$500 At Stake Here, People

National Farmers Union is bringing back the popular photo contest!

NFU members can submit photos in any of the monthly categories for a chance to win a 16” x 20” canvas print of their winning photo! At the end of the year, each monthly winner will be eligible for the grand prize – a $500 prepaid Visa gift card. More info about the contest is on NFU’s website and photos can be submitted on NFU’s Facebook page.

The contest began April 3 and runs through December 31, 2018. New categories will be announced on the 1st of every month. Photos are eligible for entry until the last day of the current month at 11:59:00 ET. Get your family and friends to vote for your photos!

The April category is “Spring on the Farm.”

Who May Enter: Members of National Farmers Union and its state division members.

How to Enter: Visit NFU on Facebook and click on the “NFU Photo Contest” tab. Then just upload your photo, write a caption, provide your contact information, and click “Submit.” By submitting a photo, you are granting NFU permission to use your photo

After it has been added to the contest page, be sure to share the photo to get your friends and family to vote!

Don’t have a Facebook account? Send your photo, caption, and any applicable releases to hpackman@nfudc.org

Prizes: One monthly winner will be selected based on the total number of votes received that month for the submitted photo. Each monthly winner will receive a 16” x 20” canvas print of their winning photo and will then be eligible for the grand prize or a runner-up prize. The grand prize winners will be selected by a panel of Farmers Union judges. The grand prize winner will receive a $500 Visa prepaid gift card, the first runner up will receive a $250 gift card, and the second runner up will receive a $150 gift card.

Limits: Members may only upload one photo each month. Anyone can vote on the pictures, but each profile is limited to one vote every 24 hours.

Get involved! That camera on your phone can do amazing things …

COLUMBUS – Ohio Farmers Union President Joe Logan joined colleagues from around the country on Wednesday in opposition to the current version of the quadrennial Farm Bill in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Logan, a board member of the National Farmers Union, and other state presidents voted unanimously to oppose the Farm Bill recently passed out of the House Agriculture Committee. The bill has yet to make it the House floor for a vote. The NFU Board’s resolution also contained a list of suggested improvements to the bill.

“The House Farm Bill (H.R. 2), as currently written, lacks the improvements needed to help farmers cope with continued low prices,” said the NFU Board in a statement issued today. “The bill fails to provide farmers with the tools they need to be the best possible stewards of our natural resources, and it reverses progress toward expanding access to local, regional, and specialty markets. Furthermore, it makes unnecessary cuts to programs that feed hungry Americans. National Farmers Union’s Board of Directors, on behalf of nearly 200,000 family farmers, ranchers, and rural members, opposes H.R. 2 in its current form.”

“We are very disappointed that the House Ag Committee has turned a blind eye toward the urgent needs of farmers for a strong safety net and done likewise to the nutrition needs of America’s least fortunate in both rural and urban communities,” Logan said.

“The Congress and Administration have clearly demonstrated a willingness to explode the federal budget deficit by giving a $1.5 trillion tax cut to wealthy corporations and individuals. When rural America asks for a far more modest budget request, they can’t manage to find a way to lend a hand,” Logan added.

The NFU Board’s resolution contained the following potential improvements to the House bill:

• Increase PLC reference prices to improve the farm safety net and offset potential trade retaliation;
• Strengthen payment limitations and actively engaged requirements for Title I programs;
• Provide dairy farmers with enhanced price supports and a mechanism that manages our nation’s milk inventories to meet market demand;
• Ensure credit availability by increasing FSA’s overall loan portfolio;
• Maintain funding levels for consumer benefits under nutrition programs;
• Provide an incentive-based working lands conservation program that promotes improved stewardship;
• Restore mandatory funding for energy programs that promote development of the bio-economy in rural areas; and
• Reinstate mandatory funding for programs that improve access to local, regional, and specialty markets.

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OFU Legislative Lobby Day Set for April 11

Already know you’re going and just need to sign up? Click Here!

Please join your Ohio family farming colleagues as we visit with legislators at the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus on April 11, 2018.

Here’s what happens on Lobby Day. We begin the day at 9 a.m. with the chairmen of the House and Senate Ag Committees. The Ag chairmen deliver short remarks and leave plenty of time for questions.

Around 10 a.m. our first legislator visits begin. You will become part of a team lead by a member of OFU’s executive committee or OFU External Relations Director Ron Sylvester. For the balance of the day, each team – of roughly six people – will visit with the state representatives and senators who represent the members of that team. Each team may also visit with a member of House or Senate leadership.

