One organization claims the American farm industry is in the beginning stages of a serious crisis and changes need to be made to stop it.
That is one of the topics to be discussed at the 85th annual Ohio Farmers Union Convention being held in Lima this weekend. The union is a non-profit non-partisan statewide advocacy organization. OFU officials say the average farm income has dropped 50% in the last 5 years and something needs to be done. Perhaps the recent farm bill passed late last year may hold the key with the legalization of hemp as an industrial crop to increase profits.
"The state legislature is going to have to do authorizing legislation to authorize the Ohio Department of Agriculture to establish a program to make sure it's all done within the parameters of the law and that nobody's growing the wrong kind of hemp on their farm and we're excited about this as an opportunity for farmers to actually grow a crop that makes them some money and also for new industries to develop in Ohio," said Joe Logan, Ohio Farmers Union President.
Logan says the farm bill doesn't make many changes and that they hope to address that. This is the first time the convention has been held outside of Columbus. Their choice of Lima was because a good deal of their membership is in Northwestern Ohio.
