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Sherrod Brown visits with local farmers
Tuesday, April 03, 2007
CLAY TWP., Montgomery County — Amidst the smell of pig manure and whir of wind turbines, U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown heard calls for fairness in subsidies, incentives for alternative energy and common sense from the federal bureaucracy.
What 16 local farmers were calling for was a better, more responsive Farm Bill.
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The freshman Ohio Democrat from Avon is the first from the state in nearly 40 years to sit on the Senate Agriculture Committee. Tuesday, he visited Dull Homestead Inc., a 2,800-acre hog and seed family farm on National Road, to hear what local farmers wanted in a new Farm Bill.
Ideas varied from helping young farmers find more land to farm; leveling the playing field for family farms versus large corporations; encouraging more organic farming; and doing away with or modifying subsidies.
While there was disagreement among the farmers, there was consensus that many government programs were either not working as intended or so cumbersome as to be a hindrance.
Brown said there will be separate sections of the Farm Bill for conservation measures and another for alternative energy incentives.
Contact this reporter at (937) 335-3838 or dpage@DaytonDailyNews.com.
