NEW PARIS — U.S. Congressman Warren Davidson hosted his annual Farm Forum event at National Trail High School on Saturday, March 4.
Farm Forum is Davidson’s annual gathering specifically focused on agriculture. Every year, he invites agriculture experts from the state and federal government to address issues unique to the 8th District’s farmers.
The program included breakfast and a panel of speakers which included U.S. House Agriculture Committee Chair Glen GT” Thompson; Ohio Department of Agriculture Director Brian Baldridge; Ohio House Agriculture Committee Chair Rodney Creech and Brandon Kern, Senior Director of State and National Policy for the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation.
“This event was started, we think — we always attributed it to Speaker (John)Boehner — but I hear it’s going on before Speaker Boehner, and it probably dates back to the 1800s. All we had to do is not mess it up. But you guys are the ones that make the event,” Davidson said following an introduction by MVCTC Assistant Superintendent Rhonda Phillips.
“You come here with your questions and your concerns, and I appreciate you all for being here. I want to say thanks to our hosts, the National Trail Local School District and Superintendent Robert Fischer. I want to say thanks to Carmen and Eric Kennel, National Trail FFA advisors. And special thanks to the students — they did a lot of work to put this together,” Davidson continued.
Davidson went on to thank National Trail’s Food Service department for the breakfast, and welcomed several county and state elected officials to the event, and led those in attendance in a moment of silence in honor of Mike Toschlog, a 2015 National Trail graduate who was killed in a farming accident earlier this year.
“This is an incredibly important year for agriculture because Congress will one way or another reauthorize the Farm Bill and the bill contains all sorts of important programs to assist farmers such as crop insurance, community support, conservation, agriculture, and disaster assistance programs,” Davidson said. “Every I invite state, local and federal government ag experts to address issues specific to our district and to Ohio farmers, and this year we could not ask for a better panel of experts.”
Prior to opening the forum up to the speakers, Davidson shared some of the topics he is currently focusing on in Congress.
“I’d like to just highlight a few things that I’m paying attention to. Of course, the majority of the Farm Bill by dollars is actually food assistance — the SNAP program and food stamps are authorized the farm bill and in my humble but highly accurate opinion should come with work requirements. Everyone would help a friend in need but at some point you would look to your friend and say ‘hey, everybody’s hiring. Schools are open. Somebody needs volunteers.’ And if you’re an able-bodied adult with no dependent kids at home, I’m confident we’re going to ask that you do that or some combination of it in this Farm Bill.”
He continued, “COVID-19 was an increase to spend a lot of money and not focus in real well. We’re going to get after canceling some of those programs. Frankly, some of those programs under the American Rescue Plan in the name of equity were essentially racism. And the courts have stopped the Biden Administration for yet another unconstitutional action. They responded by forgiving debt. So, the more debt you had, the more it was forgiven. And it just creates perverse incentives to not you’re your debts. They’re doing the same thing on student loans, and so we’ve got our challenges.”
Davidson is also co-sponsoring a bill banning subsidies for solar panels. “If you put them over top of fertile farm ground,” he added. “There are a lot of places to put solar panels, just big, vast deserts, there’s more sunlight, and you can’t grow anything there anyway. So why not put them out there? If you want to put them on top of old abandoned industrial sites or something like that? No problem. But you shouldn’t be putting them on top of fertile farmland.”
Federal water legislation is also one of the issues Davidson is sponsoring a bill to reverse.
(Editor’s note: This is the first in a series of articles highlighting some of the discussion at this year’s Farm Forum.)
Reach Eddie Mowen Jr. at 937-683-4061 and follow on Twitter @emowenjr.
