What’s Happening at OABA

Chris Henney Talks with Ohio Ag Net’s Ty Higgins About Issue 2 and OABA’s New LAUNCH Program

Ohio AgriBusiness Association (OABA) President and CEO Chris Henney recently talked with Ohio Ag Net’s Ty Higgins about OABA’s recently announced opposition to State Issue 2. As you may already know, the OABA Board of Directors voted to oppose Issue 2, which adds OABA to the ever-growing list of organizations across the state that have banded together in opposition. Click here to read the Ohio Ag Net story, and to hear the interview with Chris. Click here to read more information about why OABA is opposing Issue 2.

Chris also talked with Ty about OABA’s new LAUNCH Program, Leaders Achieving Unexpected New Career Heights, an executive short course offered by OABA to help our member companies fill the looming void of leadership talent as more than 50 percent of our workforce retires in the next 15 years. Click here to read the Ohio Ag Net story, and to hear the interview with Chris. Click here to read more information about OABA’s new LAUNCH Program.

OABA Submits Comments in Support of Dow AgroSciences’ Enlist™ 2,4-D Tolerant Soybeans

Chris Henney submitted comments in support of Dow AgroSciences’ Enlist 2,4-D tolerant soybeans to two U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) dockets that were open for public comment. Both dockets are part of the regulatory process for 2,4-D tolerant soybeans.

With the publication of this notice, USDA is one step closer to allowing grower access to a technology that will assist in controlling glyphosate resistant and hard to control weeds – weeds that are threatening the herbicide tolerant cropping system currently in place in the United States. These comment periods are an opportunity to submit information to the public docket that expresses support for USDA’s proposal for non-regulated status and the completeness of the environmental assessment for these modern agricultural tools.

Click here to read the comments.

OABA Submits Aflatoxin Letter to ODA Director

As Ohio’s harvest started, concerns of aflatoxin contamination in the new crop came to our attention. OABA submitted a letter to Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA) Director David Daniels requesting ODA to petition the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for permission to blend corn containing more than 20 ppb of aflatoxin with corn having lower levels or no aflatoxin for animal feed. Several other states have also submitted this request to the FDA, and some have already been granted permission. Click here to read the letter submitted to ODA, which also provides more details about the FDA’s guidelines.

OABA Supports California’s “Coalition Against the Costly Food Labeling Proposition”

OABA recently contributed the “Coalition Against the Costly Food Labeling Proposition” in California to help defeat California Proposition 37, which is not only important to agribusinesses in California, but has broad ramifications nationally. Directly or indirectly, we all have a stake in defending modern technology against a pejorative, negative attack. If the California proposition passes, it is a negative for all modern technologies.

To learn more about this coalition and California’s Proposition 37, go to www.NoProp37.com.