Issue 2 Will Hurt Small Farms in Ohio--Please Vote NO

There is something really rotten and stinky going on in Ohio. On the Ballot this coming Tuesday is Issue 2, which proposes to set up a permanent livestock board that will tell farmers how they must run their farms. Huge agribusiness groups, even soy producers from around the country are funding the political campaign that will subject farmers to the bureaucratic whims of this board. If the board says, you must confine your animals, you must use antibiotics in the feed, whatever, the farmers will have to comply or else.

While consumers are led to believe this board will protect animals and insure their "quality of life." That is actually a ruse. This measure is not about animal husbandry. It is about control, and who has it.

This is a dangerous situation, since industrial farms will be in control of their competitors through this political power play. If there are farmers using inhumane practices or unacceptable conditions, why not correct them through the already existing membership organizations and peer pressure? These mega farms would certainly have the money to rectify the situation. No, instead, they want to keep doing what they are doing, and instead, control all their competition.

A political action committee called Ohioans for Livestock Care is paying for a big marketing push for this ballot initiative. While it sounds like a local campaign, many out of state groups are pouring hundreds of thousands of dollars into this. Groups like Eli Lilly, a drug manufacturer, the National Pork Producers, Iowa Pork Producers Council, a Soybean Research and Promotion Council out of Minnesota, and the Iowa Soybean Association, are among the out of state organizations on the PAC contributors list.

Why would soybean producers care about animal welfare? Because they peddle an animal protein substitute. Any thing that hurts their competition, benefits them. If burdensome regulations drive meat prices go up, soy protein may gain greater acceptance with the consumer, thus market share. Why any livestock producers would team up with them is beyond me. Unless of course, their ultimate aim is also to edge out competition.

Big regulations always favor the big producers. They are the only ones who can afford to comply. Marketplace greed certainly makes for strange alliances.

If Issue 2 passes, we can expect traditional farmers to be told that raising cows on pasture is wasteful, unscientific, barbarian. I can imagine them getting called before this board and sanctioned for not raising their chickens in a "sanitary" environment.

In this panel discussion at a recent town hall, the Agribusiness gal claims that research shows there is no difference in quality of the food based on different methods of farming. If so, why is this board necessary?

Here is the video of the town hall, it is well worth watching it to the end, it is around 30 minutes:

Ohio citizens, be forewarned. This measure will crush the local farmers, reduce the variety and diversity of food produced in your state, set up a costly bureaucracy in perpetuity.

If you want to make sure some farms won't be more "equal than others" as in George Orwell's Animal Farm, VOTE NO on Issue 2.

At the same time, if you are concerned about animal welfare, find out who the bad actors are (you might start with any Ohio farm that contributed to the PAC) and send letters to the companies and newspaper editors, picket their facilities, ask for the Ohio Health Department to implement regulations already on the books. The other thing you can do is buy directly from a local farm. Check with your local Weston A. Price chapter leader for a humane livestock producer nearest you and patronize him.

Vote with your food budget instead of voting for more government and less freedom for the individual farmer.

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