During your visit with legislators, the team presents the state representative or senator with information about OFU and our 2018 policy priorities. Then, we ask the OFU member who is represented by the legislator we are visiting to speak a bit about their farming operation and any issues of state or local policy that they are confronting.

Please dedicate one day of this year to representing Ohio’s family farming community at the Statehouse. We all feel from time to time that Columbus and Washington are too distant — this is your chance to make a difference.

Follow this link to our secure, online form to sign up and participate. Bring your kids or grandkids, your spouse or that guy or gal down the road who should be a Farmers Union member.

Serious Abuses of Ohio Beef Checkoff Tax Dollars Show Need for Reform

Today, the Organization for Competitive Markets and Ohio Farmers Union released a briefing paper outlining how federal and state funds are being used to prop up and fund a trade and lobbying entity. The Ohio Beef Council, an agency of the Ohio Department of Agriculture, is funneling taxpayer dollars through payroll expenses and rental costs to fund the trade and lobbying group, Ohio Cattlemen’s Association. Further, the state agency raises funds for the Ohio Cattlemen’s Association Political Action Committee (PAC) to influence elections and legislation. It also makes annual cash payments of at least $14,000 per year to the national trade and lobbying group, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. As set out in the new briefing paper, the state-supported funding is in violation of both state and federal law.

Joe Logan, President of Ohio Farmers Union, said, “For years we have shared these concerns, but they have only fallen on deaf ears at the Ohio Department of Agriculture. Last month at our Ohio Farmers Union convention, we passed a resolution to put a stop to these taxpayer abuses.  We can only hope, based on the evidence in the briefing paper, others in our government will hear the cry of Ohio’s cattle producers and answer the call to clean up this mess.”

Joe Maxwell, Executive Director of Organization for Competitive Markets, said, “It is just unimaginable that the state of Ohio is allowing this taxpayer abuse. A large portion of these funds are federal tax dollars collected by this state agency. The state has a responsibility to administer these federally mandated funds, no differently than it does any other federal funds it receives. Ohio’s family farmers deserve no less.”

The new briefing paper outlines the following taxpayer abuses and seeks the following government action:

Abuses

• Department of Agriculture agency Ohio Beef Council employees go to work every day for the Ohio Cattlemen’s Association, a state trade and lobbying organization.
• State and federal funds are offsetting the organizational overhead costs for the Ohio Cattlemen’s Association.
• The Ohio Beef Council promotes and collects donations for the Ohio Cattlemen’s Association’s Political Action Committee (PAC).
• State and federal funds are being directly contributed to the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, a national trade and lobbying organization.
• The only reports available to the cattle producers who pay the mandatory fees are self-reports by the Ohio Beef Council. There is a lack of taxpayer transparency on how the checkoff funds are being expended.
• The state and federal checkoff funds are not appropriated by the legislature nor audited by the state auditor, leaving little if any government oversight of the mandatory checkoff fees.

Recommended Actions

• Federal and state checkoff funds should be paid directly to the appropriate federal or state treasury and then be audited by the corresponding federal or state auditing agency.
• The Ohio Department of Agriculture should immediately segregate all activity between the Ohio Beef Council and the Ohio Cattlemen’s Association. Policy should be established that clearly outlines:
  • No state employee should report to a lobbying entity office for work.
  • No state or federal funds should be used directly or indirectly to offset a lobbying entity’s overhead costs to include office rent, equipment costs, salaries or any incidental costs incurred by the lobbying entity.
  • All government funds should be expended pursuant to state standard contracting processes.

Debate on how the Ohio Farmers Union may react to a federal ‘impaired’ designation for the western basin of Lake Erie and the potential to further limit agricultural nutrients in the Maumee River watershed dominated the family farm organization’s policy deliberations over the weekend in Columbus.

OFU held its eighty-fourth annual meeting through Saturday. Special programming this year focused on young and beginning farmers and State Rep. Kathleen Clyde, (D-Kent), was honored as Legislator of the Year.

“Kathleen Clyde served for several years on the House Agriculture Committee and was always a common-sense voice for family farmers and just as importantly, Ohio’s consumers,” OFU President Joe Logan said.

“Rep. Clyde’s determination on fair elections and ending gerrymandering in Ohio’s legislative districts has kept our attention since she left the ag committee,” Logan said.

