What started as a county fair competition has become a powerful grassroots effort to fight food insecurity across Indiana, with 4-H youth collecting more than 181,000 pounds of food for local food banks during the 2026 fair season.
The annual Fight the Hunger, Stock the Trailer competition, presented by Farm Credit Mid-America and sponsored by Rural 1st, brought together 40 county fairs and thousands of 4-H youth this summer. Together, participants collected 181,152 pounds of food for 52 local food banks while competing for funding to support their county 4-H organizations.
This year’s statewide champion was LaPorte County, where 4-H youth collected 23,246 pounds of food.
The effort comes as food insecurity remains a significant challenge across the state. Farm Credit Mid-America Senior Vice President of Agricultural Lending in Indiana Natasha Cox says more than 1 million Hoosiers face hunger, according to Feeding America’s Map the Meal Gap study.
“Programs like Fight the Hunger, Stock the Trailer reflect the best of rural America, bringing people together to help one another and address local needs,” Cox said. “Seeing Indiana youth rally their communities to help address that challenge is a powerful example of neighbors supporting neighbors,” says Cox.
Competition Turns County Fairs Into Food Drives
The concept is straightforward: 4-H youth use their county fairs as a launching point for food drives, encouraging fairgoers, families, businesses and community members to fill trailers with donations for local food banks.
But the competition has grown into much more than a summer food drive.
Launched in 2021, Fight the Hunger, Stock the Trailer has mobilized youth leaders to organize donation campaigns, recruit volunteers, promote the effort and compete against neighboring counties. Since its launch, the broader program across Indiana and Ohio has generated more than 1.6 million pounds of food for local food banks.
The 2026 Indiana competition produced another impressive statewide total, although it fell short of last year’s record 233,500 pounds collected across 42 participating county fairs.
That year-over-year comparison underscores just how quickly the program has expanded since its early days, when the competition involved fewer counties and substantially smaller collections.
Five Regions, Five Stories of Community Support
The 40 participating counties collected a combined 181,152 pounds of food, with substantial contributions coming from every region of the state.
- West Central Indiana led all regions with 61,392 pounds, paced by Miami County’s 18,298 pounds. Howard County collected 10,446 pounds, while Benton County contributed 7,760 pounds.
- In Northern Indiana, 39,406 pounds were collected. LaPorte County’s 23,246-pound total led the region and the entire state, followed by Lake County at 8,660 pounds and Fulton County at 5,780 pounds.
- Southeast Indiana contributed 39,189 pounds, led by Jackson County with 14,934 pounds. Harrison County collected 6,920 pounds and Clark County 3,010 pounds.
- In Southwest Indiana, 25,865 pounds were collected. Monroe County led the region with 9,439 pounds, followed by Morgan County with 4,520 pounds and Putnam County with 3,880 pounds.
- East Central Indiana accounted for another 15,300 pounds, with Wabash County leading the region at 8,416 pounds. Wells County collected 4,544 pounds and Huntington County 1,740 pounds.
Food Donations Also Bring Funding Back to 4-H
The competition gives young participants another incentive beyond helping their neighbors.
Farm Credit Mid-America provided $52,750 to 4-H county fair boards across Indiana this summer. Each participating junior county fair board received $500 for activities, while the highest-performing fairs in each of the five regions earned additional funding.
Regional winners received $5,000 for first place, $2,500 for second place and $1,000 for third place.
That combination of community service and competition has helped make the program a recurring fixture of the Indiana county fair season.
It also puts young people in charge of a project with very real-world responsibilities. 4-H members and junior fair board participants coordinate collection efforts, work with volunteers and local organizations, promote the campaign and help move thousands of pounds of donated food into their communities.
The result is a program that connects two longstanding pillars of rural Indiana — 4-H youth development and county fairs — with an increasingly urgent community need.
Investing in the Next Generation
Farm Credit Mid-America says Fight the Hunger, Stock the Trailer is part of its broader investment in the next generation of agriculture and rural communities.
In 2025, the organization contributed $236,000 to programs supporting young agricultural leaders in Indiana, including $80,000 for Indiana 4-H programs. Across its entire service territory, Farm Credit Mid-America contributed more than $4 million to programs supporting rural communities and agriculture last year.
For the young people filling trailers with canned goods, boxed meals and other food donations, however, the impact is measured less in dollars and pounds than in the neighbors those donations ultimately reach.
And that may be the most enduring lesson of the competition: when Indiana’s 4-H youth are given a challenge, they aren’t just competing to fill a trailer — they’re finding a way to fill a need in their own communities.
