Safe Local Ohio Food

Support Issue 2 to Create the Ohio Livestock Care Standards Board

Ohio families need the safe, nutritious, affordable, locally grown food that Ohio farmers provide each day. But consumers also want to know more about how their food is produced on Ohio's farms. That means knowing:

• Animals are healthy and well cared for,
• Food is safe and of the highest quality,
• Locally produced food is available at the grocery store and
• Farmers are running their farms responsibly and following relevant regulations.

Meeting changing consumer expectations and providing that reassurance is why Ohio's farmers, legislative leaders from both political parties, Governor Ted Strickland and agriculture organizations support a measure to create the Ohio Livestock Care Standards Board (the Board), because the Board will be made up of Ohio experts in animal care making decisions for all Ohioans.

Ohio's agriculture community believes the best regulations for animal care will be achieved when all interested parties join together to develop a framework that is both effective and practical for consumers and for farmers. The Board is the right approach to reach that goal.

Why Support the Board

Out-of-state activist groups have signaled they would like to bring an initiative to Ohio that would set rigid, inflexible and impractical rules for how livestock and poultry are housed. This would lead to higher costs for consumers, put food safety at risk, increase the amount of food imported to Ohio, cause thousands of farmers to go out of business, and endanger the overall health and well-being of Ohio's flocks and herds.

A YES vote for Issue 2 on Election Day, November 3, 2009, will create the Ohio Livestock Care Standards Board, which will:

• Assure Ohio families have a safe, locally-grown food supply
• Bring together Ohio's animal care experts to ensure excellent care of the state's flocks and herds
• Maintain the viability of Ohio agriculture — the state's number one economic contributor

About the Board

The Board will set standards for livestock and poultry care that take into account issues of food safety, local availability and affordability of food and best farm management practices for animal well-being; considered in the context of their impact on animal health, farm biosecurity, disease prevention, food safety and food production.

The Board will be chaired by the Director of the Ohio Department of Agriculture and will be made up of 13 Ohioans, including:

• The Director of the Ohio Department of Agriculture
• Three family farmers
• Two veterinarians (one of whom is the state veterinarian),
• A food safety expert
• A representative of a local humane society
• Two members representing statewide farm organizations
• The dean of an Ohio agriculture college
• Two members representing Ohio consumers