By Bob Strohm
bstrohm@wbcowqel.com
Members of the Crawford County Farm Bureau met for their annual meeting Thursday night at the Youth Building on the Crawford County Fairgrounds.
During the meeting Jason Hartschuh, Steve Reinhard, and Tom Daiber were elected to travel as delegates for the 2015 Ohio Farm Bureau meeting with President Charles Stockmaster.
“They will go to the state convention and they will represent Crawford County at the convention,” Stockmaster explained. “Like our policies, see you start out here with policies on the county level and then all 88 counties come in with policies. Then the state will come in and say ‘this one is like this one, and this one is like this one.’ So they will compare, and we end up with a book about that thick on policies, and then we will vote on the policies.”
All of the Crawford County Farm Bureau proposed polices for 2015 was unanimously passed during the meeting. The policies reflect the county’s view on state, local and national issues.
Four district trustee positions were filled at Thursday night’s meeting. Tom Daiber of District 1, Charles Stockmaster of District 2, Janel Hord of District 3, and Cheryl Wagner of District 4 were all re-elected to a three-year term.
District 7 State Trustee Cy Pettyman spoke to the county farm bureau about the water issues that have recently been in the news.
“I think all of us know one of the biggest issues impacting farmers and all Ohioans right now is this water issue. This is not a new issue to farmers,” Pettyman said. “Fortunately the farming community has been proactive in their approach to it.”
“Ohio farmers do care, we care about water in Ohio. We care about our communities and we care about what happens to the citizens of Ohio in that regard. It is a complex issue, and it won’t be solved overnight,” Pettyman said during his speech. “Agriculture is not the only contributor, and they are not the only ones going to solve the problem, but Ohio agriculture is to do their part and we already are. I commend Crawford County. You guys were the one of the first that stepped up and put money into research, and you guys have been engaged and been involved in this for many years.”
North Area Women’s Trustee Eddie Lou Meimer spoke to the Crawford Farm Bureau on membership for youth members.
During her speech she spoke of a program for 18-24-year-olds to join the Farm Bureau for $25 annually.
Dinner was catered by Katering Kountry Style.
After dinner comedian Jay Henderson entertained the crowd providing laughs through stand-up comedy. After Henderson’s performance election results were announced.