COLUMBUS – State Rep. Haraz N. Ghanbari, R-Perrysburg, urged the nation’s agriculture secretary to
support relief for local farmers devastated by heavy rains and flooding.
In a Thursday letter to U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue, Ghanbari wrote that despite advances
in technology to assist in tilling fields and planting crops, thousands of acres of prime farmland are
seedless – and thousands more have crops that will not survive.
”These unprecedented storms are preventing the hardworking farmers of Wood County – my constituents –
from planting their crops,” Ghanbari said. “I have with talked farmers who are working the same fields
as their fathers and grandfathers before them, and this is the worst their families have experienced in
decades.”
On Wednesday, Ghanbari, along with Gov. Mike DeWine and Ohio Sen. Theresa Gavarone, R-Bowling Green, met
with local farmers and toured fields decimated by heavy rains.
Ghanbari said he’s also concerned with the impact this this disaster will have on feed local livestock
farmers need, as well as the overall impact on our local economy.
In his letter, Ghanbari asked Perdue to give local farmers additional regulatory flexibility and
requested the agency provide funding assistance for the planting of cover crops for erosion control and
weed prevention.