COLUMBUS, Ohio — Upcoming soon is the Ohio House’s biennial budget proposal, and farmers in this state are keeping a watchful eye on it.

 

Much-needed reform of Ohio’s Current Agricultural Use Value (CAUV) formula  has been included in the proposal, andthat spells good news for family farmers.

 

The Ohio Farm Bureau Federation (OFBF) is encouraging its members to contact their state representatives and ask them to protect and keep CAUV language throughout the budget process.

 

“Our members have said CAUV reform is their No. 1 priority,” said Yvonne Lesicko, OFBF vice president of public policy. “Farmers need to contact their legislators and let them know how important this is and ask them to support CAUV reform.”

 

Lesicko said legislator contact information can be found at FarmVotesMatter. org and farmers should click on the “Legislative Action Center” link.

 

OFBF has been advocating for the CAUV reforms in response to farmland tax increases that have exceeded 300 percent in recent years. According to Lesicko, huge tax increases have hit farmers at a time when farm income has experienced a historic decline.

 

“Ohioans voted to create the CAUV program in 1971 as a means of preserving farmland in the state,” she said. “Under CAUV, farmland is taxed at a rate that reflects its value for agricultural purposes instead of its value as development property.”

 

The budget proposal would address non-farm influences from the formula that tend to artificially raise CAUV values. It would also ensure farmers are not penalized for adopting conservation practices that protect water quality.

 

In other concerns of OFBF members, Jim Rowe, Tuscarawas County Farm Bureau president, spoke during U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown’s (D-Ohio) annual breakfast with the OFBF’s presidents in the nation’s capital last month. He told Brown he met with Tuscarawas dairy farmers a few weeks ago and discussed how important Latino workers are to his 1,000-head dairy farm.

 

“We need an immigration policy that reflects what truly happens in farming communities,” Rowe told Brown. “This isn’t anything unique in Tuscarawas County.”

 

He recited a long list of names of farmers using immigrant workers. “We need to come up with an immigration policy that reflects the needs of agriculture  and the realities of the people who work on farms so they don’t have to fear the knock on the door or the letter in the mail.

 

“These people want to work. They are good employees and are motivated. I challenge this Congress to make a difference in the immigration policy where these people can become more of a part of our community,” Rowe said.

 

Brown hopes for a rebuilding of a coalition that nearly passed immigration

 

reform several years ago. “It will be good for our country, it’s good for agriculture,” he said.