Robert M. White

Bob White currently serves as the Director of National Government Relations for Indiana Farm Bureau where he is responsible for keeping the Indiana Congressional Delegation abreast of INFB policy. In 2017 White was chosen to be on the AFBF farm bill working group whose task it was to help shape the possible outcomes of the current farm bill. This is the sixth farm bill that White has worked on.Bob grew up on his family farm in northwest Indiana and attended Purdue University where he earned both a bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in Agricultural Mechanization.

Starting out, Bob served a variety of roles in his seven years with the Farm Credit System, achieving professional status as a farm manager and rural appraiser with the American Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers.

Early in his career, Bob participated in the Indiana Agricultural Leadership Program where he spent two years discussing agriculture and rural policy in the U.S. and abroad at the University of Krakow following the end of communist rule. He joined Indiana Farm Bureau for the first time in 1996 as Director of Natural Resources where he gained experience in grassroots development at the local, state and national levels.

In 1998 Bob moved to Washington D.C. where he served as a senior policy staff member of the U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee. Then three years later, Senator Richard Lugar nominated, and President Bush appointed him to serve as the Indiana State Director of USDA Rural Development. In that role Bob oversaw an $8 million annual budget and was responsible for a variety of loan and grant programs which invested nearly $4 billion in rural Indiana during his tenure. During this time, Bob also spent time working in the EU on agricultural issues on detail from USDA.

Later in his career, Bob was founder and CEO of WRW & Associates, a consulting company who assisted rural communities and agriculture producers in changing their paradigm of rural economic business development.

Bob rejoined Farm Bureau in 2012 and became Director of National Government Relations in 2016.

For his efforts in assisting agriculture and rural Hoosiers, Bob was honored with the Sagamore of the Wabash award, the highest honor given to an individual in the state of Indiana.

Bob still owns and manages his family farm. He and his wife, Melina reside in Greensburg, Indiana with their three rescued dogs.