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The
Edison Board of Trustees presented a resolution to House Speaker John
Boehner for his focus on agriculture as well as using Edison Community
College as the location for his annual Farm Forums.
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Boehner
Forum focuses on economy through agriculture
By Bob Robinson
PIQUA – “It’s not perfect but it’s timely,” said U.S. Representative
John Boehner regarding the 2014 Farm Bill. “Everyone did a good job
coming to an agreement.”
Boehner introduced the 23rd Annual Ohio Farm Forum speakers to kick off
the event March 1 at the Piqua campus of Edison Community College, then
spent a few minutes with local media attending the event. His first
comments were about the farm bill; this was followed by questions on
the economy.
“The Obama recovery,” he said, “is the new normal. It isn’t growing. We
aren’t getting the jobs. Obamacare is causing employers to sit on their
hands. Last week the federal government predicted 65 percent of small
businesses (50-99 employees) will see their healthcare premiums go up.”
Will the food stamp issue ever be separated from the farm bill? “Debate
will continue, but it won’t happen,” Boehner said, noting 80 percent of
the bill is nutrition programs. “The biggest expenditure in the farm
portion is crop insurance to help farmers control risk.”
He noted no bill is perfect as passed. Over the balance of the year,
legislators will be hearing about the way it was written or the way
it’s being implemented. Other topics included the EPA (“I think the EPA
is out of control… this administration is the most active enforcement
machine…”); “ethanol to continue as part of the fuel supply”;
“divisions in Republican Party not about principal, but about strategy
(and not nearly as divisive as those on the other side of the aisle).”
This year’s event included panelists Ohio EPA Director Craig Butler,
U.S. Congressman Bob Gibbs, Alan Kozak, vice-chairman of the Dairy
Police Action Coalition, and Prof. of Agricultural Economics Otto
Doering III, Ph.D., Purdue University. The Keynote Speaker was Hank
Meijer, co-CEO and co-chairman of Meijer, Inc. They were introduced by
the Director of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Jim Zehringer.
Meijer ‘apologized’ to an appreciative audience regarding the home base
of the retailer being in Michigan, then talked about his company’s
steady growth despite a tough economy.
“Meijer believes in supporting the communities it serves, including
farmers,” Meijer said, noting use of local markets in fresh produce and
meat products. “Sometimes it’s a struggle to define what local means.
It’s hard to define borders sometimes. We have to balance that with
what is the best product.”
Meijer operates 200 stores in Michigan, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky.
Forty-two of them are in Ohio. As part of its service to the community
Meijer has developed a food rescue program, resulting in 2.4 million
pounds of food being donated to local food banks in 2013.
Butler spoke to the group about the phosphorus issues in the state’s
watersheds. He noted his phosphorus task force efforts are beginning to
nail down specifics on what can be done to manage phosphorus, nitrogen
and nutrients in watersheds, from the western basin of Lake Erie to
Grand Lake St. Marys.
Regarding phosphorus, Gibbs noted the one size fits all policies coming
out of Washington don’t work. Florida, for instance has a natural high
level of phosphorus… they can’t possibly achieve the mandated levels
issued by the federal EPA. He also talked about major reform in the
Water Bill. It used to take 15 years and millions of dollars to study
something… now it should take no more than three years and $3 million.
Kozak told the group the dairy part of the farm bill has details that
haven’t even been ironed out yet. One aspect of it used to involve the
USDA buying milk, cheese and powder to keep prices up; now when prices
don’t reach a certain level “we’ll give you money.” According to Kozak
this makes it more difficult to “play” the system. He noted one of the
reasons for the program goes back to 2009 when the average dairy farm
lost an average $1,000 a cow. “We have over 400 cows,” he said. “You do
the math.”
Doering told the group the Farm Bill was horrendous in terms of
complexity. “You had to get through 800 pages before getting real
information on it. Sometimes Congress is very specific, sometimes only
offers intent; yet both require the USDA to make the rules.”
He referred to nutrition as the “800 pound gorilla,” representing 75 to
80 percent of the cost of the bill. It is crafted this way so “city
folk would support the farm program and ag people would support the
nutrition program.” The other “800 pound gorilla” is Social Security,
Medicaid and Medicare in the budget, not the farm bill. “We’ve got to
attack the big ones,” he said.
During question and answer, Butler reiterated comments made in the past
about the Ohio EPA and the Federal EPA. “Other than we share part of
the name? That’s about it,” he said. He added the federal government
tries to develop one size fits all regulations… “We try to be flexible.”
One question was asked after the event was over. Has government aid
actually helped farmers and the economy? “I don’t know. But the reason
we have farm programs is two-fold: the weather and bankruptcy. What’s
the cost to the economy when large operations go bankrupt?”
Published courtesy
of Blue Bag Media
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U.S.
Representative John Boehner
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