Harry Pearson didn’t set out to become the leader of Indiana’s largest farm organization. But when circumstances dictated, he accepted responsibility. Pearson led the Indiana Farm Bureau as president from 1987 through 2001, helping the farm organization embrace change while transitioning from one century to the next.

Pearson is being recognized as a 2024 Honorary Master Farmer. The award is sponsored by Indiana Prairie Farmer and the Purdue College of Agriculture

“I wanted to come back to Blackford County after Purdue and farm,” recalls Pearson, Hartford City, Ind. “But we really didn’t have enough farmland, nor the money to buy it.

“So, we managed a dairy farm in Illinois for two years; then [I] worked in the Purdue Animal Sciences Department for five years. We then farmed with Dad, but he had his land, and we needed our own.”

Pearson and his wife, Betty Jo, started with help from relatives and neighbors. Pearson bought his first 200-acre farm on contract, borrowing the down payment from relatives. A couple of years later, with brother Joe’s help, they bought a second farm, mortgaged by the bank, with the farmer selling the farm assuming the second mortgage.

The brothers farmed together until a few years ago. Pearson’s son, Chris, and Joe’s son, Danny, kept the operation humming while both elder Pearsons pursued other interests.

Related:Welcome next class of Indiana Master Farmers

Path to INFB president

“My first tie with Farm Bureau was as a fieldman, earning extra income while farming,” Pearson explains. “People encouraged me to become a district director, but I couldn’t because I was an employee. Later, when I quit to farm full time, I became a director.”

Pearson was vice president of INFB in 1987 when Marion Stackhouse, INFB president, died unexpectedly. “I didn’t have much choice,” Pearson recalls. “It was up to me to help the organization move forward. Fortunately, Chris picked up my slack at the farm.”

Fourteen years later, Pearson turned over leadership at INFB to the next generation. Some suggested he run for a position with American Farm Bureau. “I sensed I was supposed to go home instead,” he says. “Very soon, my dad’s health failed, and I took care of him until he died in 2004.”

That doesn’t mean Pearson retired from leadership completely. He later served his community as county commissioner and board member of a local farmer cooperative.

Looking back

Of everything that happened while Pearson was INFB president, a couple of events stand out, he notes. Ironically, one of them has returned as an issue today.

“Property taxes hit members hard, like now,” he explains. “We initiated the STOP campaign, for Stop Taxing Our Property. We saw some relief, but property taxes remain a big issue.” INFB currently has a task force studying all taxes in Indiana.

“The INFB headquarters were downtown [Indianapolis], and options were moving out and building new, or refurbishing an old factory,” Pearson recalls. “We turned the old factory into a modern building. Tax credits helped make it the right decision.”

Also during his tenure, successful negotiations surrounding the North American Free Trade Agreement and General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade occurred on the federal level, while Indiana approved Right to Farm legislation. INFB was also front and center in discussions on farmland preservation and protection of property rights.

Pearson no longer participates in INFB policy. “I stepped away when I retired as president,” he says. “They knew if they needed me, they could call. We had our time. Younger generations will move us forward.”