“Representing a district in northeast Ohio, I have come to know many of the challenges facing our Ohio farmers, as well as the critically important role they play in our communities and in our economy,” Clyde said.

“I am truly honored to receive the Legislator of the Year award from the Ohio Farmers Union and look forward to continuing to advocate for the hardworking farming families that keep Ohio moving forward,” Clyde said.

[Read more…]

As farming communities face mounting challenges with the nation’s opioid epidemic, the nation’s two largest general farm organizations are teaming up to confront the issue. The American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) and National Farmers Union (NFU)  announced a new campaign, “Farm Town Strong,” to raise awareness of the crisis’ impact on farming communities. The campaign will also provide resources and information to help farm communities and encourage farmer-to-farmer support to overcome the crisis.

The groups have launched a new website, FarmTownStrong.org, to provide easy access to information and resources that can help struggling farm families and rural communities.

[Read more…]

Quick Notes:

• The convention will be held January 26-27, 2018 in Columbus, Ohio
• Deadline for special room rates at Columbus Airport Marriott is Jan. 10
• Lots of great speakers and programming
• Young & Beginning Farmer events
• Downloadable registration form here
• Take a look at the agenda highlights (Updated January 10, 2018)

Program Shaping Up – More to Announce in January

The 84th Annual Ohio Farmers Union Convention will be held January 26 – 27, 2018 at the Columbus Airport Marriott. We have an informative and dynamic program shaping up. Ohio Dept. of Agriculture Director David Daniels will deliver an ODA update and an overview of the state of agriculture in Ohio to open the convention. Dr. Chris Winslow of Ohio Sea Grant will present on Friday about the state of harmful algal blooms in Lake Erie and whether Ohio, Michigan, Indiana and Ontario are moving the needle on reducing phosphorous entering the lake. We’ll also hear from U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown who will give us the view from Capitol Hill and preview the Farm Bill.

Of course, we’ll have the National Farmers Union presenting at the Friday night banquet just after the Ohio Farm PAC cocktail reception. Saturday will bring more Ohio ag-oriented presentations and our final deliberations on OFU policy initiatives for 2018.

Program for Young & Beginning Farmers

This year, we won’t be concluding with honoring our legislator of the year and scholarship winners at Saturday’s luncheon. We’re pleased to announce that concurrent with the convention, OFU is sponsoring a Young and Beginning Farmers program over the weekend. On Friday, there will be an urban farm or community food processing tour in the morning. We’ll have some convention hall presentations aimed at young farmers and Saturday will conclude with an after lunch Farm Business Skills Workshop aimed at younger farmers just getting started.

Download a convention registration form here.

As the U.S. Congress readies to vote on a major overhaul of the nation’s tax system, National Farmers Union and Ohio Farmers Union are urging lawmakers to vote against the current plan because of its regressive structure and devastating implications for the nation’s financial standing, farm program spending, and health care affordability for family farmers and ranchers.

“This afternoon’s procedural snafu forcing a second House vote is further proof that this process has been two one-sided and has proceeded too quickly given the tax bill’s impact on the economy at all levels,” said Ron Sylvester, external relations director at OFU.

“Family farmers in Ohio should remain concerned about the long-term effects on the health insurance market and what a more than $1 trillion hit to the federal deficit will do to USDA Farm Bill programs and rural development initiatives,” Sylvester said.

NFU President Roger Johnson sent a letter to members of Congress, highlighting the family farm organization’s major concerns with the bill and noting that NFU plans to score the votes on its voter scorecard. The NFU Board of Directors today voted to oppose the current tax plan because of its implications for the federal deficit and future farm spending.

“This final compromise bill is an unfortunate reflection of the partisan and hurried nature of the tax reform debate that has consumed Washington for the past month,” said Johnson. “What congressional leadership has come up with is a patchwork of handouts for the wealthiest corporations and individuals in our country that will be paid for by family farmers, ranchers, the lower and middle classes, and our future generations. We strongly urge Congress to reject such severely flawed legislation.”

Johnson cited the projected $1.45 trillion deficit increase as a result of the legislation as a primary concern for NFU. “Past efforts at tax reform have at least begun with the goal of being deficit neutral. We are extremely disappointed such an important goal was abandoned in the crafting of this legislation,” he said.

He noted that this deficit increase will likely have direct consequences for farm programs and entitlement funding, as both are expected to be debated early next year.

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