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Director Lamb shares importance of the state fair

The director of the Indiana State Department of Agriculture says the Indiana State Fair serves as an opportunity for the department to get a pulse on the ag industry. 

Don Lamb says the ISDA hosts several meetings with ag groups throughout the fair’s run.

“The main thing that we try to do is really be like a clearinghouse information,” he says. “When we have these meetings with all these different groups, we get a feel for agriculture in general kind of across the board and who’s dealing with what issues.”

He tells Brownfield before his current role, he didn’t understand the importance of farmers to the state fair.

“I didn’t really appreciate it before I took this position, but to watch all those families come in that have kept their farms in the family for 100 years or 150 years, or maybe even 200 years, and to know what that would be like, you know how what an accomplishment that really is and how proud they are and to hear their stories,” he says. “That’s really become a favorite part of the fair for me.”

The Indiana State Fair runs through Sunday.