POLO — Ogle County livestock farmer Brian Duncan of Polo was elected the new president of the Illinois Farm Bureau during the organization’s annual meeting in Chicago, Dec. 2-4. 

Duncan, who replaces the retiring Richard Guebert Jr., previously served as the vice president of the IFB since 2017. He also served as president of the Ogle County Farm Bureau (OCFB) from 2004-2017, and on the American Farm Bureau Federation’s (AFBF) Swine Advisory Committee 2003-2006, National Pork Producers Council Price Discovery Task Force, Ogle County Pork Producers board of directors and the IFB Young Leaders Committee from 1990-1994. He was the IFB Discussion Meet winner in 1990 and Young Leader Achievement Award winner in 1999.

“It’s an incredible honor to have the trust of the delegates and members to serve in this position,” Duncan said. “We as an organization stand on the shoulders of giants. The people who founded this organization and have led throughout the years have left big shoes to fill. I’m excited about the challenges and the opportunities that will no doubt come before us in agriculture and as an organization.”

Duncan called the IFB’s work “incredibly important” for not just its members, but for agriculture as a whole. He said he’s looking forward to working with the IFB board of directors and team in Bloomington, county farm bureaus and members to find solutions to problems facing agriculture, along with meeting challenges and seizing opportunities. 

The experience of serving as vice president was “very rewarding” for Duncan. 

“I was very much hands on with the members and county farm bureaus and I listened to and helped them craft policy positions,” Duncan said. “The IFB is driven by the policy positions that the delegates take at our annual meeting. The vice president oversees that entire process. With it being that kind of hands-on experience, it was gratifying and important work and I continue to be impressed by the organization, our structure and the hard work that goes on every day by our members at the county farm bureau level.”

Farm profitability, and any barriers facing that, will be the top priority for Duncan in his new IFB position. He mentioned continuing to build out the biofuels market and encouraging a robust agenda for international trade as well. The IFB will be keeping a solid eye on regulatory burdens its members face and making sure regulations make sense and aren’t developed without stakeholder input. 

Duncan called 2023 “a trying year” for farmers in Illinois. Despite a drought that hit the state, crops were resilient and yields came through, including in his home of Ogle County. Duncan called the year challenging for hog, livestock and dairy farmers and those challenges will continue into 2024, he said. 

“It was overall a challenging year,” Duncan said. “It was a year where we showed our resilience. But we go into 2024 with some unresolved issues as we look at trade, biofuels and the overall demand for our products, whether it's crops or protein, and trying to break down the barriers to increasing demand.” 

Duncan is a graduate of Sauk Valley Community College and an active member of Forreston Grove Presbyterian Church. He and his wife, Kelly, raise corn, soybeans, wheat, pigs and cattle on their farm near Polo; they have four children. Their son, Levi, and daughters, Sarah and Emma, are all part of the farming operation. Their youngest daughter, Molly, is a technician and crew leader for the Nature Conservancy Nachusa grasslands near Rochelle.

Being IFB president means representing the entire state, but Duncan’s background, roots and family farm are in Ogle County. He will also represent livestock farmers in his new position, and he said he’s not sure when the last time was that a livestock farmer was IFB president. 

“Ogle County is obviously a livestock county,” Duncan said. “Northwest Illinois is a livestock territory. I am very sensitive to those issues and what they mean. Not only what they mean to livestock producers, but ultimately what they mean to crop farmers. Livestock is a very important component of crop demand. A vibrant livestock industry is one of the things that I’ll always look to promote. I represent the entire state, but my grounding and training was done at the Ogle County Farm Bureau. OCFB Manager Ron Kern and the past presidents there all guided and invested in me. I certainly will not forget that and will still have a strong connection to Ogle County.”

Much of Duncan’s IFB work will take place in central Illinois in Bloomington, and he’ll balance it with the work his farm already entails.

“It’s a full-time job,” Duncan said. “It’s a lot of travel and commuting back and forth to Bloomington. I have a good team here at the farm to take care of the day-to-day stuff. I haven't quite gotten my arms around it yet on how I'm going to balance my schedule. It will be very time consuming. I’m looking forward to it.”