Congress has begun its fact-finding mission that will determine the allocations for the 2018 Farm Bill. Ohio Corn & Wheat held six listening sessions in January across the state. At the sessions, we encouraged farmers to reflect on and share their first-hand experiences with Farm Bill programs, as well as what sectors of the current Farm Bill are most important to them versus what they would like to see changed. Over one hundred OCW members attended the listening sessions and provided us with their direct feedback.

“We talked about everything from ARC and crop insurance to nutrition and conservation,” said John Torres, director of government and industry affairs at Ohio Corn & Wheat.

“With depressed future markets, rising input prices and uncertainty in the relationships between the US and our international trading partners, it is more important than ever that the United States has a Farm Bill that brings some added security to America’s hard working farm families,” Torres said.

It was made clear through these sessions that there are some areas of concern for corn and wheat farmers of Ohio. As a result of our members’ early participation we can now do our part to let their thoughts be known to Congress as the future Farm Bill is written. As we assess the information gathered, we would like to thank those members and guests who joined us for these events and delivered their experiential insight. It is critical as we move toward the upcoming Farm Bill that the voice of the American farmer is heard in order to make the future of agriculture one that is promising, bountiful and advancing.

“We look forward to bringing the perspective of Ohio farmers to Capitol Hill as we work together to secure the future of farming in America through these federal programs.”