State Ag Director Discusses Farm Policies at County Fair

By CHRIS KICK

By CHRIS KICK

Staff Writer

WOOSTER — “I learn more by coming to a fair like Wayne County in a day than I learn in Columbus in a week,” the state’s director of agriculture told fair board members and volunteers during a special visit Thursday morning, the final day of the fair.

While he might have been exaggerating, Director Robert Boggs made his point about the importance of Ohio’s county fairs and what they do for agriculture.

“We have a great story to tell in agriculture and we need to tell it a little better,” he said, because of the “wide separation” between people’s knowledge of where their food comes from and what it takes to produce it.

Boggs met with fair officials for nearly an hour before walking around the fairgrounds visiting the dairy and horse barns. He discussed most of the prevailing issues in agriculture, including biotechnologies such as the recently restricted hormone rBST, ethanol and bioenergy, land use, sustainable agriculture and wildlife management.

“People have to let farmers farm,” he said, by preserving farmland and educating nonfarmers about the safety and productivity of Ohio agriculture.

“This is a very hungry world. We’re just one step away from famine and hunger in this world,” he said, as global demand for U.S. and Ohio products increase, along with restrictions that limit what farmers can do.

Boggs said one of the misconceptions some consumers have is about agriculturally related pollution. He compared the discharge of a human waste plant in Bowling Green to a legally permitted livestock farm in Ohio. The waste plant discharges 2.2 billion gallons of water into the tributaries of Lake Erie, he said, while the farm is not permitted to discharge any.

“On a permitted farm in Ohio, we’re not allowed to legally discharge one ounce of water into the tributaries,” Boggs said.

Boggs said few farms violate state regulations, which is why the department employs 200 inspectors, who log 1 million or more miles a year in inspection-related travel, making sure Ohio’s farms produce safe foods.

“We do have an agricultural pollution problem in this state, but it’s caused by a relatively few number of people who know better; but they just cut corners,” he said.

Boggs said the number of health concerns in today’s food market, as well as food demand, makes for “a silent war” in the food industry.

“It’s a battle that we have to go on and I’ve not talked to anybody that said they want to import more food,” Boggs said. “If you don’t want to import more food, than we’ve got to grow it here in Ohio.”

Boggs said the state produced 5 billion pounds of milk with only 275,000 cows in the past year, compared to the 555,000 cows it took to reach that amount in the 1960s. Fewer cows producing more milk is a big success, he explained, but one that is also challenged.

He referenced the past year’s battles with the hormone rBST as an example, stating that 20 years of tests on the hormone have never revealed any problems, yet some groups are opposed to it.

“If there’s anything at all that’s unsafe about it, we will take action. But to try to limit farmers from using proven technology in order to produce the food that we need is just simply asking for trouble,” he said.

Ethanol and other farm replacements for oil were also a big part of the discussion, especially because Ohio produced 390 million gallons of ethanol, compared to none the previous year. He figured ethanol production saves the country about a million barrels of oil a day.

“This addiction to oil is just killing this country. It’s the greatest transfer of wealth away in the history of mankind,” he said, adding that 12.5 million barrels of oil a day are imported into the country every day.

Boggs fielded questions and comments from fair officials and local farmers. Local dairy farmer Kurt Steiner asked Boggs about his stance on immigrant labor. Boggs said the state’s stance, from the governor, is there needs to be a way of getting people into the country during growing season to help with harvest and processing.

“At least in the area of agriculture, we support loosening of the present immigration restrictions,” Boggs said.

Steiner said as Wayne County’s dairy farms expand “this (immigrant) labor force has become very critical.”

Boggs also discussed education for young farmers, especially those in vocational agriculture programs such as the FFA. He said it’s important for students to have a good understanding of agriculture.

“The life skills that they (FFA students) learn are just unbelievable,” Boggs said.

Reporter Chris Kick can be reached at 330-287-1635 or e-mail ckick@the-daily-record.com.

Originally published by By CHRIS KICK Staff Writer.

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