

Columbus, OH— Yesterday afternoon, the Senate passed the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018, and the House is expected to weigh in on the measure Thursday. If passed by the House and signed by the President, Congress would overcome an impasse that has stalled the 2018 Farm Bill for weeks, agreeing on programs that will serve farmers and the food insecure for years to come.
The new farm bill will invest in local and regional foods demanded by the public through the Local Agriculture Market Program and support the next generation of farmers through the Farming Opportunities, Training, and Outreach Program.
“OEFFA is very pleased to see permanent, mandatory funding to support the next generation of farmers and programs that will increase access to healthy food choices, build strong communities, and create jobs,” said Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association (OEFFA) Policy Director Amalie Lipstreu. “However, we’re disappointed that measures are included that will expand subsidies and promote farm consolidation, negatively impacting family farms across the country.”
Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) who serves on the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee, was instrumental in advancing programs to rebuild local and regional food markets that increase vitality in rural and urban communities throughout the state. Representative Marcia Fudge (D-OH11) serves as the ranking member of the House Agriculture Subcommittee on Conservation and Forestry where she worked to protect critical conservation programs like the Conservation Stewardship Program, the most comprehensive program to promote whole-farm conservation on working lands.
“We are encouraged that the new farm bill makes critical investments in organic research and certification to support the positive ecosystem services certified organic farming provides to communities across the country by providing mandatory funding for the National Organic Certification Cost-Share Program and Organic Research and Extension Initiative. OEFFA’s members fought hard for these provisions and we are grateful to the organic champions in Congress for their support of organic family farmers,” said OEFFA Executive Director Carol Goland. “We are also pleased with additional and stringent enforcement provisions for imported organic products, to protect both our organic farmers and consumers.”
However, according to OEFFA, this bill falls far short of making the real changes to the structure of American farm policy sought by many family farmers. Commodity program payments are now being expanded to cousins, nieces, and nephews who may never set foot on the farm.
“As large farms continue to amass subsidy payments, the future of family farms is increasingly threatened. OEFFA will continue to advocate for a future farm bill that invests in family scale farmers and ecological agriculture at its core,” said Lipstreu.
Ohio is seventh in the nation in the number of organic farms, and has a growing number of food hubs, farm to institution programs, and local food councils.
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Since 1979, the Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association (OEFFA) has been working to build a healthy food system that brings prosperity to family farmers, meets the growing consumer demand for local food, creates economic opportunities for our rural communities, and safeguards the environment. For more information, go to www.oeffa.org.
The need to connect soil and human health with social justice and fairness on the farm will be the focus of a keynote address by long-time organic farmer, agricultural justice advocate, and writer Elizabeth Henderson at the Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association’s (OEFFA) 40th annual conference, Just Farming: The Path Before Us, this February in Dayton, Ohio.
In her Friday, February 15 keynote address, “Agrarian Justice: Creating a Food System Worth Sustaining,” Henderson will explore why we need to support fair pricing for farmers, instead of subsidizing corporate control of our food system. She’ll also explain why we need to unite family-scale farmers with other food workers and build a coalition powerful enough to bring to life a food system grounded in agroecology, health, freedom, justice, and equity.
“If we are honest, we have to admit that for the most part social relations in organic agriculture mimic those of the dominant industrial food system, and organic farmers, even farmers who sell direct in local markets, have a hard time making ends meet,” Henderson said. “By stretching towards fairness, organic can take its rightful place in the struggles for freedom and justice, for civil liberties for all. We will not reach the promised land of sustainability based on the environment and humane treatment of livestock alone. Farmers and farmworkers, the people who do the work of farming, must have justice.”
Henderson is a core leader behind the Agricultural Justice Project (AJP) and its Food Justice Certification label, working to create fairness for farmers and farmworkers.
“The basic premise of AJP is that supportive relations of mutual respect and cooperation among the people who grow and sell food will result in a triple win for farmers, food workers, and ultimately the people who eat the food,” she said.
Henderson is also a pioneer of the community supported agriculture (CSA) model. She co-founded the Genesee Valley Organic CSA in Rochester, NY in 1989, and later Peacework Farm in Newark, NY in 1998, one of the country’s longest running CSAs.
“For me, farming for a community of people whom I know well is very satisfying,” she told the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program. “It’s not like shipping crates off somewhere, where I never see the customers. I know everyone, and I know most of their children.”
She co-authored the definitive work on CSA farming, Sharing the Harvest: A Citizen’s Guide to Community Supported Agriculture, and is honorary president of the international CSA network, Urgenci.
On Friday, February 15, Henderson will also lead a 90-minute workshop, “CSAs Around the World.”
