2024 was a big year for our policy work. The successes and lessons of last year are shared—shared with those of you who provided testimony at the Statehouse, met with legislators on farms or on Capitol Hill, engaged in our new policy caucuses, or followed along with us here or on Instagram.  Together, we accomplished a lot in 2024. We extend our deepest gratitude to you, our community, for all we were able to do last year. Policy change is a long game, and our collective voices and actions made a mark on food and farm policy matters that will reverberate throughout 2025 and beyond.  ..read more

We reported in our most recent farm bill update that “orphan programs” of the farm bill did not receive additional funding with the most recent farm bill extension (ending September 30, 2025). Orphan programs are those that do not have “baseline,” or permanent, funding in a farm bill. So, their funding does not automatically renew when a farm bill is extended unless they have additional funding written into the extension. One of those programs without permanent funding is very important to our community, organic cost share.  Congress did write in funding for many of these programs, includ ..read more

The new year is upon us, which means that the 2025 OEFFA Conference will be here before we know it! We’re excited to showcase our coalition partners, policy member leaders, farmers, and food system experts through seven policy-centered workshops. Don’t miss out on your opportunity to learn about how policy can shape our food and farming systems—all while sharing, connecting, and shopping at Ohio’s biggest sustainable agriculture conference. Register for the 46th annual OEFFA Conference, Boldly Grow today. Early-bird registration closes Friday, January 10. Policy-Focused Workshops at the 2025 O ..read more

At OEFFA, our priorities for supporting local, sustainable farmers and food system workers reaches beyond political lines. We are a non-partisan organization committed to our vision of regional food systems that provide nourishment, protection of our environment, and livelihoods for communities in our network.   Every one of us is internally debriefing the election results from November 5, regardless of political party. While we aren’t sure what local, state, and federal policy will look like over the next several years, we as an organization will continue to put our members first by aski ..read more

Over the spring and summer, some of our team visited six farmers, gardeners, researchers, and activists to learn about their relationships with the soil. They reported myriad benefits from healthy soil—from better yields to deepened relationships with ancestors—all of which underlined the need to better protect this vital natural resource and support those who steward it.  With the help of local video editor John Umland, we were able to transform our interviews into Soil Stories, short videos highlighting the importance of healthy soil. In the weeks leading up to Ohio Soil Health Week, we ..read more

The election season is well underway. As a non-partisan 501(c)3 organization, there are limited things OEFFA can do. We cannot endorse or oppose any candidate for public office. But we can provide resources to help see how a candidate might approach food and farm issues. In collaboration with various food and farm advocates and organizations from across Ohio, OEFFA has developed a Candidate Questionnaire that was distributed to all federal Congressional candidates across the state. As they respond, we’ll link their completed questionnaires here. Advocating for our values and get ..read more

Our team has an upcoming opportunity for OEFFA members to get more involved in our policy work. We hope this will be an experience to broaden your food and farm education and see how it is affected by policy. This fellowship will give you firsthand experience in the food and farm policy world and help illustrate how policy issues influence you and your communities. The OEFFA Policy Fellowship is open to all Ohio-based farmers, ranchers, growers, processors (working with locally sourced agricultural products) and staff, regardless of advocacy experience. Farmers with a farm of any size and oper ..read more

On September 11, our partners at the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) delivered a letter to Congressional leaders with support from 1,096 groups across the country—including 43 sign-ons from Ohio alone! The purpose of this letter was to affirm the need for a farm bill to be passed in 2024, without it coming at the expense of policies that address hunger, public health, farmers, workers, and the environment. Since the 2018 Farm Bill, or the Agricultural Improvement Act of 2018, was passed, a lot has changed across our nation. Against the backdrop of an increasingly disruptive a ..read more

The Ohio Soil Health Initiative (OSHI), organized by OEFFA, is inviting you to participate in the first annual Ohio Soil Health Week from November 10-16, 2024. Ohio Soil Health Week provides a time and space to celebrate, honor, and protect Ohio’s soils. This weeklong celebration of soil health includes education opportunities and events to reach within and beyond the agriculture community and raise awareness around one of Ohio’s most valuable natural resources. Throughout the week, farmers, gardeners, educators, community members, and organizations from all over Ohio will celebrate with a var ..read more

When the Supreme Court overturned Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council (1984), it did away with the precedent that regulatory agencies have deference regarding statutory interpretation. In other words, Chevron held that courts should defer to federal agencies’ expertise in interpreting ambiguous statues. Not only does this spare the courts from devoting time to ruling on ambiguities, but it also gives the responsibility of interpretation to federal agencies that are much better suited to the task.   The initial Chevron ruling came about after the Reagan adminis ..read more