A Strong, Proven Voice for Indiana Agriculture
Nels Ackerson has been a champion for Indiana farmers since his youth, and understands the many challenges facing today’s farmers. He will be an effective, nationally recognized leader for us in Indiana Agriculture. Nels grew up on an Indiana family farm that he and his sister still own and manage. He studied agriculture at Purdue and has a 30-year career as an agricultural attorney.
Nels was Indiana State President and National President of the FFA. Nels has been actively involved in representing and fighting for the Agricultural community for over thirty years. Nels studied Agriculture at Purdue University, where he was a member of Farmhouse Fraternity, served as Student Body President, and received the G.A. Ross Award as Purdue’s outstanding graduating male student. In recent years Nels has been honored as a Purdue Old Master and Distinguished Ag Alumnus. For his achievements and his public service, Nels was awarded the degree of Honorary Doctor of Agriculture by Purdue in 2006.
As an attorney, Nels has represented farmers and agriculture throughout Indiana and Across the nation. He is a long-time member of the American Agricultural Law Association and the Indiana Farm Bureau.
Nels knows agriculture because he lives agriculture. But most importantly, Nels is committed to hearing and solving the concerns of our farmers. Nels has formed an agricultural advisory committee reaching across party lines to include both Republicans and Democrats to advise him on the many issues faced by those working in production agriculture.
Throughout his career, Nels has represented farmers, hybrid seed producers, the National Pork Producers, and Farm Bureau organizations in Indiana and 15 other states. His law practice has been among the most extensive in the nation in involving the Farm Credit System.
For over thirty years, Nels has been a pioneer in advancing the potential of America’s farms to produce energy crops that reduce our dependence on foreign oil, beginning when he served on staff under Indiana’s former U.S. Senator Birch Bayh and continuing to the present.
Nels is also well known for defending property rights around Indiana and across the nation. He has represented thousands of farmers, ranchers, homeowners and small businesses in some of Indiana’s and the nations most significant property rights cases against some of the world’s largest corporations and governments. Nels represented the NK Hurst Co., an Indianapolis bean products distributor, when it was threatened with condemnation for a parking lot to benefit the owners of an NFL football team. For Nels, defending property rights is a passion.
Nels Ackerson has the vision, creativity, determination and leadership to see problems and to bring people together to solve them. He fights for what’s right, no matter the personal cost or the political pressure. He does not back down from a challenge.
Nels has always stood firm for principle, and he has won. He will do the same in Congress, for Indiana Agriculture, and for all of us.
