Illinois Farm Bureau® (IFB) delegates re-elected President Richard Guebert, Jr. and elected a new Vice President, Brian Duncan of Ogle County, at the organization’s annual meeting in Chicago, Dec. 2-5.
Richard Guebert, Jr., of Ellis Grove in Randolph County, will serve another two-year term as IFB president. Guebert has served as IFB president for the past four years and previously served as vice president of IFB from 2003-2013. He also previously served as president of the Randolph County Farm Bureau.
“This is a great organization and I’m so honored to have served as president for the last four years and to be re-elected for the next two years,” Guebert said. “As we go forward, we have a lot of work in front of us, whether it’s tax reform, regulatory reform, farm bill, infrastructure improvements or trade agreements, and we need to be united in our conversations to get our points across to our legislators.
“I look forward to working with the board of directors as we have for the last four years,” Guebert added. “We have tremendous county leaders and a great board. We have some tough stuff to get done, but I think everyone has the same goals in mind as we move forward.”
Guebert has a bachelor’s degree in agriculture education, with a minor in animal science, from Southern Illinois University. Guebert, his wife, Nancy, and their son, Kyle, operate a corn, soybean and wheat farm in Randolph County.
Delegates elected Brian Duncan, of Polo in Ogle County, to a two-year term as IFB vice president. Duncan currently serves as the Ogle County Farm Bureau president, and previously served on the American Farm Bureau Federation’s Swine Advisory Committee, National Pork Producers Council Price Discovery Task Force, and Ogle County Pork Producers board of directors.
“I look forward to working on the issues that are important to members,” Duncan said. “They’ve spoken very clearly here on the delegate floor as we’ve talked about different issues, including trade and pesticides, and now we take that conversation outward and work on it with legislators and corporate America. That’s what we do in Farm Bureau – we represent our members’ interests.”
Duncan is a graduate of Sauk Valley Community College and is 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.
The Illinois Farm Bureau is a member of the American Farm Bureau Federation, a national organization of farmers and ranchers. Founded in 1916, IFB is a non-profit, membership organization directed by farmers who join through their county Farm Bureau. IFB has a total membership of 398,283 and a voting membership of more than 79,450. IFB represents three out of four Illinois farmers.
