Ohio Farmers Union

Serving Family Farmers and Consumers Since 1934



United to Grow Family Agriculture Since 1934

  • About
    • The Farmers Union Triangle
    • Vision
    • OFU Leadership
  • Issues
    • 2020 Virtual Lobby Days
    • OFU Policy & NFU Policy
    • 2019 Lobby Day Registration
    • Get Involved!
    • NFU Climate Leaders
  • Education
    • 2019 OFU Essay Contest
    • Ohio Farmers Union Scholarships
    • Farm Safety
    • Renewable Energy Curriculum
  • Insurance
    • Hastings Mutual Insurance Co.
    • Health & Other Offerings
    • Ohio BWC Group Coverage
  • Join Us
    • Online Sign-Up
    • Member Benefits
    • Insurance
  • Blog
  • Events

Want the Chance to Vote on Whether to Continue the Soybean Checkoff?

May 15, 2019 By Ron Sylvester Leave a Comment

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.

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook

Filed Under: Blog, Home-Feature

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • YouTube

Latest News from the Ohio & National Farmers Union

2022 OFU Special Orders

Annual Policy Priorities For the eighty-eighth year, the Ohio Farmers Union has established the organization's public policy priorities at the … Read More

Ohio County Fair Schedule 2022

It's looking great for the first full, uninterrupted Ohio fair season since the beginning of the pandemic. Of special note, the Ohio State Fair will … Read More

Rural Broadband Gets Win in Ohio Budget

State Senators Matt Huffman, R-Lima, and Matt Dolan, R-Chagrin Falls, tried to kill $90 million for rural broadband expansion, yet the Ohio … Read More

State Legislators Listen – Rural Broadband Back in Ohio Two-Year Budget

In a pleasant surprise for rural Ohio, the biennial budget was agreed to Monday with Gov. Mike DeWine's full $250 million funding request for rural … Read More

Check Out the Entire Blog

NATIONAL FARMERS UNION

Click to Take Action



Contact

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

Copyright Ohio Farmers Union© 2023 | Site by: RCS Communications