Ohio Farm Bureau kicks off 2020 online annual meeting

Matt Reese • Dec 08, 2020

For the first time in more than 100 years, Ohio Farm Bureau’s annual meeting will largely be held remotely in across the state Dec. 7-11, 2020.

“We know for so many of our members the annual meeting is much more than just a meeting. It’s a celebration of our organization,” said Adam Sharp, Ohio Farm Bureau executive vice president. “This year will be much different than our delegates and members have enjoyed over the past century, but like many things happening this year, we had to adapt to today’s challenges.”

The virtual event kicked off Monday Dec. 7 at 7 p.m. with comments from Frank Burkett, III, Ohio Farm Bureau President and Adam Sharp, Ohio Farm Bureau Executive Vice President. The event wraps up on Friday with the business portion of the annual meeting where Farm Bureau policy will be set for the coming year.

“While the delegate and business sessions will be done remotely through secured systems, we will work hard to have full engagement with everyone involved through this crucial democratic process for our organization,” Burkett said. “Even though this approach is not meant to be the new normal, Ohio Farm Bureau looks forward to a successful 2020 annual meeting, and our membership will be stronger on the other side of these adverse times.”

In his remarks, Burkett outlined the 2019 formation of the Membership and Financial Strength Task Force. Some of the recommendations of the task force are being presented in the coming days.

“At last year’s annual meeting I announced the formation of a task force. The task force was charged to look at the many challenges that we have as an organization and bring recommendations back to our Ohio Farm Bureau Board of Trustees and eventually to our delegate body,” Burkett said. “Having a long term plan in place for the direction of our organization and to meet the needs of our membership is paramount. We have a strategic plan that serves as that very foundation.”

Burkett pointed out how important federal assistance was in 2020 in a variety of programs including the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program and the Paycheck Protection Program, though they are not long-term solutions.

“These programs are not sustainable. Farmers want to recover their money from the marketplace, not from government programs,” Burkett said. “In the future, we will continue to advocate for programs that emphasize risk management and market development on behalf of our members.”

Burkett also mentioned how Ohio Farm Bureau coordinated with other Ohio agricultural organization to address the challenges of mental stress in rural Ohio in 2020 and described the extreme importance of improving rural broadband access in a post-COVID world. He also pointed out how important agriculture really was in 2020.

“After 2020, those not involved in agriculture learned just how essential farms are,” he said. “As I look at the compassion shown by individual members, or collectively by county farm bureaus across the state of Ohio, I’m proud. I’m proud of our county farm bureaus, our Ohio Farm Bureau and I’m proud of our American Farm Bureau. We can do collectively what we can never accomplish individually. Our members continue to rise to the occasion time after time.”

In his comments to kick off the meeting, Sharp pointed out that there were some non-COVID success stories in 2020 as well, including the preservation of $50 million in H2Ohio funding for water quality efforts in northwest Ohio and the legal dismantling of the Lake Erie Bill of Rights (LEBOR) proposed by Toledo voters.

For more from the 2020 Ohio Farm Bureau Annual Meeting, visit https://ofbf.org.

