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Logan, Wise Lobby in D.C. to Preserve COOL

May 19, 2015 By Ron Sylvester Leave a Comment

USAJoe Logan and Roger Wise are no strangers to the ongoing struggle in Washington, D.C. and Geneva, Switzerland over whether U.S. consumers have a right to know where their food comes from.

The pair are Ohio farmers but they are also the current president of the Ohio Farmers Union (Logan) and the immediate past-president (Wise). Since 2009, Country of Origin Labeling – “COOL” in agricultural circles – has been a recurring policy consideration for each.

COOL is a rule in the 2002 U.S. Farm Bill that mandates retailers provide country of origin labeling for beef, pork and lamb. In 2008, Congress expanded the labeling law to include some other products such as fresh fruits and nuts.

In 2009, the first challenge to COOL came from the Canadian government via the World Trade Organization. While Canada – and subsequently Mexico – have claimed that U.S. COOL rules have cost foreign producers, there is scant economic evidence to support their claims.

There has been, however, a sea change in ownership of U.S. meat interests. The primary owner of U.S. pork interests is now Shuanghui of China. JBS of Brazil is now the largest meat processing company in the United States. Both China and Brazil have issues regarding food safety.

“Yesterday’s WTO decision is an insult to all who wish to have information about the food they consume and an affront to our nation’s ability to adopt legislation that is strongly supported by US Farmers and consumers,” said Logan

“Once again, the Farmers Union will be leading the charge to defend COOL on behalf of farmers and consumers,” Logan said.

National Farmers Union President Roger Johnson is asking lawmakers to allow U.S. trade representatives to work things out with Mexico and Canada.

Johnson pointed out that there have been various press reports in recent weeks indicating that the administration will work with Canada and Mexico on COOL.

“We support that approach to the extent it results in a mutually agreed result that provides consumers meaningful information on the meat products they purchase, including the country where the animal was born, raised and slaughtered. With the significant interest by consumers in knowing where their food comes from, any other result is not acceptable,” Johnson said.

Logan, of Trumbull County, and Wise, of Sandusky County, have a full slate of meetings on Capitol Hill with members of Congress over the next two days. They are part of an NFU group of more than 60 Farmers Union leaders from around the country.

“Our primary message to Congress at this point is leave COOL alone,” said Wise.

“There is precedent for U.S. and international officials to work out their differences rather than scrap a U.S. law and start completely over,” he added.

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Congress, COOL, Country of Origin Labeling, Joe Logan, Roger Wise

Ohio Legislative Update

November 13, 2014 By Ron Sylvester Leave a Comment

The Ohio Farmers Union is providing testimony on two bills this week:

Sub. H.B. 490 – the large, catch-all bill which began life as part of Gov. John Kasich’s Mid Biennium Review package of legislation meant to make budget adjustments. The bill covers both the Ohio Dept. of Agriculture and Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources areas of governmental responsibility. OFU has taken an “interested-party” position, due to the large number of subjects covered in the bill. OFU has told legislators it is supportive of tightened regulations on saline injection – or frack water disposal – wells. The bill also creates a path toward ODNR being able to provide first responders information about the chemicals being used at an oil or gas drilling site in the event of an accident. That language is rather nebulous, however, leaving it to ODNR management to implement. This issue will bear watching if 490 moves on through the Senate and to the governor’s desk.

OFU suggested in testimony by President Joe Logan some potential additions to the parts of the bill regarding nutrient management. Working with the Ohio Environmental Council, OFU is seeking amendments which would allow the state to aggregate and analyze data from nutrient management and manure management plans to get watershed-wide views of manure and chemical fertilizer sales/production/use.

Read Joe Logan’s testimony from November 12, 2014 on Sub. H.B. 490.