“Around the planet there are many different ways of doing [CSA]. And that’s part of what’s so exciting, that CSA isn’t an orthodoxy, nobody certifies it, nobody dictates that you have to do it this way or that way. It’s a concept of the direct connection between a group of eaters and one or several pieces of land. And after that you can do it however you want,” she told the Farmer to Farmer podcast in 2015.
Deeply involved in the organic movement, Henderson is a founding member of the Northeast Organic Farming Association (NOFA) in Massachusetts. She has served on the Board of Directors for NOFA-New York and other farming organizations.
She is also co-author of Whole Farm Planning: Ecological Imperatives, Personal Values, and Low-Input Practices, and her writings on organic agriculture appear in Grist, The Natural Farmer, and other publications.
“We are honored to welcome Elizabeth to our 40th annual conference,” said OEFFA Program Director Renee Hunt. “As we reflect on how far we’ve come and the work ahead, her decades of experience and leadership in the organic movement and thoughtful ability to explore the themes of justice and diversity make her a perfect fit for helping to shape our work for the next 40 years.”
On Saturday, February 16, Henderson will co-present the 90-minute workshop, “OEFFA’s Advocacy Agenda: Policy Priorities Past, Present, and Future.”
Henderson will speak as part of Ohio’s largest sustainable food and farm conference, which will run Thursday, February 14 through Saturday, February 16 at the Dayton Convention Center.
In addition to Henderson, this year’s conference will feature keynote speaker Onika Abraham on February 16; nearly 80 educational workshops; four full-day Food and Farm School classes on February 14; a three-day trade show; evening entertainment; activities for children; locally-sourced meals; a raffle; book sales and signings, and more.
A limited number of scholarships are available to persons of color and beginning farmers, along with reduced rate volunteer spaces.
For more information about the conference, or to register, go to www.oeffa.org/conference2019.
Mary Kuhlman, Public News Service – OH, 11/12/18
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The end of the harvest signals the start of prep work for the next planting season.
And an increasing number of farmers and producers in Ohio also are preparing for a transition to organic certification.
Kim Bayer operates a mixed vegetable operation, and recently became certified as an organic producer. She says the process is a bit tedious, but well worth it.
Bayer was already doing some outreach to community members about what it takes to bring food to the table, and she sees becoming organic as part of creating a sustainable future.
“It’s kind of a shorthand way of communicating that this food was grown with the highest standards of promoting health for the environment, for the community and for individuals,” she states. “When people know the farm that they’re buying the food from, they care more about the place where they live.”
According to the latest U.S. Department of Agriculture data, there are 575 certified organic operations in Ohio – a number that rose 24 percent between 2015 and 2016.
The Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association currently certifies more than 1,300 organic farms and food operations in Ohio and eight other states in the region, and it offers resources to farmers who want to make the transition.
Bayer says one of the educators there helped her feel less intimidated by the process, which can take more than three years.
“Honestly, I was scared to death at the beginning of it, but she really helped me understand step-by-step what was needed,” Bayer relates. “So, she really provided a lot of guidance and made me see that it was really, really doable. ”
At Bayer’s farm, people can pick their own produce, which she says allows them to see, smell, touch, and better understand local foods.
“It gives people a different and a deeper experience of the incredible range of flavors and colors, and shapes and sizes, and people start thinking about how little choice there is in a grocery store,” she states. “We don’t even know the names of the varieties in the grocery store that were grown to travel well instead of taste good.”
Ohio ranks seventh among states for its number of organic farms, with more than 54,000 acres of certified cropland.
For Immediate Release:
June 20, 2018
Contact:
Carol Goland, OEFFA, (614) 421-2022 Ext. 202, cgoland@oeffa.org
ODA Communications, (614) 752-9817, agrcommunications@agri.ohio.gov
Columbus, OH—The Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association (OEFFA) announced that $285,000 is available through the National Organic Certification Cost-Share Program to make organic certification more affordable for organic producers and handlers in Ohio.
This funding covers as much as 75 percent of an individual applicant’s certification costs, up to a maximum of $750 annually per certification scope. Four scopes of certification are eligible for reimbursement: crops, wild crops, livestock, and handler.
Retail sales of organic products grew to nearly $50 billion in the United States in 2017, an increase of 6.4 percent from the previous year, and six times faster than the overall food market, according to the Organic Trade Association.
Since 2011, the Ohio Department of Agriculture has partnered with OEFFA to administer Ohio’s cost-share program.
“Ohio is a national leader in the number of organic farms and top 10 in terms of the value of organic milk, eggs, and spelt produced in the state,” said Carol Goland, executive director of OEFFA.
