Ohio Farmers Union

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United to Grow Family Agriculture Since 1934

PHOTOS – Kasich Signs SB 66 – Grain Indemnity Law Update

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Below are a couple of photos taken during the bill signing ceremony for SB 66 today. Clicking on the images gives you a full res shot to download.

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L-R: State Sen. Cliff Hite (R-Findlay), SB 66 primary sponsor; Ohio Gov. John Kasich.

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L-R: Roger Wise, president, Ohio Farmers Union; Linda Borton, executive director, Ohio Farmers Union; State Sen. Cliff Hite (R-Findlay); Christopher Collins, aide to Sen. Hite; Tony Anderson, Ohio Agricultural Commodity Advisory Commission; Mel Borton, Ohio Farmers Union; Allen Stockberger, Ohio Agricultural Commodity Advisory Commission. Seated, Ohio Gov. John Kasich.

Coming This Fall: Ohio General Assembly Work on Nutrient Management Proposal

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You may recall that earlier this year three state agencies floated a proposed bill to address agriculture’s perceived part in combating the contamination of Ohio’s freshwater resources with too much phosphorous and other materials that lead to toxic algal blooms in areas like the western basin of Lake Erie.

The draft legislative language was created by the Ohio Departments of Agriculture, Natural Resources and the Ohio EPA after Gov. John Kasich requested them to form the Directors’ Agricultural Nutrients and Water Quality Working Group. Previously this year Director Jim Zehringer (ODNR), Director Scott Nally (OEPA) and Director David Daniels (ODA) circulated the second version of their proposed bill for comment from various environmental and agricultural stakeholders around the state. You may read OFU President Roger Wise’s response to that request here.

Stakeholders were put on notice regarding impending legislative action once again earlier this month. In an informal hearing in the Senate Agriculture Committee, Chairman Cliff Hite (R-Findlay) and members heard proponent testimony from the three directors in anticipation of what Hite said would be formal bills in the House and Senate regarding farming nutrient management in the fall.

[UPDATE – June 30 S.B. 150 has been introduced by Senators Cliff Hite and Bob Peterson.]

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ODNR Director James Zehringer

“Over the course of the past year and into the foreseeable future, agricultural nutrient management will be the number one priority for the (Soil and Water Resources) Division, and one of the top priorities of the department,” Zerhinger said at the June 11 hearing.

Zerhinger acknowledged that there is nothing the state or farmers can do that will immediately solve the problem of the harmful Lake Erie algal blooms. He also noted that, “It is important to note that the loading of dissolved phosphorous into Lake Erie’s tributaries from agricultural sources is not an intentional act by farmers in the watershed.”

[Read more…]

2013 Policy Priorities Set by OFU

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OFU President Roger Wise and wife Sandra at the January 26 policy hearing at the OFU Annual Convention.

COLUMBUS – Severance taxes, the Ohio Turnpike and ag nutrient pollution are among the policy initiatives in the spotlight for The Ohio Farmers Union, a 5,000 member family farm and consumer advocacy group.

New state and federal level public policy positions are made by OFU each January at its annual convention. Gone from last year’s policy list is a call for a moratorium on fracking in Ohio until the U.S. EPA issues a report on horizontal drilling’s effects on the environment.

“We’ve removed our moratorium request due to the fact that the EPA report is still not complete. We have members in shale counties who stand to benefit from responsible well-drilling, but we also have members greatly concerned about what we don’t know about what fracking will do to water supplies,” said Roger Wise, OFU president.

“We will continue to urge lawmakers to protect farmers and rural landowners and our air and water first. Our new policy position requests that the U.S. EPA include water quality in its ongoing study.”

At the state level, OFU is supporting the Kasich Administration’s Ohio Turnpike plan with two caveats: First, that northern Ohio be defined as territory north of U.S. 224 and second that the Ohio General Assembly codify Administration pledges to keep 90 percent or more of Turnpike bond and other revenue in northern Ohio.

OFU is also supportive raising severance taxes in the state, but differs with Kasich on where new revenue should go.

[Read more…]

Ohio Farmers Union, Dairy Farmers Lose a Friend in Bryan Wolfe

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Former vice president of the Ohio Farmers Union and dairy activist Bryan K. Wolfe of Ashtabula has died in a farming accident at the age of 55.

Roger Wise, OFU president, said earlier this week, “As a grassroots activist, you could not be more committed to your cause than Bryan. He educated the community, OFU, legislators and other farmers for years about the problems in the dairy industry. He focused on the family farmer and small producers and fought for a fair deal for family farmers in a world which too often ignores them. He will be missed.”

Wolfe’s obituary from the Ashtabula Star-Beacon follows:

ROME — Bryan K. Wolfe, age 55, of Rome, Ohio, died Tuesday, August 7, 2012.

He was born March 12, 1957, in Cleveland, Ohio, the son of Fred and Shirley (Heffner) Wolfe. He was married to H. Diana (Young) Wolfe on Sept. 12, 1981.

Bryan was a Dairy Farmer all his life and owned and operated Maple Lane Farms in Rome, Ohio since 1980 with his wife. His passion for farming went well beyond the boundaries of his home farm and was an avid farming activist, who served with many organizations to be a voice for the family farms over his lifetime.

