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House Bill 683 could be good news for Ohio farmers

The director of the Ohio Department of Agriculture says farmers need more financial assistance in the midst of the state’s historic drought.

Brian Baldridge says he recently testified before the Ohio House Finance Committee and requested an additional $10 million for farmers.

“There’s a lot of good questions that the legislature and Finance Committee brought forth asking about this, and some of those questions being is this enough,” he says. “We said it’s a good start. We don’t know what this future brings if we have a dry winter.”

He tells Brownfield the funding would pick up where USDA assistance leaves off.

“We know that each piece of that puzzle is different in different parts of our state and farmers can go in that are affected in these drought situations and get some assistance,” he says. “But there’s other things that are not covered.”

Baldridge says ODA has resources available for farmers to get through the winter season. For a link to these resources, click here.