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Safety Nets for
Farmers going away
By Bob Robinson
GREENVILLE – “Get ready for it… CAUV could double next year, maybe even
triple.”
This was the message local attorney Ted Finnarn had for area farmers
Thursday at a monthly OSU Extension agricultural meeting at Brethren
Retirement Community.
He said interest rates are low and crop prices are high – two of the
factors used in determining “Current Agricultural Use Value” (the third
is cost of production) – so CAUV will be going up.
“It will still be less than Fair Market Value, though,” he said.
CAUV is a safety net that was established for farmers in 1974 to help
protect them from the uncertainties of market prices, the weather and
other uncontrollable factors. In order to qualify, the farmer must be
using a minimum of 10 acres of land in commercial production.
“People don’t like CAUV,” he said. “The schools, administrators… they
don’t like it.” He noted that people are “too far removed from the
farm;” all they see is farm prices, cash rentals and all of the
government farm programs.
“They think farmers are rolling in the dough,” he said, noting that
they don’t see the expenses and uncertainty that goes into commercial
farm production.
However, the “good news” doesn’t stop there.
“All ag programs are on the table for cuts,” Finnarn said. “Those
‘boneheads’ in Washington can’t even get along with Boehner (Speaker of
the House John Boehner, 8th District).”
He noted that Congressman Jim Jordan (4th District) said recently that
in the new budget ethanol is gone.
“If ethanol goes away, corn prices drop.”
There’s no sympathy for the farmer any more, Finnarn said, and no
sympathy for farm support programs.
The monthly ag meeting, sponsored by OSU Extension educator Justin
Petrosino, meets the first Thursday of each month at 7:30 a.m. in the
BRC staff cafeteria. Among the attendees are Darke County Commissioner
Diane Delaplane, Boehner field representative Frank DeBrosse and other
state and local officials.
Delaplane told the group about the upcoming Agricultural Luncheon at
Romers on March 18, and DeBrosse reported on Boehner’s annual Farm
Forum in Piqua on March 12. He said Ohio Agricultural Director
Jim Zehringer will be there.
The next extension breakfast will be on April 7 at 7:30 a.m. Anyone
interested in agriculture is invited to attend.
Bob Robinson is the
retired editor of The Daily Advocate, Greenville, Ohio, a Senior Scribe
and Editor of County News Online. If you wish to receive a daily
notification of County News Online posts, send your email address to:
countynewsonline@gmail.com. Feel free to express your views.
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