Columbus, Ohio — Over five hundred Ohio Farm Bureau members, industry partners, and state legislators gathered at the Capital for the 2024 edition of AG Day. The annual event allowed agriculture stakeholders to meet with state-level policy-makers and discuss issues important to farmers and rural communities.

“Farm Bureau members come to the statehouse in Columbus and talk our legislators through priorities,” Evan Callicoat, Ohio Farm Bureau director of state policy said. “They’re mostly state policy-focused because we keep it general, it applies to federal legislation as well, but we get a little bit more into specifics on state issues.”

Farm Bureau members are briefed on the priority issues before AG Day conversations with legislators. In addition, depending on the budget cycle, members are encouraged to focus on discussing several key issues within the priorities. This year’s points of emphasis were eminent domain, land use, and property taxes. 

 “There’s a lot of conversation going on around those three issues at the statehouse. It depends on what’s going on in someone’s area — we want them to talk about the issues that are local to them too,” Callicoat said.

Additional discussion topics included support for value-added products sourced from locally produced agriculture, improved access to healthcare, and grassroots advocacy, 

Creating additional value for farmers includes promoting programs that support down-the-supply chain participation by Ohio producers to make the food system more resilient for farmers and consumers.

Additional value-added opportunities exist in using  commodities in niche markets, like craft breweries, and distilleries.

According to the Ohio Craft Brewers Association, 44 craft breweries opened in 2023, increasing the total to 434, an all-time high. And the number of craft distilleries varies between 69-82, depending on the source. An industry that relies on grains and fruits produced on Ohio farms provides an added revenue source — one that the Ohio Farm Bureau advocates.

“We’re talking about craft beer, that industry has taken off and we’ve been very supportive of the craft beer and craft distilling industry as value-added products,” Callicoat said.

Continued advocacy for healthy rural communities through expanded telehealth networks, access to behavioral healthcare, and preventative healthcare programs for farmers and families is high on the list of priorities.

“We’re looking at this from a very holistic point of view. It means telehealth, it means mental health, it means just normal health care services,” Callicoat said. “

Farmers and rural residents are not exempt from the stress of modern society and mental healthcare is sometimes difficult to access. Ohio Farm Bureau joined the Ohio Agricultural Mental Health Alliance last fall to help farmers manage mental health.

“Mental health is a huge part of building healthy rural communities,” Callicoat said. “Our members want us to get more involved in is kind of the health care space.”

During election years Farm Bureau staff get more involved with their members by sharing The Friend of Agriculture designation, which recognizes the Ohio General Assembly and U.S. congressional candidates.

“This is a way for us to get ourselves on the ground and educate our grassroots members about certain candidates with open seat screenings,” Callicoat said. “We try to engage with them very, very heavily during the election cycle so they know who they’re voting for — that’s where we’re able to establish on the ground political education.”

Forging relationships with elected officials at all levels of government is an important piece of grassroots lobbying, the payoff follows the election. 

“When things come up after elections our members are already interested — they already know what’s going on,” Callicoat said. “You never know when somebody’s going to go from a local office to a state office, or Congress — when we can have those relationships with legislators it helps us get what we need to get done.”