2025 Changes and Successes
2025 has been a year of constant and often unprecedented change. It brought about both challenges and opportunities for the growers and eaters in OEFFA’s community. Many farmers are still reeling from the impacts of this year’s federal funding freeze and the lack of a sorely needed new farm bill. Yet, there is also a sense of careful optimism stemming from the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement and its focus on natural food and soil health.
This year has also brought about uncertainty and transition for OEFFA and the work of our Policy Program. Still, there’s much to celebrate as we prepare to close out the year.
Our Team is Taking New Shape, But Our Core Priorities Remain
After serving as our events director for 11 years, Milo Petruziello became OEFFA’s Policy Director in 2023. This October, he made the difficult decision to leave his position to focus on caring for his family.
As we transition from a team of three to two, Lauren Hirtle and Nicole Wolcott are continuing the core work of the OEFFA Policy Program: centering our members in our state and federal grassroots advocacy, building on our narrative, and engaging in local, state, and nationwide coalitions to shape policies that truly uplift, aid, and support OEFFA members and our community.
This year alone, Lauren and Nicole have worked together to facilitate a wide array of trainings, community sessions, and legislator and partner meetings. They take teamwork seriously and collaborate to connect big agriculture policy topics to those being affected on the ground. As we close 2025 and enter 2026, Lauren and Nicole will continue to work in partnership on shaping our Policy Program.
A Team of Two: Shifts to Titles and Roles
Lauren’s tenure with OEFFA spans over seven years. First, she worked as an organic certification specialist, then a food justice certification specialist, and most recently, as our state-focused grassroots policy organizer. Over the last four years, Lauren has worked to advance state agricultural investments in legislation, such as House Bill 65, which officially designated Ohio Soil Health Week, and House Bill 95, which established the Beginning Farmer Tax Credit Program. She also led the launch of our Soil Stories video series and our recent Grassroots and Dirty Boots podcast.
We are excited to share that, in November 2025, Lauren accepted the position to become OEFFA’s new policy director.
In this role, Lauren will oversee the policy program and continue to focus on the intersection of soil health and state policy, connecting with farmers and food system advocates to amplify their stories and advance their priorities in Ohio and on Capitol Hill. We are thrilled to see her grow in this new role and the energy it will bring to our team.
Although she has a new title: Federal Policy Coordinator, Nicole will continue to work with coalition partners and OEFFA members across the country to drive meaningful change in D.C. and advance legislation that supports our small and mid-sized sustainable producers.
The Power of Many
YOU are at the center of our work, the folks who engage in our caucuses, read our monthly bulletins, reach out to us over email, join us in D.C., donate to OEFFA, complete our surveys, share your stories, advocate at the Statehouse, and engage with the OEFFA Policy Program in other ways. You helped to formulate the narrative and statements of change that are foundational in our work and directly shaped our farm bill priorities. You help to drive the momentum of this program and our ability to advocate for state and federal policy changes that support our small- and mid-sized farmers so that they may sustain community resilience. Thank you for the role you’ve played in this year’s successes.
Year in Review
As we round out the year, we’d like to take this opportunity to celebrate all that we accomplished together in 2025.
January
We kicked off our second film screening series and launched our new OEFFA Policy Fellowship Program, welcoming Lindsay Klaunig of Trouvaille Farm as our first fellow!
February
Hundreds of attendees joined us for seven policy-centered workshops at the 46th annual OEFFA conference. In response to a flurry of federal actions and the concerns of OEFFA policy member leaders at our pre-conference meeting, we surveyed our community on the impacts of the federal funding freeze. Insights were shared with federal partners, Ohio legislators, and the media.
Our team had meetings with the offices of five congresspeople while in D.C. during the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) winter meeting.
March
As we continued to advocate for a new farm bill, organic agriculture advocates Bridget Burgess and Charlie Eselgroth joined us in D.C. as part of the National Organic Coalition’s (NOC) annual fly-in.
April
As the USDA announced its reorganization plan with workforce cuts, we engaged the OEFFA community in a letter to let Secretary Rollins know how devastating cuts to the National Organic Program (NOP) would be for farmers. Over 1,300 farms signed onto the letter—including roughly 75 farms and businesses in the OEFFA community!
May
As federal actions continued to take their toll on our community, we spoke with farmers and farm advocates Casey Ellington, Jennifer Villwock, and Rachael Maysels, sharing their stories with members of the Ohio delegation. We also kicked off the in-district season by meeting with Representative Balderson’s staff at Trouvaille Farm!
June
At the state level, June was all about soil health! We held a soil health luncheon for nearly 36 Ohio legislators and were joined by 19 OEFFA advocates, who amplified soil health legislation with their elected officials at the Ohio Statehouse.
Federally, we were busy at work opposing the budget reconciliation bill and advocating for the passage of a full farm bill.
July
We held our first of four statewide Policy and Pints events in collaboration with local partners. The in-district season continued with staff from the offices of Representative Latta, Senator Husted, and Senator Moreno joining the OEFFA Grain Growers Chapter Summer Picnic.
August
We partnered with the National Young Farmers Coalition and the Organic Farmers Association to host in-districts with Representative Brown at Mud Run Farm, and Representative Joyce’s staff at Pine Grove Jersey Farm.
September
Dozens in the OEFFA community reached out to their elected officials about the Strengthening Local Food Security Act and the Local Farmers Feeding Our Communities Act, with the latter eventually securing a co-sponsorship from Ohio Representative Max Miller.
Our second Policy Fellow, Jennifer Lumpkin, founder of My Grow Connect, launched a new guide: Navigating the Agricultural Landscape!
October
Amidst our country’s longest government shutdown in history, we once again reached out about the impact on the OEFFA community, uplifting those experiences with the media, national partners, and the Ohio delegation.
November
Our new podcast, Grassroots and Dirty Boots, launched just in time for Ohio Soil Health Week—the first to be officially recognized per the passage of the Agriculture Appreciation Act! There were more than 325 attendees at the 13 statewide and virtual events celebrating healthy soils!
December
The OEFFA-led Ohio Soil Health Initiative (OSHI) began brainstorming soil health incentive legislation, a strategic step in the continued advancement of soil health legislation in Ohio.
Moving Forward
This year has had its fair share of uncertainty, challenge, and change. Thanks to the support of our community, we were able to secure some impressive policy wins, continue amplifying the stories of those in our community, and further situate OEFFA Policy as a more powerful voice for food and farm policy matters. You helped us continue this work through the challenges that 2025 brought, and we look forward to harnessing this momentum in the new year. We don’t know what 2026 will bring, but we look forward to navigating it together.