S.B. 296 – is sponsored by State Sen. Cliff Hite, R-Findlay, and is supported by Ohio Farmers Union. A main provision of the bill provides that retail filling station operators are not responsible for mistakes customers make in putting the wrong fuel in their vehicles. (So long as the pumps are clearly marked and the station is in compliance with all other laws and regulations.) Ohio’s ethanol producers have urged farmers to support this because some filling station operators have refused to provide E85 or other fuel choices because they say customers may not pay attention while fueling, unintentionally pump the wrong fuel into their vehicle and then sue the station for damages. Ohio Farmers Union testimony was provided by OFU Treasurer Roger Wise.

Read Roger Wise’s testimony submitted ‘as written’ on November 12, 2014 on S.B. 296.

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: House Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee, Joe Logan, Ohio House, Roger Wise

Photos from a Busy Day at Statehouse for Ohio Farmers Union

March 22, 2014 By Ron Sylvester Leave a Comment

ofuinactionIn the photo above, State Sen. Robert Hagan talks to Ohio Farmers Union members at the Statehouse last Wednesday about the state of fracking regulation and his proposal to raise the state’s severance tax. Hagan’s proposal calls for a 7.5 percent “frack tax” which is still well below other gas and oil producing states such as Oklahoma and Texas. Gov. John Kasich’s most recent proposal would raise the severance tax on fracked oil and gas to 2.5 percent – and put a good portion of the revenue into a state income tax cut that would primarily benefit upper income earners.

BurkleyAbove, State Rep. Tony Burkley discusses state budget issues and S.B. 150 the nutrient management bill pending in the House Agriculture Committee. L-R: Burkley, at desk; Sue Culver; Fred Culver; Jeff Navarre and Joe Logan.

GreenAbove, OFU members with State Rep. Doug Green after a discussion of agricultural nutrient management. L-R: Keith Lenz; Diane Adams; Roger Wise; Green; Bill Pritchard.

hallofc

OFU President Joe Logan makes a point in the office of House Ag Committee Chairman Dave Hall. R-L: Logan; Mel Borton; Linda Borton; Sue Culver; Fred Culver.

State Rep. Nickie Antonio is working with Sen. Hagan on many issues related to fracking and severance taxes in Ohio.

State Rep. Nickie Antonio is working with Sen. Hagan on many issues related to fracking and severance taxes in Ohio. She and Hagan hosted OFU’s first meeting Wednesday.

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Above, OFU Vice President Bill Miller discusses manure management and loopholes in current state law affecting waste management in livestock farming with Spencer Gross. Gross is the legislative aide for State Rep. Timothy Derickson, Miller’s representative. OFU’s lobbying day this year coincided with a tremendously busy committee schedule for both houses of the state legislature as senators and members dealt with opening hearings on the governor’s Mid Biennium Review bill (MBR). The MBR comes in the second year of each biennial budget and is the opportunity to tweak the state budget. Additionally, both houses are currently working on the first state Capital Bill in four years.

All Photos by Ron Sylvester, Ohio Farmers Union

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Bill Miller, Bill Pritchard, Bob Hagan, Diane Adams, Doug Green, Fred Culver, Joe Logan, Keith Lenz, Linda Borton, Mel Borton, Nickie Antonio, Roger Wise, Sue Culver

In Memoriam: Joyce Wise 1929-2014

March 22, 2014 By Ron Sylvester Leave a Comment

wisepostIt is with great sadness that the Ohio Farmers Union family said goodbye this week to Joyce Wise, a long-term active member and mother of our immediate past president, Roger Wise.

The Toledo Blade had a nice article about Joyce’s life and activism in local and state politics which you can read here. Below you’ll find Joyce’s obituary from The News-Messenger in Fremont. A memorial service will be held April 5 at at 11:00 am at Trinity United Methodist Church, 204 Wayne Street, Fremont, Ohio.

Joyce Louise (Sherer) Wise

FREMONT: Joyce Louise (Sherer) Wise, 84, died March 18, 2014. She was born May 17, 1929, in Fremont and was the daughter of Garnet and Mary Ruth (Jacobs) Sherer. Joyce graduated from Jackson Burgoon School and married Charles Edwin Wise, a Sandusky County farmer, in 1948.

