A couple who boosted interactions among local farmers, an agricultural liaison for state government, and a pair of community leaders who help advocate at the state level each have been honored by Indiana Farm Bureau.
The top awards of the Indiana Farm Bureau’s Young Farmers & Ag Professionals recognize residents for their leadership with the bureau and their commitment to strengthening agriculture across Indiana.
Cody and Samantha Otten of Clarks Hill in Tippecanoe County won the Rising Star Award. They operate Otten Family Farms and serve as the YF&AP chairs for Tippecanoe County Farm Bureau, where they have doubled membership engagement over the past two years, the news release said. They are also on the county Farm Bureau fair planning and annual meeting committees and are active in other area agriculture organizations.
“We do not come from a family background involved in Farm Bureau, but after getting married in 2020, we actively sought ways to engage more deeply with the agricultural community,” Samantha Otten said in a news release.
Cody also established Red Dirt Excavation LLC, which specializes in tree line removal, tile repair and barn pad construction. And Samantha works at Farmers and Merchants Bank as an ag and commercial loan officer.
The Ottens will receive a $2,000 cash prize and an all-expenses-paid trip to Portland, Oregon, for the 2026 Farm Bureau Young Farmers & Ranchers Leadership Conference.
Megan Espinda of Greenfield won the Excellence in Agriculture Award, which honors Farm Bureau members who do not earn most of their income from farming but who grow their involvement in Farm Bureau. Espinda, who grew up on a sixth-generation family farm in Henry County, works as an agricultural liaison for the Indiana Department of Environmental Management, serving as a bridge between farmers and regulators.
She also is the Henry County Farm Bureau education and outreach coordinator and a member of various state agricultural organizations.
“Although I wasn’t a farmer myself, I grew up alongside many of the board members, and I truly consider them family,” she said. “When I moved back to Indiana, joining Farm Bureau felt like a natural step.”
Espinda will receive an $8,000 cash prize courtesy of Farm Credit Mid-America, a $3,000 cash prize courtesy of Indiana Farm Bureau Insurance and an all-expenses-paid trip to Anaheim, California, to compete at the 2026 American Farm Bureau convention in January.
Brock and Laura Kiesler of Salem won the Achievement Award, which recognizes young farmers who earn most of their income from farming and are judged on their bureau leadership and farm management techniques.
Brock took over his grandfather’s Floyd County farm, which included hay and cattle. Laura was raised on a cow operation in Washington County, and her family also raised chickens. They met at the INFB YF&AP conference in 2018, and they now live on Laura’s family farm.
The Kieslers are leaders at their county Farm Bureaus but also serve on a state level. Laura serves as the YF&AP chair for Washington County Farm Bureau, and from August 2022 to February 2025, the couple served as the District 10 representatives on the YF&AP state committee. While on the state committee, Brock was elected the chair and sat on the INFB state board of directors.
“Our experience in Farm Bureau has provided us with lifelong friends with whom we go on trips, who come and help us in the straw field, as well as several people across the state who we stay in contact with on a regular basis,” Laura said.
The Kieslers will receive a $6,000 cash prize courtesy of Indiana Farm Bureau Insurance, a $5,000 cash prize courtesy of Indiana Farm Bureau Inc. and an all-expenses-paid trip to compete at the 2026 American Farm Bureau convention in Anaheim, California, in January.