By CELESTE BAUMGARTNER
Ohio Correspondent

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Brent Porteus of Coshocton has been elected to fill the office vacated by Bob Peterson, who stepped down after 4.5 years as president of the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation (OFBF).
Porteus’ goal is to move the agricultural industry and Farm Bureau forward and to create opportunities for rural Ohio and farm families; there will be challenges, the 22nd president pointed out.
“I think as an organization we continually have to evolve and meet the challenges that our members have, because those are changing,” Porteus said. “Today is different than yesterday and five years ago.”

The state budget is a huge challenge and not just in the direct effects, he said. The effects on the Department of Agriculture and Ohio State University are obvious, but there are also many goods and services provided by the state that affect rural Ohio, Porteus said.

“As you move into other issues – the livestock challenges, Proposition 2 (the standards for confining farm animals) in California – they’re going to bring that effort to the Midwest,” he said. “The implications are with livestock first, but (it leads to) downstream unintended consequences, those things you really don’t think about in terms of a food safety and affordability standpoint.”

To go against science and take away for emotional reasons the practices that have improved the livestock industry and the ability to care for animals can move such production out of state, across borders or overseas, Porteus said.

“That can have some real unintended impacts on food safety, our ability to have that affordable food supply and one that we know where it is produced and feel comfortable about,” he said.

Yet, he also sees great opportunities for Ohio. “We have this agricultural bio-resource opportunity here,” he said. “We have this production sector, but we also have the industrial base. We have a lot of people in the polymer industry, a tremendous food industry here in the state of Ohio, so we have a lot of research and development and connections to make (Jack Fisher, OFBF executive vice president, serves on the Ohio Bioproducts Advisory Board).

Porteus sees a chance for agriculture to be a vibrant part in moving Ohio’s economy. He sees opportunities to utilize corn, wheat and soybeans to replace things currently made from petroleum, as well as to be utilized for renewable energy.

“In the food sector, as we continue to evolve the opportunities for improved food products and all of the food safety issues we need to address, all the avenues and things we can do there,” he said.
“This whole issue of a safe and affordable domestic food supply – we have a lot of work to do there and we have a lot of opportunities. We’re well-positioned.”

Those all require research and development, and that comes back to the state budget issue. “A lot of those things are in jeopardy in that discussion, but we have an opportunity to be a part of the solution,” Porteus said. “We just have to do the work that it takes to get there.”

Fisher said, “One of the great things about the Ohio Farm Bureau is the tremendous number of passionate, dedicated leaders we have to serve the organization.

“Brent comes from a family farm operation. I always think it is very important the leadership of the organization understands farming and has their income from farming, and that is the case with Brent and his family.”

Porteus is the OFBF trustee representing members from Coshocton, Holmes, Knox and Licking counties. He and his wife, Debbie, are the parents of two children. He farms with his father, brother and daughters, producing crops and beef cattle.

A graduate of OSU, he majored in agricultural economics. He is past president of the Ohio Corn Growers Assoc. and past chairman of the Ohio Corn Marketing Program.

December 31, 2008