Joyce was an active member of Trinity United Methodist Church in Fremont and part of the church bell choir. She loved music and was a talented pianist as well as an avid bridge player. As a lifelong devoted Democrat on both local and national levels, she held several positions including 5th Congressional District Committee Woman, member of the Ohio Democratic State Federation of Women, member of the State Democratic Executive Committee, and president of the local Sandusky County Democratic Women’s Group. She received the Helbert Award and was honored as the Sandusky County Democrat of the Year in 2003. Joyce was a member of the National Organization for Women (NOW) and enthusiastically supported women’s rights. She was also a dedicated volunteer for the American Red Cross and a member of the National and Ohio Farmers Union. Other interests included travel, reading, and family. Her grandchildren and great grandchildren were her pride and joy.

Joyce will be remembered for her boundless energy and upbeat personality. Words cannot express how much she will be missed by all who were fortunate enough to have known this extraordinary woman.

Joyce is survived by two brothers, George Sherer (Janice), Malta, Carl Sherer, Green Springs; her four children, Roger Wise (Sandra), Fremont, Kay Polk (Jim), Atlanta, Georgia, Kerry Barth (Tom) Bellevue, and Matt Wise, Toledo; and her five grandchildren, Erin Dixon Palmer (Ian), Atlanta, Georgia, Natalie Wise Muccio (Nick), Columbus, Greg Barth, Bellevue, Nadine Wise Holbrook (Matt), Worthington, and Stefanie Rusin (Peter), Antioch, Illinois; and three great grandchildren, Charlotte Kay Dixon, Benjamin Rusin, and Luca Muccio. She was preceded in death by her husband, Charles.

A celebration of life will be held at 11:00 am, Saturday, April 5, 2014, at Trinity United Methodist Church, 204 Wayne Street, Fremont, Ohio.

Donations in Joyce’s honor can be made to the Fremont Birchard Library, 423 Croghan Street, Fremont, Ohio, or the Sandusky County Historical Society, 514 Birchard Avenue, Fremont, Ohio. Online condolences may be expressed at www.kokm.net

 

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Joyce Wise, Roger Wise

Lots of News Out of OFU’s 80th Convention

February 5, 2014 By Ron Sylvester Leave a Comment

1conventionThe Ohio Farmers Union has a new president and rural concerns about the long-term effects of fracking and the disposal of toxic drilling wastewater continue to dominate policy discussions among its membership.

OFU held its 80th annual state convention this past weekend. With 110 delegates attending from the state’s county Farmers Union organizations and several additional non-voting members, the family-farmer and consumer oriented group had its largest convention in several years. Nearly 250 people packed the convention hall for remarks by Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack and U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown.

U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, right, speaks to OFU youth delegate Joe Schmitz of Darke County at the 80th OFU Convention.

U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, right, speaks to OFU youth delegate Joe Schmitz of Darke County at the 80th OFU Convention.

Brown will get the chance this week to vote once again on the beleaguered, two-year delayed Farm Bill. The U.S. House accepted political compromise last week and approved a final version of the bill. Pending Senate passage later this week, President Barack Obama is expected to sign the measure which will replace most direct payments to farmers with an enhanced system of crop insurance.

“There are several titles in the farm bill, all of them important to this state. You think about rural development, you think about conservation titles, you think about commodities in title one and what we’ve been able to do there, and obviously you think about the nutrition part and all that helps make our state better,” Brown said.

“I’m virtually certain we’ll pass it, and I am virtually certain the president of the United States will sign it,” Brown added.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Bill Miller, Convention, Fracking, Joe Logan, Nutrient Management, Ohio Farmers Union, Roger Wise, Severance Taxes, Sherrod Brown, Tom Vilsack

Happy New Year from Roger Wise

January 1, 2014 By Ron Sylvester Leave a Comment

Roger Wise

Roger Wise

This post is OFU President Roger Wise’s latest column for the Ohio Country Messenger – which will be hitting members’ snail mail soon … Happy 2014!

