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OEFFA’s Policy Team Debriefs Ohio Election Results
At OEFFA, our priorities for supporting local, sustainable farmers and food system workers reaches beyond political lines. We are a non-partisan organization committed to our vision of regional food systems that provide nourishment, protection of our environment, and livelihoods for communities in our network.
Every one of us is internally debriefing the election results from November 5, regardless of political party. While we aren’t sure what local, state, and federal policy will look like over the next several years, we as an organization will continue to put our members first by asking for a five-year farm bill that centers our member-driven priorities and soil health legislation for Ohio. We will persist in building resiliency and community with one another through our policy caucuses and events that help guide our next policy asks.
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Soil Stories to Celebrate Ohio Soil Health Week
Over the spring and summer, some of our team visited six farmers, gardeners, researchers, and activists to learn about their relationships with the soil. They reported myriad benefits from healthy soil—from better yields to deepened relationships with ancestors—all of which underlined the need to better protect this vital natural resource and support those who steward it.
With the help of local video editor John Umland, we were able to transform our interviews into Soil Stories, short videos highlighting the importance of healthy soil. In the weeks leading up to Ohio Soil Health Week, we’ve been highlighting one video at a time and sharing more about each of the interviewees.
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Connecting with Candidates
The election season is well underway. As a non-partisan 501(c)3 organization, there are limited things OEFFA can do. We cannot endorse or oppose any candidate for public office. But we can provide resources to help see how a candidate might approach food and farm issues.
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OEFFA Policy Fellowship Opportunity
Our team has an upcoming opportunity for OEFFA members to get more involved in our policy work.
We hope this will be an experience to broaden your food and farm education and see how it is affected by policy. This fellowship will give you firsthand experience in the food and farm policy world and help illustrate how policy issues influence you and your communities.
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Call for a Resilient, Equitable, and Sustainable 2024 Farm Bill!
On September 11, our partners at the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) delivered a letter to Congressional leaders with support from 1,096 groups across the country—including 43 sign-ons from Ohio alone!
The purpose of this letter was to affirm the need for a farm bill to be passed in 2024, without it coming at the expense of policies that address hunger, public health, farmers, workers, and the environment.
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Help Us Celebrate Ohio Soil Health Week!
The Ohio Soil Health Initiative (OSHI), organized by OEFFA, is inviting you to participate in the first annual Ohio Soil Health Week from November 10-16, 2024.
Ohio Soil Health Week provides a time and space to celebrate, honor, and protect Ohio’s soils.
This weeklong celebration of soil health includes education opportunities and events to reach within and beyond the agriculture community and raise awareness around one of Ohio’s most valuable natural resources.
Throughout the week, farmers, gardeners, educators, community members, and organizations from all over Ohio will celebrate with a variety of events and resource sharing.
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The Overturning of Chevron: What it Means for Our Work
When the Supreme Court overturned Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council (1984), it did away with the precedent that regulatory agencies have deference regarding statutory interpretation. In other words, Chevron held that courts should defer to federal agencies’ expertise in interpreting ambiguous statues. Not only does this spare the courts from devoting time to ruling on ambiguities, but it also gives the responsibility of interpretation to federal agencies that are much better suited to the task.
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Celebrating Earth Day with Representative Max Miller
Written in collaboration with the Organic Farmers Association.
There are few more impactful ways to celebrate Earth Day than by inviting a Congressperson to see some of Ohio’s organic farms! It was an honor learning from farmers at Woodlyn Acres Farm in Dalton, Ohio, and County Line Family Farm in Wadsworth, Ohio with Representative Max Miller (OH-7).
The Organic Farm Day was planned in partnership with the Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association (OEFFA) and the Organic Farmers Association (OFA).
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Introducing: Policy Caucuses
Join us for the official launch of the OEFFA Policy Caucuses!
Caucuses are a way for us to work together and amplify the voices of farmers and other OEFFA members to affect change in state and federal policies. OEFFA’s caucuses provide a space for community discussion, planning, and strategizing for policy change.
Each caucus reflects ongoing policy priorities set by OEFFA members and will replace the previous farm bill workgroups:
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Conservation, not Consolidation (Take Action!)
Over the last few weeks, we have been posting an educational ‘Farm Safety Net Fridays’ series on our Instagram page. This has all been leading up to a week of action titled: Conservation, not Consolidation. You may have seen a blog post from us a few weeks back about the farm safety net. In it, we outlined how some folks on Capitol Hill want to use climate-smart agriculture funding to prop up commodity programs.
Some lawmakers in Congress are being pressured to raise commodity program subsidies by $20 to $50 billion. These include the Price Loss Coverage (PLC) program, which makes payments to commodity farms relative to a price floor, or a “reference price,” fixed in legislation. Just 0.3 percent of farms are projected to benefit most from an increase in PLC reference prices.
FARM POLICY MATTERS