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Economic development in Indiana is impacting farmers

The director of the Indiana State Department of Agriculture says economic development has created a lot of opportunity in the state, but it has impacted farmers. 

Don Lamb tells Brownfield the state has lost about 2 percent of its farmland in the past 12 years and concerns about water availability have been on the rise.

“With economic development and with some opportunities to bring in big manufacturing, that requires a lot of water and so all of a sudden in our state we’re talking about water rights.”

He says the Department of Agriculture is working closely with the Indiana Economic Development Corporation, and the Indiana Farm Bureau has created a water task force to work with stakeholders.

“Sometimes agriculture feels a little bit like we’re on the opposite sides of that where if something gets developed, it takes away from ag land, so the goal a lot of the times is to have those things working together.”     

Stangler recently interviewed Director Lamb at the Midwestern Association of State Departments of Agriculture regional meeting in St. Louis, Missouri.