DEERFIELD, Ohio — Energy, regulations and the climate dominated the conversation during a roundtable discussion Congressman Tim Ryan hosted July 8 for a group of local farmers.
The conservation was lively and a little heated at times, but that’s what Ryan, D-13th, said he wanted and expected.
“I’m a Democrat. Maybe you guys aren’t, I don’t really care,” he said, to kick off the discussion.
The roundtable, held at Deerfield Ag Services, was the first of a series of discussions Ryan is holding in rural areas.
“Ag is a huge part of the economy and there’s a lot of complicated issues,” he said. “I just want to make sure all of these farmers and people who are operating in rural areas that my door’s open.”
The Biden administration’s push to green energy and climate change solutions came up repeatedly as being unfriendly and even burdensome to farmers and landowners.
Wallbrown brought up issues with carbon market programs, which pays farmers who implement practices that are shown to reduce emissions or sequester carbon, like no-till or cover crops, a per acre rate. Farmers who have been no-tilling for years typically cannot participate, and therefore cannot reap any extra financial benefits from using climate-smart farming practices.
“The guy who’s been tilling and doing all this stuff, he gets paid maybe $10-20 an acre,” Wallbrown said. “We get zero. That’s something specifically that needs to be addressed.”
Danielle Burch, a Salem farmer and member of the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation board of trustees, said agriculture seems to take a brunt of the blame and issue surrounding climate change.
“Why is it that we, 1% of the nation’s workforce and 100% of the nation’s food source, have to deal with these major legislative shackles?” she said.
“I would ask what they are and how can we help,” Ryan said. He said he doesn’t want to be in a position where farmers are the only ones being impacted. Similarly, he doesn’t want the U.S. to be the only country making efforts to curb emissions and cut back on natural gas production when other countries, like Russia, can continue production unimpeded.
Ryan said there’s a tremendous opportunity to be had with natural gas.
“Why wouldn’t we take our natural gas from eastern Ohio, create thousands and thousands of jobs here, union construction jobs, the cracker plant, the whole nine yards, build the pipelines, get the natural gas, liquefy it, move the natural gas from the United States and sell it to our allies in Europe so they’re not so dependent on Vladimir Putin,” he said. “ I think that’s a good idea.”
“Tell Uncle Joe to build the pipelines,” Jack Groselle, a farmer and trustee in Hiram Township, interjected.
“I’m not talking about Uncle Joe. I’m talking about Uncle Tim,” Ryan shot back, prompting some chuckles from the group.
When asked about the balance between useful and onerous regulations, Ryan said it needs to be decided on a case-by-case basis, but that industry people should be involved when decisions are made.
“My general philosophy is that the government doesn’t need to be involved, it shouldn’t be,” he said. “But everybody needs to be at the table.”
Ryan said from his experience, not everyone will be happy when rules are handed down, but “most people just want to know what the rules are.” Regulatory consistency and certainty is perhaps more important than anything else.
Ryan is running for Ohio’s open U.S. Senate seat against Republican J.D. Vance. Wallbrown said he’d like to invite Vance to his facility to have a similar roundtable discussion with farmers.
(Reporter Rachel Wagoner can be reached at 330-337-3419 or rachel@farmanddairy.com)
