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A couple months ago this column was titled "Sometimes the Phone Doesn’t Ring." In hindsight, that headline should have added two words at the end. "Right Away."

That Nov. 19 column reported little media interest in the release of the Environmental Working Group’s (EWG) database listing the names of every farmer who received farm program payments over the past five years.

Well, it took awhile, but reporters finally grabbed hold of the story with gusto.

Several local newspapers around Ohio wrote stories including lists of farmers who received the highest payments in their counties. Some of the state’s metropolitan papers wrote editorials, news stories or both. Of course, nobody wants to see their personal financial information show up on the front page of the newspaper, so very few farmers were happy about the story getting any coverage at all. But on the whole, most of Ohio’s newspapers did a decent job of providing balanced coverage of the story.

The OFBF state office stayed busy working with reporters. And as you’d expect, a lot of work got done at the local level. County Farm Bureau leaders met and discussed their options and coordinated their work with the state office. In the end, some decided to respond to their local papers. Others decided not to. But almost everyone agreed that some public education about the issue of farm program payments is needed.

OFBF will do some of that job in the next issue of Our Ohio. We’re planning a story that will talk about farm program payments from a consumer’s point of view. It will address how everyone, not just farmers, benefits from our nation’s support of agriculture.

In the meantime, if your local paper carries a story and you’re thinking about a response, don’t hesitate to call the state office if you’d like a little help.