2025 GWC Ag Dinner celebrates Merrick Farms, local farming community

Wabash County, IN – Grow Wabash County had the pleasure of celebrating the local ag community on Wednesday, March 5, during its 15th annual Salute to Ag Dinner.

In addition to recognizing the Wabash County farming community as a whole, the event also honored Merrick Farms, the 2024 Farm Family of the year.  

After Howard Halderman’s welcome remarks and various trivia about Wabash County’s importance to the global agriculture industry, Tyler Leland from Bachelor Creek, delivered the invocation and dinner was served by Poole’s Meat Market. Desserts were provided by Bailey’s Pizza Parlor in Roann.

Following dinner, Dr. Fred Whitford, Clinical Engagement Professor at Purdue University took the stage as the event’s keynote speaker. Whitford entertained the crowd with a series of stories from the “good old days” of farming in Indiana, including pictures and stories from Wabash County farmers that dated all the way back to the 1920s.  

As is tradition, the evening’s grand finale was a celebration of the Farm Family of the Year. For the multi-generational Merrick Farms, a video showcasing the farm was shown followed by the presentation of the Farm Family of the Year award, given to the family by Roger Peebles, whose farm family, the Peebles, received the award in 2024.  

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

Platinum Sponsors: BioNutrients Ag, LLC; Indiana Packers Corporation

Diamond Sponsors: Beacon Credit Union; Halderman Real Estate & Farm Management; Keystone Cooperative

Gold Sponsors: BELLAR CONSTRUCTION MGT; Creative Automation and Power Services LLC; Crossroads Bank; Farm Credit Mid-America; Indiana Farm Bureau Insurance; McKillip Seeds, Inc.; MPS Egg Farms; POET; Redline Equipment; Regional Chamber of Northeast Indiana; Strauss Dairy Ingredients; Thorne Insurance; Vault 44.01;  

Silver Sponsors: Agro-Chem, Inc.; The Andersons, Inc.; First Farmers Bank & Trust; Hog Slat; Indiana Farm Bureau Insurance; Kopkey Manure; Louis Dreyfus Company; The Paper of Wabash County; Plevena Implement; Quinn & Son Lime Spreading; River Bend Farms; Shepherd's Family Auto Group: Wabash & North Manchester; SPNC Corp.;  

Bronze Sponsors: CFC Distributors, LLC; Downs, Tandy & Petruniw, PC; Eads & Son Bulldozing; GRAIN SYSTEMS, INC.; Friermood Tire & Alignment; Lundquist Appraisals & Real Estate; Mosier’s Tarps; MSD of Wabash County; Triple LLL Truck Repair, Inc.; Truland Equipment, LLC; Tulip Tree Title