By CELESTE BAUMGARTNER
Ohio Correspondent

HAMILTON, Ohio — There’s a lot of work to do, Dave White, Ohio Farm Bureau’s senior director of issues management and animals for life foundation, told his listeners at the Butler County Farm Bureau annual meeting. His topic was Issue 2. Area legislators were on hand to add their support.

Issue 2 will be on the November ballot and if passed it will create the Ohio Livestock Care Standards Board. That board will oversee decisions on how farm animals are treated.

“We believe it is the right thing to do,” White said.

Animal care and animal welfare issues need to be studied from a scientific and factual standpoint and a reasonable standpoint instead of an emotionally charged debate.

The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) discussed those issues when some of its members met with leaders of farm groups earlier this year.

“After we met with them we decided we needed to put together a strategy for Ohio agriculture that reflects what is best for Ohio consumers, farmers and ultimately livestock,” White said.
“We respect HSUS,” White said.

“We had a cordial meeting with them. But when someone says ‘work with us to ban gestation crates, veal crates or to regulate cages for hens or we’ll put a ballot issue on in 2010.’ How do you negotiate when the terms have already been outlined?”

White, who has taken his message to 12 other county farm bureau meetings this fall, asked listeners to “contribute, volunteer and be active.”

The Farm Bureau Political Action Committee is actively raising money for a media blitz closer to the election.

A recent study showed that farmers, ranchers and veterinarians are the most respected and credible spokespersons for agriculture especially animal agriculture, White said.

“They are two times more credible than the HSUS, six times more credible than animal rights groups and eight times more credible than PETA,” he said.

“So farmers, ranchers and veterinarians have the respect, they have the credibility, they’re the ones that need to be out and talking to folks not just about Issue 2 in Ohio but agriculture in general.”

We need to help the public learn,” he said. “Be aware, volunteer and speak out.”

State Sen. Gary Cates (R-West Chester), State Representatives Courtney Combs (R-Hamilton) and Tim Derickson (R-Oxford) all agreed on the importance of the issue:

“I voted as a legislator to put the issue on the ballot and I support its passage simply because I want to make sure that Ohio farmers have the right to control how they do their business and not out of state special interest groups which is what this measure is attempting to do,” Cates said, adding that if the measure does not pass it would “basically decimate the farming industry.

The Ohio House voted to support Issue 2, Combs said.

“The people who are against Issue 2 are painting a picture that is untrue. If Issue 2 does not pass it’s going to have a devastating effect on our livestock industry,” Combs said.

Derickson agreed saying that “Issue 2 is critical for animal agriculture in the state. Our farmers and consumers need this to pass.”

Published on Sept. 30, 2009