Every five years, according to the enabling legislation for the Soybean Promotion, Research, and Information Program, eligible soybean farmers across the United States have the opportunity to file a form with USDA to request a referendum on the program.

The program, known as the Soybean Checkoff, was voted on by farmers in an initial 1994 referendum. Nearly 86,000 farmers around the country participated in this initial referendum and it passed, 54 to 46 percent. After the initial referendum, the USDA must ask soy farmers every five years if they would like to have another referendum. If 10 percent of eligible soy farmers present in person or by fax Form LS-51-1 to their local FSA office by May 31, 2019 there would be another referendum. Eligible farmers may get the form from their local FSA office or download it here. If you download it and fill it out, it must still be submitted in person or by fax to your local FSA office.

To be eligible to participate in the Request for Referendum, producers must certify that they or the producer entity they are authorized to represent paid an assessment at any time between January 1, 2017, and December 31, 2018.

In plain language, this means that if farmers want to vote on putting an end to the checkoff, enough farmers around the country who have paid the checkoff in the past two years must send in a form to request the right to vote. In 2014, the last time the ‘request for referendum’ window was open, 324 farmers submitted Form LS-51-1. That’s a long way from the nearly 57,000 farmers that were needed to request the referendum in 2014. This year it would take around 52,000 eligible soy farmers.

If there were to be a referendum, it would occur in the next 12 months.

Roger Wise, past-president of Ohio Farmers Union said today, “It’s not often that you get to vote on whether to continue paying a tax – and that’s what that the checkoff is at this point.”

Wise a long-time soybean farmer in Sandusky County said the system is rigged to obfuscate the ability for farmers to hold the vote with the unnecessary step of the ‘request for referendum.’ He also points out that there hasn’t been much of an attempt by USDA or the national or state soybean council to advertise the request for referendum, “and that makes it all the more important that farmers make an attempt to file that form with their local FSA.”

If you’d like to see a vote on whether to continue the soybean checkoff, you have until the end of this month to file the form.

Creation of yet another ‘marketing program’ a fly in the ointment

Earlier this week, Ohio Farmers Union President Joe Logan appeared before the Ohio House Agricultural and Natural Resources Committee as an ‘interested party.’

Logan – and OFU – had hoped to be in the enthusiastic ‘supporter’ column, yet appeared as an interested party due to the bill’s provision that would create another “marketing program” picking the pockets of Ohio farmers.

Logan told the committee, “Our only concern with the bill language is the marketing program language, included in section 924.212. We believe that a statutory mandate for a hemp marketing program is not needed, as current market demand ramatically exceeds supply.

“Farmers have a wealth of experience with commodity marketing programs, as they exist for most of the commodities that farmers produce. We acknowledge that such programs can be useful in times where supplies are excessive and research languishes.

“Neither of these factors is the case for hemp.”

Hemp as an agricultural commodity is so new that there is extraordinarily limited processing capability – none in Ohio or anywhere near – and there are still legitimate questions about the long-term viability of so-called CBD oils as a market driver for industrial hemp.

While advocates of cannabiidiol – CBD – grow in numbers, there is relatively scant research on their viability for all manner of human health efficacy. If CBDs end up being not scientifically effective for the myriad of current potential uses, the air could escape quickly from the CBD balloon.

What is demonstrated around the world is the industrial uses of hemp oils and fibers. From car parts to clothing, hemp yields a valuable input to many products.

Logan prefers that the nascent industrial hemp market be able to grow organically – without the potentially heavy hand of a check-off program that would become dominated by concentrated corporate interests.

Our decades of experience with commodity marketing programs has led us to another concern –
that such programs are nearly always funded by farmers and that benefits normally accrue to the
corporations that process and sell the products.

“It should be noted that some major commodity marketing programs have used funding derived from U.S. producers to oppose federal legislation that would benefit farmers but that was strongly opposed by the nation’s largest processing corporation, even despite that the corporation was foreign owned,” Logan said.

In short, the Ohio Farmers Union strongly supports the decriminalization of hemp and look forward to working with the legislature and state agencies to accomplish this goal. However, we do not believe it is useful for the Ohio House to create an unnecessary bureaucratic body in a hemp marketing program.”

Chronic Oversupply, Depressed Prices Plague Dairy Industry

In response to sustained depressed milk prices, chronic oversupply, farm-level consolidation, and a wave of farm closures, the U.S. House Subcommittee on Livestock and Foreign Agriculture today held a hearing on the state of the dairy economy. National Farmers Union (NFU) President Roger Johnson submitted written testimony highlighting the considerable financial difficulties American dairy producers have withstood for the past several years.

NFU Vice President Patty Edelburg, who co-owns and operates a dairy farm in Amherst Junction, Wisconsin, has witnessed the devastation first-hand. “For more than four years, dairy farmers nationwide have been paid well below the cost of production” she said. “It would take years of profitability for many family dairy farmers to rebuild their equity and get their farms back on stable footing. With mounting piles of debt and no significant price rebound in sight, thousands of family farmers have been left with no choice but to close their doors.”

While short-term support is critical to help farmers survive the immediate economic challenges, Edelburg recommended that legislators also pursue long-term solutions to overproduction, which has plagued the industry for some time. “The 2018 Farm Bill provides improvements that will help stem losses for many family farmers, but this support alone won’t be enough to save the dairy industry. We need to have a meaningful conversation about supply management options that will ensure dairy farmers are paid a fair price from the market.”

