2024 Election: Vote ‘no’ on Issue 1
Issue 1 is bad for rural areas, and Ohio Farm Bureau Federation urges members to vote “no.”
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The rules surrounding hemp production in Ohio are now in place before the 2020 planting season begins.
Shortly after the 2018 Farm Bill legalized industrial hemp, many states ramped up efforts to legalize the crop within their borders. For Ohio, that opportunity came when Gov. Mike DeWine signed Senate Bill 57 into law, which created a hemp cultivation license to be administered by the Ohio Department of Agriculture.
Ohio’s hemp production plan has since been one of the first federally approved programs in the nation when the Buckeye State was one of only six hemp production plans approved by the U.S. Department of Agriculture at the end of December.
Farmers who want to grow hemp in Ohio will need to be licensed under the state’s plan. The Joint Committee on Agency Rule Review heard the Ohio Department of Agriculture’s rules for licensure in mid-January. The Ohio Department of Agriculture Hemp Program will begin accepting license applications from potential cultivators and processors for the 2020 growing season on March 3 at noon. All cultivators and processors are required to obtain a license and can apply online at www.agri.ohio.gov at that time.
“We should be extremely proud that Ohio was one of the first states to see its program approved by the USDA,” said Tony Seegers, OFBF director of state policy. “It is a testament to the hard work of hemp supporters, the legislature and the yeoman’s work by ODA to have rules administering a whole new program in place so farmers can begin planting hemp this year.”
The issue of property taxation remains as one of the biggest challenges our members face today. Ensuring agricultural property is valued for its agricultural potential and not development is critical to the continued success of Ohio agriculture.
The plan we are on is great. It’s comparable to my previous job's plan, and we are a sole proprietor.
I could not have done it without the resources I have found through Farm Bureau.
We really appreciate what Farm Bureau has done to get people interested in this line of work and workforce development and getting people interested in this industry.
We work terrifically with the Ashtabula County Farm Bureau, hosting at least one to two outreach town hall events every year to educate new farmers and existing farmers on traditional CAUV and woodlands.
Because we are younger farmers just starting out, Farm Bureau has a lot of good opportunities and resources to help us grow in the future.
Through the Select Partner program, we became educated in farm insurance and weren't just selling policies. It became more and more clear why farmers need an advocate like Ohio Farm Bureau.
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