many segments of the ag industry. Farm Bureau also should collaborate with other organizations in the industry on members’ behalf.
Finally, young people who participated in focus groups want recognition that their path in agriculture looks different than generations before, and they are struggling to know where or how they fit into the organization.
The focus groups allowed for deeper discussion on the topics, and played a vital role in gathering input.
“We knew that in-person conversations were going to be really important to the data collection process, and we’re proud to say that by early next month, we will have visited each of the 18 IFB districts in the state for personal conversations about Farm Bureau’s future,” said IFB Director of Organizational Strategy Lyndsey Ramsey.
County Farm Bureaus will receive an analysis of their members’ survey results this fall.
Now that the collection and data analyzation steps are complete, the three subcommittees — Membership, Programming and Engagement and County Farm Bureau — will develop guidance, recommendations and proposals for the OMS Advisory Committee.
The IFB Board of Directors will ultimately vote on the roadmap, and allocate staff and financial resources to the plan to help deliver effective and efficient advocacy for the future of Illinois farmers and to address declining membership and a changing ag landscape. Pilot projects also will be implemented, with some involving CFBs.
More information can be found at ilfb.org. Questions and comments can be directed to OMS@ilfb.org.
Content for this story was provided by FarmWeekNow.com.