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Ohio Farm Bureau discuss priorities with lawmakers during Ag Day at the Capital
More than 300 Ohio Farm Bureau members met to discuss priority issues with their state senators and representatives during Ag Day at the Capital.
Ohio Farm Bureau President Bill Patterson says as a grassroots organization, it’s critical for members to discuss priority issues with lawmakers.
“Ohio Farm Bureau as an organization can tell the message as much as it likes to, but until you put a face to that message, until you put the farmer that’s affected or the rural Ohioan affected by the policies that lawmakers are enacting, you’re never fully connecting the message,” he says.
He says members must continue to have these conversations beyond Ag Day at the Capital.
“This conversation can’t stop today. We can’t come make the message at the statehouse one time a year, we need to be having this conversation everytime we see them whether it’s in Rural King, Home Depot, the local co-op, the hardware store, or on the farm,” he says. “We need to continue to have these conversations so the message is reinforced and updated. We also must ensure we’re talking about what’s working and what’s going well. That message needs to be relayed to the lawmaker and we’re going to make a difference.”
Northwest Ohio farmer Craig Pohlman says it’s important for members to discuss issues impacting their farms with lawmakers.
“In a couple of the meetings I was in with lawmakers, it was interesting to bring priorities up and you could tell a couple of those issues we experience on the ground back home hadn’t come across their desk yet,” he says. “So, you see them jotting notes down to talk about it afterwards. I think that’s a really important part.”
Pohlman is on the OFBF Board of trustees representing Allen, Paulding, Putnam, and Van Wert counties.
North Central Ohio farmer Kyle Brown, president of Wyandot County, tells Brownfield “we need to get in front of our legislators to discuss these issues to reinforce the importance of them. Being in person means quite a bit to them and to us.”
Ag Day at the Capital took place in Columbus today.