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Jaynie Norman

Bill would label livestock rivals as ‘imitation’ or ‘lab-grown’ meat

By Jaynie Norman • 01 Feb, 2024

By Chuck Abbott Successful Farming With U.S. approval of cultivated chicken grown in fermentation vats, farm-state lawmakers filed companion bills in the House and Senate on Tuesday to require alternative proteins, such as plant-based foods, to carry the words “imitation” or “lab-grown” on their labels. Sponsors said they wanted to prevent confusion in the supermarket between “real farm-raised meat” and its rivals. Plant-based meats accounted for 2.5% of retail packaged meat sales in 2022, according to the Good Food Institute, a think tank and network of organizations “working to accelerate alternative protein innovation.” Only a trickle of cultivated chicken is on the U.S. market at present. Upside Foods said last September it would build a commercial-scale plant to produce cell-cultured meat products in suburban Chicago. The USDA is working on label regulations for cultivated meat. In the interim, it decided Upside Foods and Good Meat, which were cleared last summer by USDA to sell cultivated meat to consumers, would label their products as cell-cultivated chicken. “The American consumer deserves to know what they are eating and feeding their family,” said sponsor Rep. Mark Alford, Missouri Republican. “It’s only fair that all products are labeled fairly.” Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall said, “Distinguishing between a black-bean burger and an actual beef burger shouldn’t be hard.” Under the legislation, foods made with plant protein and that are sold with a name associated with products from a food-bearing animal or that are created to taste or look like them would be required to carry the word “imitation” on the label or a word to show the source of the protein. “Meatless chicken tenders” would be one possibility, according to a summary of the bill. Similarly, labels for cultivated meat would include “cell-cultured” or “lab-grown” immediately adjacent to the name of the food. The bill was backed by the largest groups speaking for cattle, hog, sheep, and chicken producers, the American Farm Bureau Federation, and the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture. Livestock producers have argued for years for restrictive labels to prevent alternative proteins from using names associated with animals. A one-page summary of the bill is available here . To read the text of the legislation, click here .

Prevention and Treatment of Tick Bites

By Jaynie Norman • 23 May, 2023

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Livestock and Animal Antibiotic Changes are Coming Soon

By Jaynie Norman • 12 Jan, 2023

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced in June 2021 that all medically important antimicrobials for food-producing animals and pets will move from over-the-counter (OTC) to prescription (Rx) effective June 2023 . A prescription is already required for most antibiotics delivered to livestock, and the remaining three categories of injectable antibiotics available over-the-counter will soon be joining the list of medically important antimicrobials that require a veterinarian’s prescription. To add to the stress of raising livestock, now things will change again which is going to influence the ag industry overall. I hope that this list of medications will give people a chance to read it and become familiar with the situation before the change comes in June of 2023. Changes Coming are as follow: In 2018, the FDA established a 5 year plan for supporting antimicrobial supervision by veterinarians. The plans purpose to address antimicrobial resistance using only medically necessary drugs as necessary to prevent, treat and control disease. It has to be determined by a licensed veterinarian if it is necessary, but you won’t have to order the prescriptions from the vet directly. You will, however, need to establish a Veterinary-Client-Patient Relationship (VCPR) if certain animals are not examined regularly. Popular Products Will Require Prescriptions Following a recent penicillin shortage, soon producers will get hit with this change that once again impacts access to antibiotic therapy for animals. When you’ve used them for so long as OTC meds to treat pneumonia or shipping fever in your livestock, Now, the change will be to establish the relationship with your veterinarian to get the prescriptions for these meds. Here is the list by active ingredients. The following are some products that will be seeing label changes to prescription-only status: Oxytetracyclines Injectables: Liquamycin LA-200, Noromycin 300 LA, Bio-Mycin 200, Agrimycin 200, etc. Boluses: Terramycin Scours Tablets, OXY 500 Calf Boluses Penicillins (Penicillin G procaine, penicillin G benzathine) Injectables: Penicillin Injectable, Dura-Pen, Pro-Pen-G, Combi-Pen 48, etc. Intramammary tubes: Masti-Clear, Go-dry, Albadry Plus Sulfa-based antibiotics (Sulfadimethoxine, sulfamethazine) Injectables: Di-Methox 40%, SulfMed 40% Boluses: Albon, Sustain III Cattle & Calf Boluses, Supra Sulfa III Cattle & Calf Boluses Tylosin Injectables: Tylan 50, Tylan 200 Cephapirin, cephapirin benzathine Intramammary tubes: ToDAY and ToMORROW Additionally, several swine medications fall under the new guidance: Lincomycin Injectables: Lincomix 100, Lincomix 300, LincoMed 100, LincoMed 300 Gentamicin Injectables: Garasol, Gentamicin Piglet Injection ToDay Mastitis Treatment for Lactating C ows