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Preparing for Our Third Annual Soil Health Advocacy Day
We’re excited to make our voices heard about healthy soil! On Tuesday, May 19, we’ll convene for our third annual Soil Health Advocacy Day. This full-day event at the Ohio Capitol will start with advocacy training, move to meetings with state legislators, and end with an optional group debrief and happy hour at Jackie O’s On Fourth.
We’ll be educating our legislators on soil health and advocating for their support of soil health policies. Registration for this has closed. If you have registered and are unable to attend, please let us know ASAP so we can involve another advocate.
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Launching Our Ag Policy Tracker
With all that is going on with food and farm policy on the state and federal levels, our policy team is committed to providing our community with up-to-date information that impacts them. That is why we are excited to launch our new ‘Ag Policy Tracker’, where we’ll be monitoring state and federal policy actions, agency directives, and White House orders that shape our food and farm system and affect producers and eaters in the OEFFA community.
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Grassroots and Dirty Boots: A New OEFFA Policy Podcast!
We’re excited to announce the launch of our new podcast, Grassroots and Dirty Boots, which can be found on Spotify, iHeartRadio, and Apple Podcasts. In this podcast, we will talk about movements of change from the ground up and highlight stories from advocates and leaders across the food and farm system. Each episode centers on grassroots movements in the heartland and uplifts the experiences of OEFFA members and others who are part of our vibrant community of changemakers.
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Celebrating Soil, the Foundation of it All
It’s hard to overstate the importance of what lies beneath our feet. Healthy soil is the foundation of clean water, nutritious food, strong economies, and thriving communities. It supports a farmer’s bottom line and, when cared for, it also plays a critical role in storing carbon and helping to mitigate the climate crisis.
Yet despite all that depends on it, this vital resource is being lost and degraded at alarming rates. The value of soil is often overlooked, and even those who understand its importance are left without the tools and support needed to protect it.
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OEFFA Policy Fellow Launches New Guide: ‘Navigating the Agricultural Landscape’
Jennifer Lumpkin lives and grows in Cleveland, Ohio. Drawing from her experiences as a food systems advocate and beginning farmer, she has prepared an all-encompassing guide as our second OEFFA Policy Fellow.
Navigating the Agricultural Landscape provides a firsthand look at the processes involved in communicating with agricultural departments, better understanding farmer support programs, and advocating within various levels of government.
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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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State Soil Health Policy: An Update
It’s been a while since we’ve shared in-depth updates on our soil health policy efforts in Ohio. But rest assured, behind the scenes and at the Statehouse, OEFFA’s policy team, the Ohio Soil Health Initiative (OSHI), member leaders, and partners have been working hard to make progress to prioritize soil health in Ohio.
This winter, with the previously proposed Soil Health Task Force Bill (HB 669) on pause and the legislative session heading towards a state budget review process, OSHI saw an opportunity. We set forth a budget proposal for the Soil Health Pilot Program. The program would fund innovative projects around the state focused on improving soil health, establishing farmer networks to share their knowledge on soil health practice implementation, and helping to increase farm resilience and profitability while alleviating Ohio’s water quality concerns and more.
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OEFFA Members Making Change
There are few windows of opportunity to make changes to something as big as our food and farming system. When those opportunities present themselves, we have to be prepared to act. Fortunately, OEFFA staff and members have been working for months to advance positive change.
Last year, OEFFA members attended community and virtual listening sessions or participated in an online survey leading to the development of OEFFA’s 2023 Farm Bill priorities. During the fall, member leaders and staff formed groups to support beginning and BIPOC farmers, increase investments in organic and sustainable research and regional food systems, address consolidation, and promote soil health and climate resilience.
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Beginning Farmer Tax Credit Now Available
Farmland Access is the Biggest Challenge Young Farmers Face
The cost of buying or leasing land, combined with other significant start-up costs, puts a farming career out of reach for many. Farmers of color, in particular, have been historically disenfranchised from the land and unable to access USDA credit programs.
But, we need these next generation farmers on the land. Secure land tenure allows farmers to invest in practices and management systems that are sustainable, provide resilience, and strengthen the viability of our food system. It also helps protect Ohio’s disappearing farmland from development.
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Ohio Soil Health Bill Moving Forward
This growing season (like many before) has seen months of challenging conditions including excessive rain followed by days on end of high heat and drought. In facing these challenges, Ohio farmers know that improving soil health is a critical component to mitigating the impacts of these extreme weather events, as well as offering a myriad of other environmental benefits.
But our farmers can’t do this alone. It’s essential that there is legislative investment in supporting and incentivizing the use of good soil management practices to create lasting environmental and economic resiliency.
FARM POLICY MATTERS