Princeton farmer elected vice president of Illinois Farm Bureau

A Princeton grain farmer was elected vice president of the Illinois Farm Bureau.

Evan Hultine will join Brian Duncan, a grain and livestock farmer from Polo, at the helm of the organization. They each will serve a two-year term.

Four new members also were elected to serve two-year terms on the IFB board of directors. The farm bureau is a nonprofit, membership organization directed by farmers who join through their county farm bureau.

The IFB 329 voting delegates elected these new leaders during the organization’s annual meeting in Chicago.

“This organization stands on the shoulders of giants – our farmer members who have come before and plotted a course for this organization,” Duncan said. “I look forward to navigating and charting that course along with them, our county farm bureaus and our board of directors into the next chapter.

“It is an incredible privilege to work alongside the team we have at IFB.”

In his capacity as IFB president, Duncan also is president of COUNTRY Financial, part of the Illinois Agricultural Service Co. and chair of the IAA Foundation. Previously, Duncan served as IFB vice president.

Hultine has served as Bureau CFB president since 2017. He previously served as Bureau CFB Young Leader chair, a IFB Young Leader Committee member from 2013 to 2016, IFB Young Leader chair from 2016 to 2017 and AFBF Issues Advisory Committee member from 2017 to 2021.

He is a recipient of the 2022 IFB Young Leader Achievement Award. In 2023, he placed third in the AFBF Young Farmers and Ranchers Achievement Award competition. He holds a bachelor’s degree in horticulture from the University of Illinois.

Hultine is a sixth-generation farmer in Princeton, where he grows corn, soybeans and seed corn.

“For just as our crops flourish with proper care, so does an organization thrive when it nurtures and invests in its members,” Hultine said during his candidate speech to the delegate body. “Whether you know it or not, you’ve been investing in me for many years now.

“Now you’re cashing in on your investment in me to see the policies, the values and the vision that resonate with each of you and to create the Illinois Farm Bureau that you want to be a partner with.”

New IFB board directors are LuAnn Matejcak of Will County, Rick Edwards III of Adams County, Paul Beisiegel of St. Clair County and John Howard of Jefferson County.