News

On behalf of the members of the Ohio Soybean Association (OSA), I am writing to offer support
of provisions in HB 187 that will benefit Ohio farmland property taxpayers.

Soybean production makes up a significant portion of Ohio’s agriculture industry with a total
economic impact of more than $7.5 billion. Our members engage in a diverse set of policy
initiatives to help promote and grow these contributions to Ohio’s economy.

OSA supports changes recently made to House Bill 187 that will allow farmland valuations,
which are calculated under the Current Agricultural Use Valuation (CAUV) formula, to be
averaged over a three-year period. This change creates parity with the bill’s approach to
residential property valuations.

Reform of the CAUV program, last passed by the legislature in 2017, made significant progress
toward a more accurate accounting of farmland’s value based on its ability to generate income
from agricultural production. However, because agriculture and residential property taxpayers
together constitute Class I property, the bill’s original proposal to implement averaging for only
one component of Class I would have very detrimental impacts to agricultural property
taxpayers.

Ohio farmers have faced a volatile farm economy recently. While crop prices have been high,
margins remain low due to increased input prices. In fact, the United States Department of
Agriculture is forecasting a 23% decrease in net farm income for 2023. Increasing borrowing
costs now present new challenges for producers as well. On top of the challenging farm
economy, CAUV rates are set to increase by a statewide average of 100% for counties being
reevaluated this year.

There will be an additional opportunity to evaluate the efficacy of our property tax system by the
property tax study committee created under House Bill 33. Until that process can be completed,
provisions in HB 187 will provide needed short-term relief.

I appreciate your time and attention to this issue. If you have any questions, please feel free to
contact Brandon Kern, OSA Director of Public Affairs at bkern@soyohio.org.

Respectfully,
Patrick Knouff
President, Ohio Soybean Association