Serving Family Farmers and Consumers Since 1934
Ohio Farmers Union members save on health insurance and now we offer a Medicare Supplement plan for people aged 65 and over that comes with Silver Sneakers – at no additional cost. Dave Shindollar tells me the Silver Sneakers program is a $500 annual value to you via Medical Mutual and your local YMCA.
Open enrollment applies – no medical questions – call Dave Shindollar at (800) 321-3671 or email him dshindollar@ohfarmersunion.org for prices and more information.
There has been a lot of deserved attention to CAUV (Current Agricultural Use Value) valuations by our membership over the past two to three years. While we have worked especially hard to represent you in Columbus, I think we should also provide the actual documents being distributed by the state of Ohio regarding CAUV.
For those who are not farmers in Ohio, CAUV is a system for taxing farm land in Ohio that grants a property tax break to active farmers. To be eligible for CAUV:
To qualify for the CAUV, land must meet one of the following requirements during the three years preceding an application for the CAUV:
Ten or more acres must be devoted exclusively to commercial agricultural use; or
If under ten acres are devoted exclusively to commercial agricultural use, the farm must produce an average yearly gross income of at least $2,500
Why CAUV? States grant a special status to farm land to:
Here are the documents recently released by the Ohio Dept. of Taxation regarding CAUV:
from the Ohio Dept. of Agriculture
REYNOLDSBURG, Ohio (June 2, 2015) – In an aggressive move designed to help protect Ohio’s $2.3 billion poultry industry from the avian flu that has so negatively impacted other poultry-producing states, today the Ohio Department of Agriculture canceled all live bird exhibitions this year. The ban includes county and independent fairs, the Ohio State Fair, and all other gatherings of birds for show or for sale, including auctions and swap meets. Similar bans have been enacted in other poultry states. So far, Ohio is virus-free and the move is intended to continue that status.
Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI)—also called the avian flu – is an extremely contagious virus that primarily affects domestic poultry and is believed to be spread by wild, migrating birds. The United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) first confirmed the virus in the U.S. beginning in late 2014. Since that time more than 44 million birds at more than 197 locations have been affected.
“This was a difficult decision because it means young people can’t show their birds at fairs, but it’s in the best interest of an industry that literally thousands of Ohio families and businesses depend on and which provides billions of dollars to our state’s economy. The right move isn’t always the easy move, but this is the right move, especially when you see just how devastating the virus has been to other big poultry states like Iowa and Minnesota. Ohioans need to do all we can to ensure that we protect our industry and that we help avoid a costly spike in the price of important foods like chicken, turkey and eggs,” said Ohio Department of Agriculture Director David T. Daniels.
Ohio is the second largest egg producer in the country and home to 28 million laying chickens, 12 million broilers, 8.5 million pullets and 2 million turkeys. Ohio’s egg, chicken and turkey farms employ more than 14,600 jobs and contribute $2.3 billion to the state’s economy. Ohio’s role in national poultry production is even greater considering the loss that other major poultry states are experiencing.
Mel Borton, Ohio Farmers Union.
In more than 80 years of life spent on and around Ohio’s farms, Mel Borton has seen cycles of woodlands preservation and cutting the woods on farmland.
“One sure way to remove woodlands across the state is for the real estate tax code to essentially promote chopping down trees,” said Borton.
“In my first 40 years, farmers cleared their woods as fast as they could. In my last 40 years farmers were conserving woodlands. It seems like the pendulum is swinging away from conservation and that’s a shame,” Borton added.
Mel Borton, left, talks to fellow OFU member Karen Wood at OFU’s summer picnic in 2014. The Ohio Farmers Union is the second-largest general farm organization in Ohio.
He fears that’s exactly what Ohio’s Current Agricultural Use Valuation system for taxing farmland is doing. He and other members of the Ohio Farmers Union are pleased that the Kasich Administration began fixing CAUV this year, but many, like Borton, worry that woodland valuations are still not functioning in the way that CAUV framers intended.
Borton, a retired farmer and former lobbyist for OFU, spoke out at last Thursday’s Ohio Dept. of Taxation CAUV Advisory Committee hearing.
“I told the committee that I volunteer answering phones at our (OFU’s) state office and farmers are telling me that they are clearing their woods because of CAUV,” Borton said.
“The folks in Columbus have done some good things this year to get the wild swings in CAUV under control, but they haven’t done enough on woodlands,” Borton added.
Ted Finnarn, OFU’s resident CAUV legal expert and a member of the state’s CAUV advisory committee said that woodland values will be lower in the 2015 tax year as compared to 2014, but OFU and other ag groups need to keep the pressure on the tax department to continue reviewing woodland valuations and the capitalization-interest rate.
