Serving Family Farmers and Consumers Since 1934
For the eighty-eighth year, the Ohio Farmers Union has established the organization’s public policy priorities at the state and federal level. These special orders of business were adopted by the delegates to OFU’s 88th Annual Convention, via video conference in early March 2022.
Click here for a downloadable PDF.
[Read more…]It’s looking great for the first full, uninterrupted Ohio fair season since the beginning of the pandemic. Of special note, the Ohio State Fair will be held and fully open to the public this year with Willie Nelson and Family headlining the event’s concert schedule.
Check out the flyer from the Ohio Fair Managers for all the dates.
State Senators Matt Huffman, R-Lima, and Matt Dolan, R-Chagrin Falls, tried to kill $90 million for rural broadband expansion, yet the Ohio legislature’s House – Senate conference committee on the the next two-year state budget restored not only that, but the original $250 million for rural broadband proposed by Gov. Mike DeWine.
Huffman and Dolan said that they were concerned there were no plans existing in the state government to direct rural broadband funding. From the Taft and Strickland administrations through the DeWine administration, there have been many rural broadband expansion maps developed and planning done among private sector and public sector organizatons with the goal of pushing broadband internet access into rural areas of Ohio.
Huffman and Dolan said when the Senate version of Ohio’s biennial budget passed through the upper chamber, that there were no current plans for expanding broadband internet access in rural Ohio.
This was not correct.
In the fall of 2019, the DeWine administration updated the state’s rural broadband plan – aligning it with USDA guidelines – in order to make Ohio eligible for federal funding to add to any state funding.
Ohio Farmers Union asked House Speaker Robert Cupp, R-Lima and Huffman to restore the House version of broadband funding – totaling $90 million over the next two years.
OFU President Joe Logan wrote to Cupp and Huffman saying in part:
Broadband, we believe, should be treated as rural electrification was in the past. Internet connectivity – at decent bandwidth – is an economic necessity for farmers and their families. COVID-19 laid bare the disparity between rural Ohioans and our suburban and urban neighbors when our kids and grandkids were expected to learn online for many months. Furthermore, internet connectivity opens up opportunities for learning and eventual business development. Rural Ohio should not be left out of this trend.
OFU appreciates the restoration of the funding for rural broadband and will be watching over the next two years to see how that money is spent.
In a pleasant surprise for rural Ohio, the biennial budget was agreed to Monday with Gov. Mike DeWine’s full $250 million funding request for rural broadband expansion.
Just days ago, the Ohio Senate President Matt Huffman and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Matt Dolan announced rural broadband funding was being cut from the budget to pay for an income tax cut that would net most Ohio taxpayers around $57 per year. The Ohio Farmers Union and others contacted legislative leaders in the Ohio House and Senate and asked that at a minimum, the House’s funding line of $90 million for rural broadband be reinstated.
Instead, the five percent tax cut became a 3 percent tax cut – and who knows what else occurred behind those closed doors – and Gov. DeWine’s initial request for $250 million was put in the budget.
OFU made the point to legislators that there have been broadband expansion plans on the books for years — beginning in the Taft and Strickland administrations — and DeWine updated the state’s strategy in the fall of 2019. Additionally, the USDA is still in the midst of rewarding hundreds of millions in rural broadband grants and Ohio’s latest strategy is designed to meet the criteria for USDA funding.
Additionally, GOP legislators tried to insert in the budget a provision disallowing municipalities or other government entities from participating in cooperative efforts to move broadband internet connectivity further into the countryside. This provision was abandoned in the final bill. It’s not clear who requested the language or why, but it would obviously the telecommunications industry dominated by mega corps like AT&T, Verizon, Spectrum and others.
A coalition of renewable fuel and farm groups expressed “extreme disappointment” in a U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning a 2020 appellate court ruling that struck down three improper small refinery exemptions granted by previous EPA administrators. However, because certain elements of the appellate court ruling were left unchallenged and were not reviewed by the Supreme Court, the groups remain optimistic that the Biden administration will discontinue the past administration’s flagrant abuse of the refinery exemption program.
The decision stems from a May 2018 challenge brought against EPA in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit by the Renewable Fuels Association, the National Corn Growers Association, National Farmers Union, and the American Coalition for Ethanol, working together as the Biofuels Coalition. The petitioners argued that the small refinery exemptions were granted in direct contradiction to the statutory text and purpose of the RFS.
In January 2020, the Tenth Circuit decided that EPA cannot “extend” exemptions to any small refineries whose earlier, temporary exemptions had lapsed. According to the Circuit Court ruling, “the statute limits exemptions to situations involving ‘extensions,’ with the goal of forcing the market to accept escalating amounts of renewable fuels over time.” While the Supreme Court failed to affirm this portion of the Tenth Circuit decision, the Biofuels Coalition pointed out that the appellate court also ruled that EPA’s exemption decisions must reconcile the agency’s consistent findings that all refineries recover the costs of compliance with the RFS, and that EPA may only use hardship caused by the RFS to justify granting exemptions. Despite today’s Supreme Court decision, EPA must still resolve those other aspects of the Tenth Circuit ruling.
