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The 2006 Policy Development Committee met on Sept. 11 and 12 to consider proposed policies for OFBF. Among speakers at the committee meeting were association, government, business and university personnel. The speakers addressed such issues as the 2007 Farm Bill, energy, raw milk, insurance and regulatory issues.

"We've brought in people to be a great resource so county leaders can help develop policies to guide the organization," said OFBF President Bob Peterson.

The committee will reconvene in November to consider all county policy suggestions approved at county meetings and to finalize proposed policies for delegates to consider at OFBF's annual meeting.

Here are some of the issues studied by the state PD committee.

There will be new faces at the bargaining table when farm bill work begins in earnest in early 2007, according to several speakers who addressed national farm policy.

"It’s going to be a different kind of debate," said Todd Michael, an Ohio farmer and past president of the National Potato Council, who told the PD committee a coalition of more than 70 specialty crop organizations are positioned to lobby for a share of the farm bill’s budget.

Traditional farm program recipients are looking at new ways to use federal money as well, according to Mark Schwiebert, past president of the Ohio Corn Growers and a member of the National Corn Grower’s Association (NCGA) policy team. NCGA is studying a "revenue safety net" that bases payments on farm revenue instead of commodity prices, alleviates ad hoc disaster payments and is compliant with World Trade Organization rules.

OSU economist Carl Zulauf noted that net farm household income currently averages 130 percent of the national household income, a fact that he believes indicates that future farm policy should help farmers manage risk instead of supporting commodity prices.

Farmers have allies when it comes to improving Ohio’s business climate, according to Ty Pine of Ohio’s chapter of the National Federation of Independent Business and Andy Doehrel of the Ohio Chamber of Commerce.

Pine told PD committee members that the Ohio business coalition, of which OFBF is a member, is working on "opportunities for businesses to grow in Ohio rather than leaving."

He and Doehrel said the business agenda includes lower government spending, lower tax rates, further reform of lawsuit abuse, a lighter regulatory burden, lower workers’ comp costs, a market-driven health care system and improvements in K-12 and higher education.

Fred Church with the Ohio Department of Taxation went over the new commercial activity tax, known as CAT, with the committee.

There have been no legislative changes to the tax this past year.

Church said there are no special provisions for farmers under CAT. The primary exemption to paying the CAT is for businesses that have less than $150,000 in Ohio gross receipts. Other businesses are subject to either a $150 annual minimum tax (which will include most Ohio farmers) and/or the CAT rate of .0026.

Also, Church said agricultural cooperatives are entities organized under chapter 1729 of the Ohio Revised Code, so they are exempted from the CAT.

Rocky Black, OFBF's director of legislative affairs, said the Ways and Means Committee voted in early September to accelerate a scheduled reduction in state income tax rates, scrapping an initial plan to reduce the capital gains tax rate. The Ohio Senate is expected to approve the measure in November.

The Ohio Department of Taxation (ODT) has updated its Current Agricultural Use Value Formula. Ohio law requires ODT to calculate current agricultural use values each year, according to ODT's Shelley Wilson.

Wilson said for tax year 2006, crop yields were updated to more accurately reflect current average yields per acre; the last changes came in 1984.

As a result, yields were increased by the following percentages: corn, 12 percent; soybeans, 9 percent; wheat, 43 percent; hay, 3 percent.

ODT is also exploring developing a more accurate, perennial method of generating crop yield data through a project with Ohio State University.

Representatives from the Rocky Express Pipeline discussed their plans for a 1,663-mile natural gas pipeline that will run from Colorado to eastern Ohio. The pipeline will cut across 13 Ohio counties and require a 50-foot permanent easement.

Steve Jones, a project manager for the pipeline, said that farmers affected by the construction would receive compensation for crop damage. Producers would be paid in successive annual payments, incrementally reduced over five years.

Construction is expected to begin on the pipeline, which will stretch from Butler to Monroe counties, in early 2008.

"We're really trying to make sure that we've got good communication, and we answer all your questions," Jones said.

Larry Gearhardt, OFBF director of local affairs, acknowledged that the company has been extremely willing to meet with Farm Bureau and local leaders about its plans.

Jeff Zellers, chair, Stark

Gary Baldosser, Seneca

Patty DeBruin, Fairfield

Steve Hirsch, Ross

Ed Lamalie, Sandusky

Chuck Lausin, Geauga

Bob Peterson, Fayette

Joe Pittman, Muskingum

Brent Porteus, Coshocton

Vickie Powell, Gallia

Don Ralph, Marion

Bob Slicker, Stark

Andy Caldwell, Highland

Mike Corcoran, Ross

Paul Davidson, Licking

Sherry Finney, Jefferson

Bob Groves, Belmont

Todd Hagar, Allen

Doug Heilman, Hardin

Dennis Heyob, Hamilton

Tom Nisonger, Champaign

David Ziegler, Seneca

Caption: (Left photo) U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns (r) discusses the upcoming farm bill with Ohio farmer Jesse Durst (l). (Right photo) OFBF President Bob Peterson talks with young farmers in Washington, D.C.