“I think the Tax Department is moving in the right direction, but much more needs to be done to come up with CAUV values that are more reasonable,” Finnarn said.
Finnarn, a Greenville attorney, has been on the advisory committee since its inception in the 1970s. The committee met last week to hear public comment and to release the 2015 valuations for CAUV.
Ohio Tax Commissioner Joe Testa said his department has heard and responded to concerns about CAUV.
“I am certainly aware that there are some farmers and farm land owners facing tax increases but believe the factors impacting land values are moving in a favorable direction for the agriculture industry in Ohio,” Testa said.
“The CAUV remains a very valuable program for Ohio’s farmers which results in
significant property tax reductions when compared to land not being used in agriculture,” he added.
Testa said the values released last week affect the 24 counties in this year’s triennial CAUV re-valuation rotation. According to the department, the average CAUV per acre in 2015 in Ohio is $1,388, which is 17 percent less than the 2014 valuation of $1,668.
The department made changes, as suggested by the Ohio Farmers Union and Ohio Farm Bureau earlier this year.
On behalf of OFU, Finnarn worked closely with the Farm Bureau and others across the state for more than two years as CAUV values began to wildly fluctuate. Among the recent changes, Finnarn points out the following differences between the 2015 tax year and previous years:
Finnarn said some values are still increasing from the 2012 values, but not as much as they would have without the changes. Values will not change for the 41 counties that underwent their reappraisals and reevaluations for tax year 2014 (increased taxes paid in 2015). However, these counties will benefit from the changes in the future when they recycle for reevaluations in three years in tax year 2017.
Adopted by delegates to the 81st Annual Ohio Farmers Union ConventionYou’ll find below a link to our 2015 Special Orders of Business. Each year at the OFU Annual Convention, delegates debate a range of public policy topics they believe need attention from state or federal officials. Many of these are officially adopted as ‘special orders of business’ for OFU to pursue as an organization throughout the rest of the year. This year’s slate of special orders covers topics from taxes to money in politics to the water quality issue in the western basin of Lake Erie.
Click Here for 2015 OFU Special Orders of Business
Read the news release:
Ohio Farmers Union Outlines State, Federal Policy Priorities for 2015
Lake Erie, Pipelines, Taxes and Trade Among Concerns
COLUMBUS – Meeting in Columbus over the past weekend, Ohio’s second-largest general farm organization adopted twelve state and federal agricultural policy priorities for 2015.
Joe Logan, president of the Ohio Farmers Union, said delegates to OFU’s 81st Annual Convention focused primarily on two issues – water quality in the western basin of Lake Erie and farm real estate (CAUV) taxes.
“Most Ohioans don’t realize that many farmers’ real estate taxes on their farmland have spiked 100, 200 – even up to 300 percent in the past few years,” Logan said.
“Ohio’s program for establishing the tax value of farmland was a major issue for delegates and we approved a policy proposal that we believe would alleviate the shocking increases in tax rates farmers have experienced,” Logan said. “Farmers are being asked to shoulder an unfairly large portion of the total tax burden,” Logan added.
“This is an alarming trend that has been picking up steam in recent years.”
On Lake Erie, Logan said that the “overwhelming majority” of farmers are good stewards of the land and water. Many have adopted conservation, technological and nutrient management best practices to alleviate agricultural run-off into Lake Erie.
“The science tells us that agriculture remains a significant source of the phosphorous feeding harmful algal blooms in the lake. It appears that the legislature is choosing a more regulatory approach to nutrient management. We believe any regulations should be targeted toward those watersheds where problems are known to exist and should deal with all sources of nutrient overloads,” Logan said.
The twelve policy statements, or “special orders of business” for OFU may be found online.
They include statements on:
Here’s the press release sent statewide by the Ohio Farmers earlier today:
Water Quality, Farmland Tax on Deck for Ohio Farmers Union 81st ConventionState Representatives Sheehy, Patterson will be honored on final day of meeting
COLUMBUS – Ohio’s educational and advocacy organization dedicated to family farming will tackle several hot button issues in Ohio during its 81st annual convention in Columbus this Friday.
“We expect 2015 to be an exceptionally important year for Ohio’s farmers in terms of state legislation and Kasich administration tax policies,” said Linda Borton, executive director of the Ohio Farmers Union.
“Farmers in Ohio are facing additional regulation with manure application and they are already feeling the effects of agricultural property taxes increasing by 50 to 300 percent in the past couple of years,” Borton said.
“Those two items – water quality and the broken CAUV formula – will be major points of emphasis for our policy committee,” Borton said.