Reflections on Year’s End and Thoughts of 2014

This is the time of year to pause and ponder the plentiful blessings which upon us are bestowed. As the Christmas season envelopes us we are reminded that, as farmers, we are entrusted with the stewardship of some of the best resources anywhere on earth. The land, air and water are all intertwined in a manner that requires respect and that they individually be treated as components of the whole.

This is also a time of year when we reflect on our mortality. Time passes by so quickly and we are powerless to slow its pace. The average age of farmers increases while the number of us decreases. In spite of tremendous medical advances, loved ones pass and we are helpless to do anything about it.

My point is not to just wax sentimental but to be mindful that in our society we cannot and do not exist as islands. We depend on health care to keep us as healthy as possible for as long as possible. We depend on public services such as police, fire, public health, infrastructure, public education and more; everyone benefits from them and they provide us a better quality of life. We should not allow them to be undermined or eliminated because of current dissatisfaction with those holding political power.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Roger Wise

Ohio Senate Ag Will Wait Til Next Year – Nutrient Management Bill

December 20, 2013 By Ron Sylvester Leave a Comment

Ohio Senate Bill 150, the measure which would enact a fertilizer application licensing process in Ohio similar to the pesticide applicators’ program hit a wall in late 2013 due to so-called ‘affirmative defense’ language in the bill.

Bill sponsors Senate Ag Chairman Cliff Hite and Sen. Bob Peterson put the measure on hold until 2014 while issues among stakeholders over the affirmative defense language is sorted out.

Under language in a recent version of the bill, a farmer’s filing of a voluntary nutrient management plan for his or her farm would qualify as an affirmative defense in court should that farm be sued relative to civil nuisance actions. An affirmative defense means that legally certain facts are established on their face by the existence of a nutrient management plan.

At the last hearing of SB 150 in the Senate Agriculture Committee, Peterson noted that one of the amendments for that day – which was eventually agreed to – would strip the affirmative defense language from the bill. He added that it is his intention for a different version of that language to go back into the bill after negotiations with stakeholders.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: AFO, CAFO, Fertilizer, Lake Erie, Manure, Nutrient Management, Phosphorous, Roger Wise

Ohio Senate Ag to Hold Third Hearing on Nutrient Management Bill – Vote Expected

November 18, 2013 By Ron Sylvester 1 Comment

Over the past couple of weeks Senate Bill 150 – the nutrient management bill that would create a licensure scheme for many farmers applying fertilizer to their fields in Ohio – has been moving through the Ohio Senate Committee on Agriculture.

S.B. 150 was actually replaced with a new or substitute bill and is now officially Sub. S.B. 150. The bill received its second hearing last week where several amendments were unanimously accepted and testimony was heard from various farm groups, the Ohio Environmental Council, municipal water managers and Lake Erie charter fishing captains.

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Ohio State Sen. Randy Gardner

The seven amendments added last week were for the most part technical in nature and were quickly accepted by Democrats and Republicans alike on the committee. One amendment, technically sponsored by Sen. Cliff Hite, R-Findlay, the Ag Committee chairman, was actually conceived by Sen. Randy Gardner, R-Bowling Green. The amendment would make it possible for funds already appropriated and unused to the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program “to be used for purposes of that appropriation item related to open lake disposal of dredge material in Lake Erie.” Hite and Gardner said the amendment will allow the fund’s resources to be used more effectively to help deter open-lake disposal of material dredged from the Toledo shipping channel.

There’s a great story on this issue from over the weekend in the Toledo Blade.

As for testimony by farm groups, including OFU, it was all one-sided – or shall we say ‘no-sided.’

Testimony was heard from OFU, The Ohio Soybean Association, The Ohio Corn and Wheat Growers Association and the Ohio Agribusiness Association. All parties testified as ‘neutral’ on the bill.