Among his involvement in such organizations include: Vice President of the Ohio Farmers Union for four years. President of the Lake, Geauga and Ashtabula County Farmers Union for 12 years. He was a member of the National Family Farm Coalition for 10 years and served on the Executive Committee, Dairy Sub Committee, and Chaired the Credit Committee.

He also spent 10 years with the Family Farm Defenders. Bryan’s love for dairy farming started with his first 4-H project, which he always said got out of hand. He was a 1975 graduate of Grand Valley High School.

He is survived by his wife, H. Diana Wolfe; his parents, Fred and Shirley Wolfe, of Hartsgrove, Ohio; brother, Kevin D. Wolfe, of Hartsgrove, Ohio; sisters, Laurie A. Wolfe of Hartsgrove, Ohio and Heidi E. Sundberg of Cherry Valley, Ohio; as well as numerous nieces and nephews who loved him and worked with him on the farm over the years.

He was preceded in death by his grandparents, Clarence and Rozella (Day) Wolfe and Thomas and Edna (Bosold) Heffner.

A Funeral Service will be held 11 a.m., Monday, August 13th, at PAINE-GUERRIERO FUNERAL HOME, 140 E. Main St., Orwell, Ohio, with the Rev. Robert Leonard officiating.

Visitation will take place from 3 to 7 p.m., Sunday, August 12th, at the Funeral Home.

In lieu of flowers, please make memorial contributions to the family in care of Diana Wolfe at the funeral home.

Wise, Zumbrink speak out on Farm Bill & drought

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Ohio Farmers Union President Roger Wise and longtime member James Zumbrink were quoted in the Columbus Dispatch today regarding the drought and Congress’ inattention to the Farm Bill.

This year’s drought, affecting a huge swath of the United States is severely disrupting agriculture from corn to livestock grazing. Here’s a bit of the Dispatch coverage – click the link at the end to read the whole story at their website:

[Read more…]

2012 Should See a Revamped Ohio Grain Indemnity Law

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A successful farmer-funded Ohio Department of Agriculture program will see its first changes in more than a decade during the first half of 2012 according to the ODA official who administers it.

The Ohio Grain Indemnity Fund, which protects producers from losing everything in grain elevator failures, is on track for a legislative overhaul sometime in the first quarter of 2012 according to the fund’s administrator, David Simmons.

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OFU & other Ohio-based food & environmental interest groups ask Portman for sound farm, food and environmental policies in Super Committee

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(Columbus, OH)—The Ohio Farmers Union, Association of Second Harvest Food Banks, Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association, and Ohio Environmental Council are teaming up to urge bold changes to federal agriculture policy.

Their goal is to reform the Federal Farm Bill with a fiscally sound plan to:

  • Grow America’s agricultural production.
  • Sustain the basic nutritional needs of the millions of Americans who continue to struggle to put food on the table during the Great Recession.
  • Nurture America’s emerging sector of organic and sustainable agriculture producers.
  • Conserve America’s precious soil and water resources.

The U.S. Farm Bill is an outgrowth of the 1930s Dust Bowl and Great Depression. The Farm Bill originally was designed to accomplish three goals:

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Wise: Ohio natural gas boom sparks cautious OFU policy for now

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Farmer shows dirty water which came from his well after fracking on his land

NE Ohio farmer shows OFU members one jar of fracking fluid and another jar of water he said came from his well after fracking on his land.

One of the issues sure to be on the radar of the Ohio Farmers Union for some time to come is the Ohio’s natural gas boom.

How long the industrial and economic activity lasts – and what the lasting environmental consequences will be — are just two of the many questions OFU and others are asking.

OFU’s current policy statement concerns the method by which natural gas drillers will extract gas from the ground. So-called hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” will be used to exploit the Marcellus and Utica Shale gas formations. For now, drilling will occur primarily in Eastern Ohio.

Lying thousands of feet below the earth’s surface, natural gas is embedded in the pores of the shale. Fracking technology allows well drillers to bore vertically for hundreds or thousands of feet and then bore horizontally for up to a mile. At extremely high pressure, fracking fluid, also called drilling fluid, is forced down the well where it creates fractures in the rock, releasing the gas to be collected. The fluid is mostly water and sand but does include chemicals.

Fracking proponents say that their drilling activity is so far beneath the water table that the chances for them to pollute groundwater are slim to none. They also point to industry practices of hauling away drilling site waste water by the truckload to be recycled or for disposal. Opponents point to evidence of environmental havoc being created in states like Pennsylvania where the gas boom is already well underway. They complain of clear cutting, truck and machinery traffic wearing on rural roads and noise and water pollution.

OFU’s current policy on fracking states:

OFU calls on the Ohio Department of Natural Resources to assure that the oil and gas drilling practice known as “hydraulic fracturing” or “hydro-fracking” is regulated to protect the health of Ohio citizens and the quantity and quality of Ohio’s groundwater.

What this means going forward, and whether OFU bolsters the policy, hinges on several potential policy prescriptions which could be addressed by the Ohio General Assembly in the next several months.

“What the Farmers Union is looking for from the legislature and the Kasich Administration is twofold. We want transparency in place regarding what natural gas companies are putting into the ground and how they dispose of their waste, and we want to know that rural landowners are protected and dealt with fairly,” said Roger Wise, OFU president.

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Ohio Farmers Union
P.O. Box 363
1011 N. Defiance Street
Ottawa, Ohio 45875
Phone: (419) 523-5300
Toll Free: (800) 321-3671