CAUV, or Current Agricultural Use Valuation, is a state tax formula instituted in the 1970s to help protect Ohio farmland by lowering the property tax bills for farmland. The program is responsible for keeping much of Ohio’s agricultural lands in production as the lower property tax rates do not skew the farmers’ cost of production, especially in areas where rural land is threatened by urban sprawl and suburban development.
Due to changes in commodity markets and the effects of a changing larger economy, over the past two to three years, the formula used by the Ohio Dept. of Taxation for determining a farmer’s CAUV tax value has begun to wildly fluctuate. In many cases across the state, family farmers have seen their farmland property taxes rise by 300 percent or more in a single year.
Borton said that on the water quality front, OFU is expected to adopt policy for 2015 urging the Ohio General Assembly to take a “science-based and targeted” approach to new regulation. During the debate over H.B. 490 in 2014, OFU President Joe Logan and other members asked the Ohio House to limit tighter regulatory schemes to distressed watershed areas such as the Maumee River Basin in northwest Ohio.
“No one wants to see the algae problems we’ve had in Lake Erie and in other waterways,” Borton said.
“The key is for regulation to be fair, fact-based and targeted,” Borton added.
COLUMBUS – Ohio Farmers Union (OFU) has proposed substantial recommendations to the governor, the Ohio Department of Taxation and the General Assembly concerning corrections and improvements to the Current Agricultural Use Value (CAUV) program.
Under CAUV, farmland is taxed on its agricultural use rather than its Fair Market-Recent Sales Value (FMV).
According to Ted Finnarn, attorney and long-time member of, “The CAUV formula has worked well in the past, but during the recent three years, it has gone out of whack,” said Ted Finnarn.
Finnarn is a long-time leader in OFU, a Darke County attorney and member of the Ag Advisory Committee to the Ohio Department of Taxation.
“The problem was mainly due to the extremely low interest–capitalization rate in the formula, as a result of the Federal Reserve’s unprecedented monetary intervention policy known as ‘quantitative easing’ and the lack of a three-year averaging factor in the computations. “
Farmers around the state have been slammed with rising property tax values as a result over the past three years. In tax year 2014, those farmers whose land is up for revaluation are seeing tax increases from 100 to 200 percent. Another factor affecting rising values is lower grain prices versus a farmer’s expenses.
After a careful review of the CAUV history over the past almost forty years, consultation with farmers, appraisers, attorneys, economists and other parties, OFU has recommended the following corrections and changes in the formula:
The 2014 Guide on Corn, Soybean, Wheat and Alfalfa now available for purchase from OSU Extension Service. The printed guide is $12.50. There is also a PDF version of the guide if you’d like to put it on your computer or mobile device available for download for $10.00
Click the image to go to the Extension’s online store to order.
According to OSU Extension:
The guide contains information on insect, disease and weed identification as well as agronomic information that should be valuable when checking fields. The guide is divided into seven sections: Corn Management, Soybean Management, Wheat Management, Alfalfa Management, Weed Identification, Sampling, Pesticide Application Technology, and General Crop Management. This spiral-bound book includes color photographs, as well as an index of topics that can be used to quickly locate page numbers for your topic of interest.
Ted Finnarn, Darke County Farmers Union Secretary-Treasurer, who is also a Greenville attorney, has been working for the past several months to educate farmers and rural landowners about skyrocketing Current Agricultural Use Value assessments for farm land property tax purposes. He’s even enlisted the help of editorial cartoonist Paul Ackley in his endeavor, as seen from the cartoon above.
Check out this link for more background on the CAUV valuations issue.
Finnarn and others, working as Ohio Farmers United Against Unfair Taxation, have been circulating petitions at farmer gatherings for the past several months. The petitions have been spotted at meetings of the Ohio Farmers Union, Ohio Farm Bureau and at the recent Farm Progress Show in London, Ohio.
The petition lays out the case for what Finnarn and others believe is a broken promise made to farmers in the 1970s by current state legislators. It asks the governor and Ohio General Assembly to do three things to get CAUV valuations back in line with an agricultural landscape that is showing lower prices for commodities and increasing costs of production:
Please review the entire petition linked here. You may also download the petition and collect signatures in your own community. Completed petitions may be mailed to Ted Finnarn, 421 Public Square, Greenville, Ohio 45331.
I’m working on a story and our own video coverage from what turned out to be an excellent set of presentations from Dr. Jeff Reutter, Ohio Sea Grant; Greg LaBarge, OSU Extension; Todd Hesterman, farmer and NW Ohio Coordinator of Conservation in Action and Adam Rissien from the Ohio Environmental Council. For now, find below the PowerPoint presentations from our presenters and links to media coverage of the event. Thanks to all who attended and to our presenters!
