By Colleen Settle
The 2024 Indiana Farm Bureau Book of the Year is My Family’s Corn Farm, written by Katie Olthoff with illustrations by Joe Hox. The Book of the Year, which is selected annually, is a part of INFB’s Agriculture in the Classroom program, a grassroots, agricultural outreach program for school children in Indiana. The book was announced at INFB’s 2023 State Convention at the Grand Wayne Convention Center in Fort Wayne.
My Family’s Corn Farm follows Presley and her family as they produce corn — one of the top crops grown in American agriculture. Presley educates readers about what she and her family do on their corn farm, including planting and harvesting corn, practicing erosion prevention and tending to the needs of the corn plants. The book highlights modern technologies that are used when farming corn. Readers also see examples of different corn byproducts such as corn chips, corn syrup and cornstarch.
The children’s book, which is published by Feeding Minds Press – a project of the American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture – is the companion book to My Family’s Soybean Farm, which was featured as the 2022 INFB Book of the Year.
INFB staff and professional educators selected this year’s book to bring awareness to one of Indiana’s top farm commodities — corn. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Indiana is the fifth largest producer of corn for grain, and corn is the leading commodity in the state, totaling $3.28 billion in sales.
For the eighth consecutive year, a statewide campaign, led by the INFB Women’s Leadership Committee, is underway to promote the book throughout 2024 in every county.
My Family’s Corn Farm was created by Iowa natives with farm backgrounds. Author Katie Olthoff has written extensively about agriculture and lives on a turkey farm with her family. Illustrator Joe Hox was raised on a farm and has illustrated more than a dozen books.
Throughout the year, Ag in the Classroom volunteers will be able to use the Book of the Year with classrooms to read the book aloud and donate it for future use. INFB representatives also use this opportunity to answer any questions the students have about modern farming in Indiana.
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