Frankart touts ‘fiscal conservatism’ as his farm collects $4.5 million, tops Seneca County in federal subsidies

TIFFIN, Ohio — Seneca County Commissioner Bill Frankart is promising to protect taxpayers’ money in a reelection radio advertisement as federal records show his farming operation has received nearly $4.5 million in government agricultural subsidies since 1995.

“My fiscally conservative values will protect your tax dollars and ensure we maintain a balanced budget for the county,” Frankart says in a campaign commercial airing on WBVI 96.7 FM, a Fostoria-based radio station.

According to U.S. Department of Agriculture payment records compiled by the Environmental Working Group, Ridge View Farms, the Clyde-area grain operation Frankart identifies as his own, received $4,489,683 in federal commodity, disaster and conservation payments from 1995 through 2025. Of that amount, $3,768,460 was attributed to farms in Seneca County, $681,963 to Sandusky County and $39,260 to Huron County.

EWG’s Seneca County recipient rankings place Ridge View Farms first in total subsidies attributed to the county over that period. The next recipient on the list, Kingland Farms of Tiffin, received $2,241,109 in county-attributed payments.

Frankart’s 2026 campaign website says he and his family own and operate Ridge View Farms. His official county biography says he took over the farm after his father’s death in 1995 and has been its sole owner since 2011. The EWG year-by-year figures show that $2,286,098 of the farm’s federal payments came from 2011 through 2025, during the period the county describes as his sole ownership.

The payments are recorded as receipts to the farming operation, not as Frankart’s personal income. The records do not, by themselves, indicate that any program rules were broken. They do document the scale of federal financial support received by a business whose owner has made fiscal conservatism a recurring part of his public identity.

Frankart, a Republican elected commissioner in 2022, is seeking a second four-year term in the Nov. 3 election against independent candidate David Ziegler, an Eden Township trustee.

Trade-war bailout, pandemic aid and decades of crop payments

Most of Ridge View Farms’ recorded federal assistance came through commodity programs. EWG lists $3,591,379 in commodity payments, compared with $481,768 in disaster payments and $416,536 in conservation payments during the 31-year period. Commodity programs include agricultural price and revenue supports, along with special assistance enacted or administered in response to disruptions in farm markets.

One of the more substantial identifiable programs was the Trump administration’s Market Facilitation Program. Ridge View Farms received $452,099 through that program, according to EWG’s Seneca County payment records, more than any other recipient listed in the county. The USDA describes the program as direct assistance for farmers affected by foreign retaliatory tariffs and trade disruptions during President Donald Trump’s first term.

Ridge View Farms also received $221,437 through the second round of the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program, according to EWG’s program records. The USDA established CFAP 2 to provide financial assistance to agricultural producers facing market disruptions and related costs during the COVID-19 pandemic. Both the trade-aid and pandemic-aid figures are components of the overall subsidy total, not additional payments on top of $4.49 million.

The payments have continued in recent years. Ridge View Farms received $398,242 in 2020 and $246,863 in 2023, followed by $39,810 in 2024 and $22,805 in 2025. The three years since Frankart took office as commissioner in January 2023 account for $309,478 in payments recorded by EWG. The database tracks money paid under federal programs; it does not establish the farm’s expenses, profitability or the financial losses underlying individual assistance payments.

A fiscal-conservative message stretching back years

Frankart’s statement on WBVI is not an isolated campaign claim. In an August 2019 campaign letter, he wrote that “sound budgets and strategic plans are important for any business or public entity,” citing his experience running Ridge View Farms and serving as an Adams Township trustee. An accompanying résumé described his township record as “fiscally responsible and conservative.”

After taking office, Frankart continued to use similar language. During deliberations over the 2024 county budget, he said, “This was a more conservative approach to the budget,” according to a December 2023 county release. His official biography identifies Trump and Ronald Reagan as the presidents who best represent his values.

Frankart’s pledge to balance the county budget concerns local government finances, while Ridge View Farms’ payments come from federal agricultural programs. His public statements about fiscal responsibility do not establish that he opposes farm subsidies. But the payments present a direct question about which forms of federal spending he supports and whether he believes the programs that benefited his farm should be preserved, reduced or changed.

TiffinOhio.net provided Frankart with the subsidy figures and sought his response to questions about their accuracy, his ownership of Ridge View Farms, his support for the federal programs and how the payments fit with his stated fiscal principles. He did not respond by the publication deadline.

Frankart, a Republican elected commissioner in 2022, is seeking a second four-year term in the Nov. 3 election against independent candidate David Ziegler, an Eden Township trustee. His current campaign continues to promise protection of county tax dollars; his position on the specific federal farm programs that have paid millions to Ridge View Farms remains unanswered.