Not all of the nearly 1,000 Ohio organic operations fully utilize the cost-share program. “We encourage more organic businesses to take advantage of this opportunity, which can help make becoming—or staying—certified more affordable,” said Goland.
Reimbursable costs include application fees, certification fees, travel costs for inspectors, user fees, sales assessments, and postage.
The program is currently reimbursing for expenses paid between October 1, 2017 and September 30, 2018. Applications for reimbursement must be postmarked by November 15, 2018, although requests are processed monthly. County Farm Service Agency offices also accept and process requests for cost-share reimbursements.
Organic farmers and processors in Ohio can access the reimbursement application from OEFFA’s website at http://certification.oeffa.org/costshare or by calling (614) 262-2022.
Certified organic producers and handlers outside of Ohio can find the contact information for their administrating agencies at www.ams.usda.gov/NOPCostSharing.
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The Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association (OEFFA) is a non-profit organization founded in 1979 by farmers, gardeners, and conscientious eaters who committed to work together to create and promote a sustainable and healthful food and farming system. For more information, go to www.oeffa.org.
For Immediate Release:
June 13, 2018
Contact:
Amalie Lipstreu, OEFFA Policy Program Coordinator (614) 421-2022, amalie@oeffa.org
Lauren Ketcham, OEFFA Communications Coordinator (614) 421-2022, lauren@oeffa.org
Columbus, OH–Today, in the process of passing a 2018 Farm Bill, the Senate Committee on Agriculture Nutrition and Forestry passed a strong draft farm bill by a vote of 20 to 1.
“The Senate Agriculture Committee worked across party lines and produced a comprehensive bill correcting many of the shortfalls in the failed House bill,” said Amalie Lipstreu, Policy Program Coordinator for the Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association (OEFFA).
The Senate bill scales up investments in local and regional food and farm markets which provide opportunities for increased farm profitability, community health, and economic viability through the Local Agriculture Market Program championed by Senator Sherrod Brown.
This provision provides permanent mandatory funding for local food production initiatives that can be utilized by the more than 20 local food councils in Ohio, small to mid-scale farmers that direct market their products, and those that process those products and create more jobs in their communities.
It makes important policy improvements to crop insurance and conservation programs, invests in domestic organic agriculture, provides the resources and authority to protect the integrity of the organic marketplace and, according to Ranking Member Senator Debbie Stabenow, “builds the bench for the next generation” by making long-term investments in beginning farmer and rancher programs.
During the committee debate Senator Sherrod Brown spoke to the importance of conservation programs as farmers work to mitigate the water quality issues we face. The Senate bill makes no overall cuts to the conservation title; the House version cut this by more than $800 million.
“While the bill fails to make meaningful reforms to farm subsidy programs to limit economic and farm concentration, it provides a solid foundation for farm bill negotiations on the Senate floor and in future negotiations with the House of Representatives,” said Lipstreu.
“OEFFA appreciates Senator Brown’s strong leadership on this bill and for representing the needs of family farmers, organic and sustainable agriculture, and communities working to increase health through the provision of local and regionally produced and organic food,” Lipstreu concluded.
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The Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association (OEFFA) is a non-profit organization founded in 1979 by farmers, gardeners, and conscientious eaters who committed to work together to create and promote a sustainable and healthful food and farming system. For more information, go to www.oeffa.org.
Columbus, OH—The Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association (OEFFA) and its partners invite you to stroll through organic fields, learn about pastured livestock production and forest farming, consider a career in farming, discover how to grow and prepare nutrient-dense food, learn how to scale up vegetable production and improve marketing strategies, or take advantage of other learning opportunities during the 2018 Sustainable Farm Tour and Workshop Series.
Tour guests can experience sustainable agriculture up close during these OEFFA farm tours:
The public can tour urban agriculture projects during these Central State University Extension farm tours:
Attendees can develop their production and marketing skills, explore a dream to farm, learn how to select farmland, and more during these OEFFA workshops:
“OEFFA has offered annual farm tours for nearly four decades; farmers sharing knowledge with other farmers has always been at the core of our work. This series provides unique on-farm opportunities for growers, educators, and conscientious eaters to learn about sustainable agriculture and local foods from growers and producers with years of practical experience,” Pawlowski said.
This series, which features 31 total events, is also promoted in cooperation with the Clintonville Farmers’ Market and the Michigan Organic Food and Farm Alliance, who are sponsoring additional tours.
All events are free and open to the public, unless otherwise indicated in the series brochure.
For more information and complete details for all workshops and farm tours, click here.
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