FREDERICKTOWN — The Knox County Farm Bureau held its 2008 annual meeting at the Fredericktown United Methodist Church on Monday evening. Matching the meeting’s focus on outreach and communication, awards were presented to outgoing State Rep. Thom Collier and membership drive organizer Gene Phillips.
Collier was presented with the Service to Agriculture Award for his efforts promoting agriculture in the Statehouse in Columbus. Phillips was given the Outstanding Farm Bureau Member Award for his active work in enlisting new members into the county organization. Both awards were announced by Ohio Farm Bureau Federation district representative Susan Brinker.
Dan Joseph was elected president of the organization.
Outgoing president Marilyn Ruprecht opened the evening with a welcome that was followed by an invocation offered by her husband, Ken Ruprecht.
The featured speaker for the program was Dr. Norman St. Pierre, and OSU agricultural professor and researcher originally from Quebec, Canada. St. Pierre spoke of the importance of farmers educating people who have become disconnected from agriculture.
“Lots of people in this country anymore do not realize where their food comes from,” St. Pierre said.
He encouraged farmers to put people’s fears of agriculture in perspective. For instance, he pointed out that E. coli infections killed 45 children in the United States last year. He said that while that was tragic, it was 800 times more likely for a child to die in a bicycle accident, and 5,000 times more likely for a child to die in an automobile accident. He said such comparisons put the low risks of E. coli infection, agricultural greenhouse gases and rBST problems in perspective.
St. Pierre said that if the world were to revert to pre-1950 farming practices at this point, one-third of the world population would no longer be fed. He challenged audience members to spend at least 15 minutes every week being advocates for agriculture and educating people about agriculture.
Ruprecht added her own comments about the importance of self-promotion and how it was important to make the public aware of the Farm Bureau’s programs supporting the fair, Ag Awareness Day, American Farm Bureau Federation programs, media outreach, membership outreach, educational projects at Kenyon College and young student scholarships. Ruprecht also attacked hot-button agricultural issues as “Henny-Penny” issues, referring to the old fairy tale about the panicking hen who thinks the sky is falling.
“There are a lot of people out there who are easily influenced by nuts,” Ruprecht said, referring to radical activists. She also compared the sinister Foxy-Loxy character, who eats the panicking animals in the fairy tale, to manipulative lawyers who fan the sparks in such cases to make them flare up into major issues.
Marwood Hallett and Dan Joseph were elected representatives for District I (Berlin, Middlebury, Morris and Wayne townships) and District IV (Butler, Clay, Harrison, Jackson, Morgan and Pleasant townships), respectively. District II (Clinton, College, Hilliar, Liberty, Milford and Miller townships) and District III (Brown, Howard, Jefferson, Monroe, Pike and Union townships) did not advance trustee candidates.
Action Committees were formed, with Brian Breece heading Communication, Vic Turner handling Organization and Ken Ruprecht overseeing Public Policy. Bill Moody, Ken Ruprecht and Marilyn Ruprecht were selected as 2009 annual meeting delegates, with Sue McFarland and Vic Turner as alternates. Members approved nine county policy statements, seven state policy positions and two federal positions. Major policy statements included supporting efforts to add additional space or lanes on roadways to accommodate Amish buggies and farm equipment. Also supported were efforts to substantially reduce Ohio’s deer population.
Gene and Diana Phillips were presented outstanding membership drive awards by Bricker and OFBF state trustee Brent Porteus. Marilyn Ruprecht was presented with the past president’s pin by Bricker, who saluted Ruprecht for her hard work and passion for agriculture. Outgoing board member Dick Sechrist was also applauded for his work on behalf of the organization.