[Read more…]The U.S. Senate today overwhelmingly passed the Growing Climate Solutions Act, which aims to help farmers and ranchers participate in carbon markets. To achieve that, the bipartisan legislation would establish a certification program for third-party technical service providers as well as create an advisory committee focused on ensuring that such a program meets the needs of farmers, forest landowners, and carbon market participants. A companion bill was introduced in the House in April, but has yet to be taken to a vote.
A proponent of aggressive climate action, National Farmers Union (NFU) endorsed the bill when it was first introduced last year. Upon its passage, NFU President Rob Larew expressed his encouragement and urged the House to take up the bill:
The urgent threat of climate change – and the need for immediate, action to mitigate and adapt – is irrefutable. Last year, our country saw both its most active hurricane season and its most active wildfire season, and the years ahead are expected to be even more catastrophic.
It will be no small task to curtail this existential threat – but by leveraging the full potential of every sector, including agriculture, we have the ability to protect our planet. The Growing Climate Solutions Act is a small but important piece of that puzzle. This legislation will facilitate farmers’ participation in carbon markets, granting them greater access to the financial incentives they need to invest in climate-smart agricultural practices. We commend the Senate for working across the aisle to pass this bill and encourage the House to follow suit.
Rob Larew, NFU President
A proposal to permanently slow down First-Class Mail delivery would be “catastrophic” for family farmers, National Farmers Union (NFU) indicated in comments submitted today to the U.S. Postal Service (USPS).
Because rural areas often lack both services like banks, pharmacies, polling places, and supply stores as well as access to broadband internet and private delivery services, residents disproportionately depend on USPS to receive medication, vote, communicate with friends and family, cash checks, and conduct business. This includes farmers, who “rely on quick and affordable delivery” to receive essential supplies like “seeds, fertilizer, pesticides, and. . .live animals like chicks and bees.” Given its importance, NFU has consistently urged legislators to “support the United States Postal Service and ensure prompt delivery and affordable rates in all parts of the country, including rural areas.”
Currently, First-Class mail is supposed to be delivered within a one- to three-day time frame; however, in an effort to cut costs, USPS has proposed extending that range to five days, which could put “rural. . .businesses and livelihoods at risk.” The delay would be particularly detrimental for packages containing time-sensitive materials such as live animals, perishable foods, ballots, and prescription medications.
For that reason, NFU “is opposed to the proposed service standard changes.” Instead, the organization urged USPS to focus on “improving the delays of service in the past year, not making those delays permanent.”
Over the last year and a half, the pandemic, natural disasters, and cybersecurity breaches have revealed deep weaknesses in our food and farm systems, according to National Farmers Union (NFU). In comments submitted today to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the organization’s president, Rob Larew, highlighted the need to build resilience to future disruptions and offered recommendations to achieve that goal, including “facilitating fair and competitive markets, improving local and regional food production, supporting and promoting nutrition security, and meeting the needs of the agricultural workforce.”
USDA solicited comments in response to an executive order requiring the agency to submit a report on strengthening food and agricultural supply chains. Input collected from NFU and other stakeholders will inform the report.
One of the most significant problems for farmers, per Larew’s comments, is “immense consolidation in the markets that both supply and buy from their operations,” particularly in the livestock and dairy sectors. Though this is by no means a new issue, it came to a head during the pandemic when “the closures or slowdowns at several massive meatpacking plants resulted in lost markets for farmers, constrained supplies, and higher prices for consumers.” Similar problems were also observed in 2019, after a fire shut down a Kansas beef processing plant, and just a few weeks ago, following a cyberattack on the world’s biggest meatpacker.
[Read more…]Due to COVID-19 risk and restrictions, the Ohio Farmers Union’s 87th Annual Convention will be held as a teleconference and full Board of Directors meeting with member delegates voting on Special Orders of Business.
Please click here for the proposed special orders and the convention agenda.
In a sprawling, diverse U.S. family farm community, questions are being asked about President-elect Joe Biden’s choice of Tom Vilsack to lead the USDA in the next administration.
Like most of his colleagues around the country, Joe Logan, president of the Ohio Farmers Union has often been asked about the wisdom of appointing Vilsack a second time. The former and likely future Ag Secretary had represented dairy processors and exporters for the past few years, so many small farm advocates had become concerned that he might be too close to “Big Ag”.
State and National Farmers Union organizations have been among those who had fought against corporate concentration and mega mergers in the ranks of the nation’s seed and feed and food processing businesses. These global Ag corporations have taken over markets, putting the squeeze on farmers at the bottom of the supply chain and increased prices to consumers.
