Ohio Ag Net | Ohio's Country Journal Ohio Ag Net | Ohio's Country Journal Experts from Ohio State University’s Department of Agricultural, Environmental and Development Economics will present a series of updates on the agricultural economy, commodity markets and policy issues at the 2011 Farm Science Review, Sept. 20-22 at the Molly Caren Agricultural Center near London.
“Our ‘Question the Authorities’ sessions focus on the current economy and its effect on agriculture, broadly defined,” said Stan Ernst, OSU Extensionoutreach program leader. “We have a little extra this year related to energy and we’ll do some presentations on alternative enterprise examples, also.”
The Question the Authorities sessions are a staple of Extension’s educational offerings at Farm Science Review. Sessions run daily beginning at 9 a.m. at 426 Friday Ave. as part of OSU Central.
For corn, wheat and soybean producers, the Department’s popular grain marketing outlook presentations are offered three times each day of the Review. The program also features sessions on input costs, farmland values and cash rents, as well as sessions on estate planning and farm transfer issues.
In addition, Extension experts and specialists will cover a variety of economic and policy issues related to biomass and alternative energy production. New this year will be a slate of seminars on shale gas production and related legal issues in leasing farm land for that purpose.
“When we start talking about mineral rights in Ohio, it gets really complicated,” Ernst said. “When these discussions start, we have to look at how to put together the right deal for the landowners and the community at large. There are a lot of broad policy implications.”
The Question the Authorities sessions compliment the Department’s annual panel discussion on a hot topic in agriculture, focusing this year on the impact of Marcellus and Utica shale on rural economies. That panel, hosted by extension ag economist Matt Roberts, is Tuesday at 10 a.m. in the Tobin Building.
