By Dusty Sonnenberg, CCA, Ohio Field Leader, a project of the Ohio Soybean Council and soybean check-off.
Working together, collecting data, and setting measurable goals were common themes in testimony given by the Ohio Agriculture Conservation Initiative (OACI) before the Ohio House Agriculture and Conservation Committee on Tuesday. Several representatives from the various organizations that make up OACI shared details of the individual aspects of the OACI and explained specific research being conducted and on-farm examples.
Scott Higgins, CEO of the Ohio Dairy Producers Association, and Heather Taylor-Miesle, Executive Director of the Ohio Environmental Council jointly testified to explain the cooperation between the agriculture and environmental communities to come together and form the OACI. “On behalf of the agriculture, conservation and environmental community, we stand before you demonstrating unity in a proactive and collaborative approach to improving Ohio’s waterways
The Buckeye Institute testified before the Ohio House Agriculture and Conservation Committee on the policies in House Bill 175, which would assert the Ohio General Assembly’s constitutional policymaking duties, by adopting a commonsense definition of “waters of the state” through the legislative process.