C. William Swank

C. William Swank, of Westerville, has been a powerful spokesman for agriculture at state and national levels for 41 years. He has provided leadership for several pieces of legislation, having a positive impact on Ohio agriculture, including legislation on agricultural districts in Ohio. He has also helped exempt Ohio farmers from personal property tax.

He helped save farmers millions of dollars annually by providing leadership to change Ohio’s constitution for farmland to be taxed on agricultural production capabilities, instead of the speculative value. Swank has served as co-chairman in a statewide effort to defeat the labeling law (Issue 5) and was appointed by Governor Voinovich as one of the chairs for the statewide Farmland Preservation Task Force, formed to preserve Ohio’s prime farmland.

He served the Ohio Farm Bureau for 40 years beginning as an economic analyst and was appointed as vice-president of the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation in 1968 before retiring in 1996.