farmers

Buy fresh, local goods by Indiana producers at the State Fair.

Compiling his writings about the state for the first time, a new book reveals just how important those Hoosier ties were to Pyle.

From Big Ag to organic, rural to urban, and scientist to traditionalist, the following profiles highlight the diverse attitudes and approaches of Indiana’s current agrarian class.

Having a 20,000-acre spread, one of the largest farms in one of the nation’s most productive farm states, buys some clout.

If you believe that Indiana farmers are weather-hardened old men who grow corn and soybeans, you might look at these tidy patches of naturally raised produce and see a garden—and, in the pretty thirtysomething who tends them, a gardener.

First planted in 2010, The Feel Good Farm is a 60-acre, certified-organic growing operation near Sheridan, where the suburban sprawl of Hamilton County gives way to a flat landscape of fields, fencerows, and barns.

Baggott took an early retirement and, in 2010—just a year after ExactTarget surpassed $100 million in annual sales—purchased a 98-acre farm near Greenfield to raise livestock. Never mind that he had no agricultural experience whatsoever.

In simpler times, Bowman’s plan might have passed for good old Hoosier ingenuity. Unfortunately, Monsanto, the world’s largest seed company—and a notorious ball-buster—doesn’t see it that way. And neither did the highest court in the land.

This encounter with Bing grew from—ahem—the kernel of an idea: Challenge the traditional definition of “farmer” by highlighting the more contemporary elements in Indiana agriculture.