Bad News: Issue 2 Passes in Ohio

Too Little Too Late (4.00 / 3)

if the NO side had become active and had money this could have been defeated but the Yes side had $4 million to work with (the No side had under $10K) and they really duped the public into thinking this will protect us small diversified farmers by calling the 200 CFO's in Ohio Family farms serving local markets. I suppose these are family farms they Way Johnson and Johnson is a family owned business (okay multinational corporation).

At any rate the Ohio populace is so brain dead when it comes to farming that they will always fall for the Buzz words.

I am seriously thinking of selling my farm and moving to Michigan where the land is cheap, my family all lives (though we all started out in Ohio and I was the only one to stay) and it is a place I love.

Ohio is gonna be a hard place for small sustainable locavore farmers to be in the next few years what with NAIS (which you know this board will usher in post haste, prolly by July 2010 this will be the law in Ohio), the leafy greens act which will pretty much require a licensed facility to wash and bag greens for market and the likelihood that this board will try to shut farms doing things like raw milk herd shares.

I am one pissed off Ohio Farmer this morning. Fortunately I get to go to the capital to do a sustainable berry growing workshop so should be in good company today

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by: Boulder Belt @ Wed Nov 04, 2009 at 11:03:30 AM UTC

I think you're right about NAIS and the Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement (4.00 / 3)

The small producers are going to have to be very proactive in fighting implementation of these if/when they come up.

What the backers of Issue 2 did was to take a page out of the HSUS, PETA et al play book and used it against them and everyone who has supported the campaigns against high density production animal ag. This was targeted at nothing other than those campaigns. Unfortunately it's probably going to have a substantial impact on small scale farms over the long run.  

Regarding locavores as elitists - explain to me how supporting local business is elitist....

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by: Joanne Rigutto @ Wed Nov 04, 2009 at 16:21:26 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Moreover, it's a "model" for other states (4.00 / 2)

http://www.hpj.com/archives/20...

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by: Deep Harm @ Fri Nov 06, 2009 at 17:27:27 PM UTC

That reminds me... (4.00 / 2)

When Jill posted photos in the diary about her trip to a hog barn in Iowa, I noticed that the farmer used a version of what is called "group housing" instead of single-animal cages. Still not a lot or room for the pigs, but it seemed better than the alternative.

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by: count @ Fri Nov 06, 2009 at 20:07:30 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

That's why ever since Prop 2 came up in California (4.00 / 1)

I've been saying that if you want to change the predominant animal husbandry practices in production animal ag, it needs to be done by building a market that will support those new practices, instead of passing laws that outlaw those practices.

Laws that outlaw current production animal husbandry practices without building a market that will support the higher prices that producers have to get for animals raised under more humane husbandry practices will do nothing more than generate responses like that in Ohio that resulted in the promotion and passage of Issue 2.

What HSUS and PETA are doing with measures like Prop 2 in California ammount to using a stick to beat the horse. Those result in the horse learning to aquire a bigger stick (Issue 2 in Ohio) to protect itself.

However, if a market is built to support animal ag systems that use animal husbandry protocols that supporters of humane animal husbandry support, then the farms/ranches that follow those protocols will see a more proffitable market and will follow those protocols of their own free will. That's the principle of the carrot, as opposed to the principle of the stick. In other words - "Build it and they will come".

Using the carrot takes longer, but it doesn't result in things like Issue 2, and it's sustainable. The stick (Prop 2 in California) creates resistance and very well may push sourcing of those products to out of state or out of country producers who can still engage in animal husbandry practices that were outlawed by laws like California's Prop 2.

I'm not surprised that something like Ohio's Issue 2 came up in a state. I'm surprised that it took this long. Rest assured that with the success of Issue 2 in Ohio, more like measures are instore in other states, the interests in large scale animal ag won't sit back cooling their heels.  

Regarding locavores as elitists - explain to me how supporting local business is elitist....

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by: Joanne Rigutto @ Sat Nov 07, 2009 at 03:11:08 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

I disagree. (4.00 / 1)

This isn't either/or, it's more like chicken/egg, isn't it? Building the market is an excellent idea. On the other side, there are hundreds of millions of American household pets whose owners would not for one moment agree to having their pets treated like food animals. In Ohio, many people voted for better practices who aren't actually consumers of better-practice meat, but they are potential customers. The educational effort required to defeat Ohio issue 2 is the same as the effort required to pass California issue 2, which is the same as the eductional effort to grow the market without a law. Better-practice advocates will continue to be vituperatively attacked even if they are not trying to pass laws.

However big the current market is, we will continue to see both kinds of referenda, and efforts to pass laws of both kinds in state legislatures. Until, I suppose, the feds bigfoot the question, and they will support Big Ag. The U.K. might be an interesting counter-example, but it seems to me that U.K. voters (and eaters) are better informed than we are.

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by: count @ Sat Nov 07, 2009 at 16:07:54 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

I think, (4.00 / 1)

Even though Ohio Issue 2 passed, the effort to grow the market for animals raised under better practices will continue, won't it? I hope so. Is there any reason it would not?

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by: count @ Sat Nov 07, 2009 at 16:11:40 PM UTC

[ Parent ]