Lamb Calls for Expansion of Value-Added Agriculture
Published: Friday, January 16, 2026
A top priority of Indiana agriculture in 2026 is growing food for the state, according to the list of Indiana Farm Bureau top priorities and Indiana State Department of Agriculture Director Don Lamb.
Lamb was featured as a speaker at the INFB Legislative Forum last Wednesday in Indianapolis. He said value-added agriculture will continue to gain momentum throughout the state.
"I don't see a reason not to think that way," he said. "There will always be commodity crops, and that's good because it serves a part of a market. But the idea of adding value should be something all the young people are looking to for the future."
Lamb said every sector of agriculture has value-added opportunities. He listed several, including replenished soybeans, seed products and food products.
"(In) livestock, we ought to do more processing here in the state, processing to selling, especially beef," he said. "The challenge to most food products, if it's direct to the consumer, is getting it to scale. But that's coming and that'll keep happening. That would be one area that I could see, and potentially the biggest area, is scaling things to be much bigger in the future."
When discussing the future of the agricultural economy, Lamb was positive.
"I'm super optimistic about the future. You always have ups and downs, and a good part of the state's dealing with downs right now. But I'm very optimistic, and it's mostly because we do a really good job of raising high quality food and the demand is going to be there. And we're really good in Indiana at adding value," he said.
"I don't want to put lipstick on a pig with the ag economy right now, especially for corn and soybean guys. This is a tough time for agriculture," Lamb said. "The gap between the costs and the revenue is more than it's been in over 10 years now. We're once again starting a year where we're projecting loss if you're going to grow corn and soybeans. And that's the third year in a row to do that."
He encouraged attending farmers to "get creative" and "think about different things."
"I think about our Indiana Grown program, I think about local foods. There is a movement there, and it's a real movement. It's not a fad, and there are ways to fit into that. And I think the reality of the corn and soybean world is there are times when you probably need to think about what else can bring income to an Indiana farm."
He said by focusing on adding value, farmers can better control their profits, rather than relying on the market value of their products.
Lamb added that the state is moving toward a regionalized structure, which will affect agriculture and economic development. He encouraged farmers to consider their communities in both a local and regional context and how their farm can boost the local economy.
"I encourage you, again, if you're an ag person here: Get engaged in your local, your regional economic development world and think about how agriculture fits into that," he said.
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