Twenty Ohio Farm Bureau leaders are serving on the 2023 Ohio Farm Bureau Federation (OFBF)’s Policy Development Committee. The committee collects and organizes public policy recommendations from county farm bureaus and presents the final policy suggestions to be voted on by the Ohio Farm Bureau’s delegates during the state annual meeting in December.

In its initial session, the committee heard from government leaders, subject matter experts, and Farm Bureau staff on topics such as CAUV and property taxes, farmland preservation and local development planning, feral swine, ballot initiatives on minimum wage, clean water programs and marijuana, artificial intelligence, solar, the Endangered Species Act, US EPA pesticide rules and insurance risk management, and future casting due to climate factors.

The policy committee consists of 10 members from the Ohio Farm Bureau Board of Trustees and 10 representatives of county farm bureaus.

The committee is chaired by Ohio Farm Bureau First Vice President Cy Prettyman of New Bloomington and includes OFBF President Bill Patterson of Chesterland and Treasurer Chris Weaver of Lyons.

State trustees on the committee are Matt Aultman of Greenville, Wyatt Bates of Wheelersburg, John Bolte of Tiffin, Adele Flynn of Wellington, Al Miller of Marietta, Bill Myers of Oregon, and Mike Videkovich of Ashville.

County farm bureau representatives are Kyle Brown of Wyandot County, RJ Heins of Delaware County, Sarah Hunker of Sandusky County, Steven Kacerski of Trumbull County, Olivia Krumwiede of Erie County, Krysti Morrow of Morgan County, Scott Seim of Montgomery County, Kyle Sharp of Fairfield County, Kelly Tennant of Morrow County, and Christy Wilhelm of Champaign County.

Submitted by the Ohio Farm Bureau.