Comments from the CEO

Chris Henney shares updates on your association

1st Quarter 2015 – 4/3/15

It’s been a busy first quarter of 2015! We kicked off our winter meeting season with our annual LAUNCH program. We’re proud to have graduated our third class this year since the inaugural program in 2013. We plan to continue this excellent leadership development program next year. Watch for promotional information this fall.

In early February we held our annual Industry Conference. Chris Jahn, president of The Fertilizer Institute, served as our keynote speaker for Wednesday evening’s dinner. Chris did an excellent job providing an overview of the issues related to water quality and fertilizer safety. He also graciously shared with the membership that TFI was appointing me to their board of directors as an ex-officio member representing state fertilizer associations across the country. I attended my first board meeting in mid-February and look forward to my service with TFI and the opportunity to represent OABA and the fertilizer industry.

OABA has a tradition of offering great educational programming to our members. This past winter was no different. A number of great programs were held, including a three-part grain operations course and our traditional anhydrous ammonia safety programs. As mentioned before, the Industry Conference was a great success with specific program tracks for agronomy and feed/grain over the course of two full days.

As you know, OABA staff has spent a lot of time on nutrient management and water quality issues. I personally gave many presentations to a broad cross section of audiences over the last three months. It’s important that we are in front of member audiences, but equally important to share our work with non-farming folks. I very much appreciate Daryl Gates of Morral Companies, LLC inviting me to speak to the Marion Rotary this winter!

The presentations we provide are usually an overview of voluntary and regulatory activities happening in Ohio. We especially enjoy being able to talk about the 4R Nutrient Stewardship Certification Program. OABA is proud to manage this voluntary certification program targeting the Western Lake Erie Basin, and we’re excited to share we have 66 retail facilities committed to participating in the program and five fully certified facilities at this time.

On the regulatory side, we have been talking a lot about Senate Bill 1 (see separate article). It’s important that members and non-members alike understand that, while the agriculture industry is being very proactive on nutrient management, our state government is also taking action. OABA has been very engaged in the legislative process with Senate Bill 1, as you well know if you’ve been reading News & Notes!

OABA has been active in other ways down at the Ohio Statehouse. We held a very successful legislative reception in the statehouse atrium in early March. It was well attended, and individuals from our member companies had a great opportunity to mingle and visit with state legislators and staff. Ohio House Speaker Cliff Rosenberger even stopped by for a few minutes to chat with our folks. Since this year marked the beginning of a new General Assembly, I have been meeting with a lot of new legislators over the past few months. I especially concentrate on the new members of the House and Senate agriculture committees. It’s a great opportunity to provide some information on our industry and also listen to their goals as a new legislator.

Speaking of visiting legislators, OABA leaders spent some time in Washington, D.C. this past February. Andy Swerlein of Luckey Farmers, Inc., Nathan Louiso of AgriGold, and Gordon Wallace and Bill Tom of Trupointe Cooperative, Inc. all traveled to our nation’s capital with me to meet with members of our congressional delegation and talk agricultural issues. We also had the opportunity to visit the offices of the National Grain and Feed Association, The Fertilizer Institute, CropLife America and the Agricultural Retailers Association to meet with their staff and get issue updates and briefings.

As I said at the beginning, it’s been a busy first quarter of 2015. It has also been a fruitful first few months of the year. I appreciate our members’ support and participation with OABA. Don’t hesitate to contact me if you have ideas, concerns or issues. You can reach me at 614-326-7520 or chenney@oaba.net. We are here for you!

-Chris