From Roger Wise, president of the Ohio Farmers Union:

“Our first point today is that too often our federal and state governments do not recognize the unique challenges that regulation of agriculture pose for small farmers. However, in the case of Senate Bill 150, OFU does not oppose the newly
proposed certification and licensure for fertilizer application. As a fertilizer bill, what is proposed is a good start. However, history and context remind us this legislation began as a nutrient management bill aimed at agriculture’s role in mitigating watershed quality problems across Ohio. What is being considered today does not address the entire scope of farming’s impact on Ohio’s lakes rivers and streams.”

Specifically, Wise said that taking the role of manure completely off the table in a bill that is aimed at improving water quality and potential agricultural pollution is short-sighted. He predicted that interested parties and legislators would be back on this issue in the future due to leaving manure out of the discussion.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Bob Peterson, Cliff Hite, Nutrient Management, Randy Gardner, Roger Wise, SB 150

OFU’s Wise Leads Ohio Delegation to Capitol Hill This Week

September 9, 2013 By Ron Sylvester Leave a Comment

Roger Wise

Roger Wise

Ohio Farmers Union president Roger Wise of Fremont and the board of directors of the National Farmers Union unanimously passed a resolution over the weekend indicating the obligation of Congress to pass a five-year farm bill, continue support for Country-of-Origin Labeling (COOL) and the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS).

Wise and the other NFU state presidents are in Washington, D.C. with rank and file Farmers Union members to lobby members of Congress with the leadership and staff of NFU early this week.

“As a member of the NFU Board of Directors, I voted to support the resolution to show the Ohio Farmers Union’s unflagging support for a new Farm Bill and for Congress to continue support for COOL and the Renewable Fuel Standard,” Wise said.

“The fact that the Farm Bill has become an object of partisanship and has been mired in the House for two years – held hostage by a group of extremists – is a prime example of our broken political process in Washington,” Wise added.

“I’m here again with my colleagues from around Ohio and the country to simply ask for reason and a willingness to work together for compromise that allows agriculture in America to move forward with a bill like that passed by the Senate which contains deficit reduction, contains reforms and has farmers with more skin in the game as it pertains to the safety net,” Wise added.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Congress, COOL, Farm Bill, Renewable Fuel Standard, Roger Wise

OFU Efforts Pay Off – Grain Indemnity Update Signed by Gov. Kasich

July 11, 2013 By Ron Sylvester Leave a Comment

Ohio Gov. John Kasich signs Senate Bill 66 which updates Ohio's Commodity Handlers law, also known as the grain indemnity fund and program.

Ohio Gov. John Kasich signs Senate Bill 66 which updates Ohio’s Commodity Handlers law, also known as the grain indemnity fund and program.

COLUMBUS – Gov. John Kasich today signed into law S.B. 66 which affords Ohio’s farmers status as first in line for assets in the event of a grain elevator failure and boosts the size of the farmer-funded grain indemnity program.

The Ohio Farmers Union and other state ag organizations worked for two and a half years with the bill’s sponsor, State Sen. Cliff Hite (R-Findlay) on the legislation. Hite also serves as chairman of the Ohio Senate Agriculture Committee.

“Family farmers are the winners with the updates to the grain indemnity law,” said Roger Wise, president of OFU.

“Before grain indemnity, smaller operators could be driven entirely out of business in the event of a grain elevator bankruptcy. We’ve been covered since 1983, but some have questioned – and the state has had to go to court – over the question of who is first in line as a creditor when an elevator fails.”

“It’s clear now in Ohio law that regarding elevator failures, the farmers who did business with that elevator are first in line,” Wise added.

Additionally, the updated law increases the size of the farmer-funded grain indemnity fund which pays producers for losses in the event of an elevator failure. OFU sought to have the fund size increased due to several years of historically high prices for corn and soybeans.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Cliff Hite, John Kasich, Ohio Farmers Union, Ohio Grain Indemnity Fund, Roger Wise, SB 66

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