2024 Ag Dinner welcomes Chiang, Peebles family

Wabash County, IN – Grow Wabash County had a full house on Wednesday, February 28, for its 14th annual Salute to Ag Dinner which enjoyed the company of many honored guests including Purdue University President Mung Chiang and members of the Peebles Family.

Howard Halderman, chair of Grow Wabash County’s Ag Committee, emceed the annual event, offering up bits of trivia throughout the evening about just how important Indiana is to agriculture not only locally, but on a global scale.  

The event also celebrated the Peebles Family, a family that has farmed in Wabash County for seven generations, as the 2023 Farm Family of the year.  

After Halderman’s welcome remarks, Pastor Brad Merchant from Wabash Friends Church, delivered the invocation and dinner was served by Poole’s Meat Market. Desserts were provided by Bailey’s Pizza Parlor in Roann.

Following dinner, President Chiang, took the stage as the night’s keynote. He talked about how impressive Indiana’s impact is in the world of agriculture and highlighted some of the priorities he and the university have to help Indiana continue to grow in its power and impact.

Before leaving the stage he of course rallied the crowd into a wave of Boilermaker Pride, closing his speech with a proud “Who’s house?” which was met with great enthusiasm.

As is tradition, the evening’s grand finale was a celebration of the Peebles Family as the 2023 Farm Family of the Year which included a video showcasing the farm and a presentation of the Farm Family of the Year award, given to the family by Bret Bechtold, whose farm family received the award in 2023.  

We are thankful to all of the local companies and individuals that showed their support for this annual event by signing on as event sponsors.

Diamond Sponsors: Beacon Credit Union; Halderman Real Estate & Farm Management; Horizon Bank; Plevna Implement Company; Troy Eads Excavating

Gold Sponsors: BioNutrients Ag LLC; Ceres Solutions Cooperative; CIE; Crossroads Bank; J.M. Reynolds Oil Co, Inc.; Louis Dreyfus Company; MPS Egg Farms; POET; Strauss Dairy Ingredients; Wabash County Farm Bureau

Silver Sponsors: Bippus State Bank; Brian Haupert; Crop Fertility Services; Dawes & Pugh CPAs; Downs, Tandy & Petruniw; First Farmers Bank & Trust; Northwestern Mutual; The Paper of Wabash County; Quinn and Son Limespreading; Regional Chamber of NE Indiana; Riverbend Farms; Rob Miller for State Representative District 50; Thorne Insurance; Visit Wabash County

Bronze Sponsors: Agro-Chem, Inc.; Benson & Son, LLC; CFC Distributors/Granit Parts; Eads & Son Bulldozing; Farm Credit Mid-America; Friermood Tire & Alignment; G6 Communications; Grain Systems, Inc.; Tim’s THAI2GO; Truland Equipment, LLC; Tulip Tree Title

Centerpieces for the event were created by Wooden Ivy Boutique and Floral.