For Lee Turner, agriculture is all he has ever known. He grew up on a farm in eastern Auglaize County and now, he and his wife, Kandace, farm with his parents and brother. Lee is an active member of the Auglaize County Farm Bureau and currently serves as the county board secretary and as a membership chair.

No stranger to staying busy, in addition to doing his own fieldwork, Lee also runs a custom agricultural spraying and nitrogen application business, which he started when he was in high school, and he hasn’t looked back since. As many young farmers do when they are first starting out, you have to find ways to make your agriculture enterprises profitable, and his business helps Kandace and him grow their farm operation. 

Lee said the true value of membership lies in Farm Bureau’s lobbying efforts. “They lobby at a state and national level for the farmers on the frontlines that are trying to produce a product to feed the world and give energy to the world.”

It can be hard for the voice of individual producers to be heard, but Farm Bureau works to elevate the voices of producers in the legislative arena. Lee calls Farm Bureau “the voice that we don’t have,” because while producers like him are hard at work on the farm, Farm Bureau is working to secure victories like CAUV tax reform, which in turn benefits the agriculture industry. 

To hear more from Lee about his farm and what he’s doing in the field, check out the county Farm Bureau’s Facebook page.

To learn more about becoming a Farm Bureau member, click here.

Story by Maggie Houts, 2020 intern.