DaytonDailyNews.com

CLAY TWP., Montgomery County — — Amid the smell of pig manure and the 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 area farmers were calling for was a better, more responsive Farm Bill.

"What's needed is some of these (conservation) programs need to be fully funded and open to everyone," said Tony Bornhorst, a Shelby County hog and grain farmer. Bornhorst said he can't claim compensation for the 15-foot strip of grass he leaves along waterways to halt erosion.

To do so, he would first have to plow up the strip, farm it for two years, then replant it in grass — something he has no intention of doing.

"Doing the right thing can hurt you," he told Brown.

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 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.

Then there was the price farmers get for their product versus the price the consumer pays at the grocery store.

Tom Nisonger, a Champaign County grain farmer, said that one tanker load of corn syrup — 925 bushels of corn — is enough to sweeten 1.3 million cans of soda.

"But when the price of corn goes down, I don't suppose the price of Pepsi does?" Brown asked with a smile.

"Now you get it," Nisonger said as the rest of the farmers chuckled.

Brown said there will be separate sections of the Farm Bill for conservation measures and alternative energy incentives.

Host Ralph Dull was pleased by the push for alternative energy incentives. His operations use energy from biomass, wind and solar. "We need more incentives for clean energy," he said.