In the midst of significant financial stress in the U.S. farm economy, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) must deliver on the promises of President Trump and the intent of Congress to expand the use of biofuels and, therefore, demand for U.S. farm products, according to National Farmers Union (NFU).

The family farm organization submitted comments today to EPA on the agency’s proposed rule to allow year-round use of E15 gasoline. While the rule stands to deliver a long-sought win for the biofuels industry and family farmers, NFU President Roger Johnson said a stronger commitment to further expanding biofuel use is needed from EPA.

“The long and short of it is that the EPA under this administration has repeatedly destroyed direct demand for biofuels, metaphorically piling more and more corn on top of our burdensome oversupply,” said Johnson. “What we need from EPA as they finalize the E15 waiver is a major step in the direction of allowing year-round sales of higher level blends of ethanol in gasoline. That’s the way we cut into oversupply. That’s the way we better our environmental impact. And that’s the way we save consumers more money at the pump.”

In its comments, National Farmers Union urged EPA to expeditiously approve E15 for year-round use and to ensure the rule does not amount to a cap on higher level blends of ethanol, like E30.

“Farmers Union is eager for EPA to follow through on its promises to get an E15 waiver out of the door by June 1,” said NFU President Roger Johnson. “But we are concerned that certain provisions within EPA’s rulemaking unnecessarily work against expanded use of higher level blends of ethanol.”

Provisions within EPA’s E15 proposed rule are limited in scope to E15 gasoline only, without taking advantage of the benefits of mid-level blends of ethanol and making the prospects of using these blends harder to achieve.

NFU also proposed EPA separate its proposed RIN reforms from the E15 rule until the agency has considered the potential implications of the reforms and made such findings public. The organization highlighted RIN-market volatility introduced by EPA’s actions regarding small refinery exemptions. “Under the Trump Administration, EPA’s exemption handouts to oil refiners have destroyed demand for at least 2.6 billion gallons of ethanol, or nearly one billion bushels of American grown corn,” said Johnson.

“It is EPA’s responsibility to follow through on the President’s promises to family farmers and on Congress’s intent to expand biofuel use in our transportation sector,” said Johnson. “We’re calling on the agency to begin to right their wrongs by finalizing an E15 waiver that includes a pathway for expanded use of higher level blends of ethanol.”

Senate Bill 57, which would direct the Ohio Dept. of Agriculture to create a state industrial hemp program, has had its first hearing at the Statehouse in Columbus.

Ohio Sen. Brian Hill, who is a primary sponsor along with Sen. Steve Huffman, said Ohio should take advantage of the opening made by Congress when it removed industrial hemp from the list of banned substances in late 2018. In fact, several states had already received the federal blessing to create pilot hemp cultivation programs over the past several years.

“Ohio is now one of only a handful of states that has not passed legislation to address hemp’s change in legal status. It is imperative that Ohio moves quickly so that our farmers can take advantage of a domestic hemp marketplace and catch up with our neighboring states,” Hill said.

The Ohio Farmers Union adopted a policy in January that calls for an Ohio industrial hemp policy that is fair for farming operations of all sizes and is supportive of Hill’s and Huffman’s work.

“S.B. 57 would get things moving for industrial hemp in Ohio, but much of the detail will be left to the agency rulemaking process at the Ohio Dept. of Agriculture,” said Ron Sylvester, OFU spokesman.

“OFU looks forward to watching the process and engaging in the appropriate ways should the bill pass.”

Want to get up to date on the details? Check out these documents:

• SB 57 Full Text, As Introduced
• SB 57 Legislative Services Commission Analysis
• Sponsor Testimony, Sen. Brian Hill
• Sponsor Testimony, Sen. Steve Huffman

The Paulding County Fair will kick off the 2019 fair season on June 10, and the season will wrap up on Oct. 12 with the Fairfield County Fair.

Ohioans can start planning visits to all of their favorite fairs across the state. The Ohio Department of Agriculture has released the official dates for the 2019 fair season, which includes Ohio’s 94 county and independent fairs and the Ohio State Fair.

Check out the entire fair schedule here, at the ODA’s downloadable, printable 2019 Fairs Guide.

Ohio House and Senate Leaders have announced the committee leadership in the House Agriculture & Rural Development Committee and the Senate Agriculture & Natural Resources Committee.

In House Ag, Rep. Kyle Koehler, R, Springfield will serve as chairman for the 133rd General Assembly. Rep. Todd Smith, R, Germantown will serve as vice chairman and Rep. Juanita Brent, D, Cleveland will be ranking member.

In Senate Ag, Sen. Frank Hoagland, R, Adena is chairman and former House Ag Chairman and current Sen. Brian Hill, R, Zanesville will be vice chairman. Sen. Sean O’Brien, D, Bazetta is the ranking member.

Learn more about them at their official General Assembly homepages:

• Chairman Koehler
• Vice Chairman Smith
• Ranking Member Brent
• Chairman Hoagland
• Vice Chairman Hill
• Ranking Member O’Brien

Please save the date and sign-up below for OFU’s 2019 Legislative Lobby Day at the Ohio Statehouse.

Each participant will have meetings scheduled with their state representative and state senator by OFU staff. We break into teams and you’ll also meet with the legislators representing two to three of your OFU colleagues.

We’ll start the day with a joint meeting with the House and Senate Agricultural Committee chairpersons. Additionally, this is a state budget year, so there are likely to be hearings of interest to members that day and perhaps opportunities to testify.

Sign Up for Lobby Day!