David Simmons of the Ohio Dept. of Agriculture
Ohio’s grain Indemnity Fund was the chief topic of discussion at a recent Ohio Farmers Union Town Hall in Archbold.
Northwest State Community College President Thomas Stuckey, State Sen. Cliff Hite, David Simmons of the Ohio Dept. of Agriculture and Roger Wise and Bruce Yancey of the Ohio Farmers Union spoke and answered questions from the 50 to 60 meeting attendees.
The meeting was hosted by the OFU chapters in Defiance, Fulton, Henry and Williams Counties and Northwest State Community College.
Farmers in this area of northwest Ohio have been affected by the recent failure of Archbold Elevator, Inc. located at 3265 CR 24 in Archbold, Ohio. ODA has recently approved 85 claims associated with its failure submitted to the state grain Indemnity Fund. Those claims are to be paid pending approval of the Ohio
Controlling Board on July 11. The total cost to the Fund of the Archbold claims will be $3.4 million.
Simmons’ role at ODA is administrator of the section of the agency that oversees the Indemnity Fund among other programs related to grain, feed and seed. He gave a presentation about the history of grain elevator regulation in Ohio and updated farmers on the health of the Indemnity Fund.
