Farm Bureau Building

Our tour around Morrison Ranch has been somewhat chronological, and definitely geographical, but in today's visit geography trumps chronology. The Farm Bureau building is actually one of the first things to happen in Morrison Ranch, at least that you can see; that process started in 2002, and seemed like a natural fit.

The Farm Bureau is actually an organization created by farmers to promote farming and solve collective problems in agriculture. It turns out that one of the problems farmers had was getting insurance, and Farm Bureau created specialized insurance to meet those needs; but they now serve the general public as well. So most of the folks that work in the building above work in the insurance industry.

The company's home base is Des Moines Iowa; when we were talking about building design, we stressed the rural theme of Morrison Ranch, and the Iowans immediately thought of corn cribs. But you may notice that a corn crib in Iowa looks very similar to a cotton seed bin at the gins in Arizona, and we were pleased with the stylistic design of the building.

They have been approved to build a second, similar building to the south should the need arise. There are about 200 employees there now, and we hope that some of them are living in Morrison Ranch - commute by bike! - but we are very happy with the quality of the building and the folks involved there.

And, by the way, we are estimating that Morrison Ranch Business Park on Power Road, when it gets cranked up, will provide 24,000 jobs; I'm certain some of those folks will be living in Morrison Ranch as well.