Blogs

By Ty Higgins, Ohio Ag Net

2019 Van Wert County Farm Bureau Annual Meeting

Annual Meeting was held Aug. 6, 2019, at the Van Wert Center of Aging, in conjunction the Van Wert Soil and Water Conservation District. Dinner was catered by Gibson’s BBQ of Van Wert.

Celebrating 100 years of Ohio Farm Bureau

Voting of board members and delegates was held, and after dinner, Jessica Vandenbroek gave the organization director’s report. Scholarships were awarded and the 2019 year was recapped.

Special guest Matt Reese, from Ohio’s Country Journal, spoke about the challenges Ohio farmers face with the 2019 crop season.

We celebrated the 2019 year of Van Wert County Farm Bureau and welcome the year 2020.

By Ty Higgins, Ohio Ag Net

Putnam County Farm Bureau Annual Meeting 2019

The 2019 Putnam County Annual Meeting was held in conjunction with Putnam Soil and Water Conservation District meeting, at Whiskey Wine and Rose’s Winery in Fort Jennings, on Aug. 29, 2019.

Celebrating 100 years of Ohio Farm Bureau!

Dinner was catered by the delicious, Bavarian Catering, with dessert from Anna’s Cupcakes. Business meeting and voting was held following dinner. The exchange of office for president was passed from Curtis Tobe to Carl Liebrecht.

TRIVIA, TRIVIA, and TRIVIA! Groups participated in trivia questions on farming and Putnam County. Winners received prizes. There also were door prizes.

Rose Hartschuh gave the state trustee report and Jessica Vandenbroek, organization director, gave the County Report for 2019 and presented scholarships.

Putnam County Farm Bureau looks forward to the next 100 years of Farm Bureau.

By Ty Higgins, Ohio Ag Net

2019 Paulding County Annual Meeting

The 2019 Annual Meeting was held at the Paulding County Fairgrounds Saturday, Sept. 14, 2019. Dinner was catered by Puckerbrush Pizza, with delicious BBQ.

Celebrating 100 years of Ohio Farm Bureau!

After dinner, the business meeting was held, board members and delegates were elected, and prizes were won!

Jessica Vandenbroek gave the organization director’s report and presented scholarships, Rose Hartschuh gave the state trustee report, and board President Ryan McClure gave the county report and recapped the year.

Birthday cake was enjoyed and games were played, celebrating 100 years of Ohio Farm Bureau and the 2019 year in Paulding County.

By Ty Higgins, Ohio Ag Net

2019 Annual Meeting 

The 2019 Allen County Annual Meeting was held on Sunday, September 15, 2019. Annual Meeting was held at Hart Hall with dinner catered by Stites Catering of Lima.

Celebrating 100 years of Ohio Farm Bureau

Special guest from Ohio Farm Bureau, Jordan Hoewischer spoke to guests about water quality in our state.

Rose Hartschuh, Farm Bureau, gave the State Trustee Report.

State Representitive, Bob Cupp, spoke on behalf of Allen County in the state agenda.

Jessica Vandenbroek gave the county organization report, awarded scholarships and recapped the year.

Our business meeting was held, dinner was served, door prizes were raffled, and the year was celebrated.

We welcome a new year at Ohio Farm Bureau in Allen County and can’t wait for what is in store.

By Ty Higgins, Ohio Ag Net

Ohio is a big food state, with a lot of farmers, processors and manufacturers and, lots and lots of hungry consumers. A sizable share of Ohio’s very diverse food chain is made up by what’s identified as local foods. What is local? How do folks all along the food chain benefit from it? What do the economics look like? Can it grow? Today, we talk with Ohio State economist Zoe Plakias, OSU and local foods advocate and entrepreneur Alice Chalmers to learn more, on Town Hall Ohio.

Subscribe to Town Hall Ohio‘s podcast on iTunes.

By Ty Higgins, Ohio Ag Net

IssuesOhio’s top conservation farmers honored

IssuesLegal with Leah: The Michindoh Aquifer

News RoomCultivating a Cure sets attendance, fundraising records

Our OhioNine organizations receive Foundation grants

IssuesOhio manufacturers, ag producers need the USMCA

IssuesRural Legal Assistance on Town Hall Ohio

IssuesResources available to manage farm stress

StatewideOhio farmers rally to help Nebraska colleagues

StatewideWhere to Find Cover Crop Beer

Issues2019 State, National Priority Issues

Kyle and Ashton Walls of Mt. Vernon have been named winners of Ohio Farm Bureau Federation’s 2019 Excellence in Agriculture Award. The award recognizes successful young agricultural professionals who are actively contributing and growing through their involvement with Farm Bureau and agriculture.

The Walls will receive an expense-paid trip to Austin, Texas, to compete in the national Excellence in Agriculture contest during the American Farm Bureau Federation Annual Convention in January. They also receive a John Deere Gator courtesy of Farm Credit Mid-America and a $1,000 cash prize sponsored by Nationwide and Ohio Farm Bureau.

Kyle is a regional agricultural and commercial business manager for a mid-size community bank. Ashton is employed with one of the top global agricultural equipment manufacturers. The Walls have built and manage a herd of cow-calf Mexican Corriente cattle, which are primarily used for competitive rodeo events. They also raise laying hens for egg production.

They are both active in Farm Bureau at the county, state and national levels: Ashton served for many years as a Knox County Farm Bureau board member and was recently accepted by American Farm Bureau to attend the Women’s Communication Boot Camp in Washington, D.C.

By Ty Higgins, Ohio Ag Net

School is back in full swing and so is volleyball season. I will not lie, it has been busy.

When I received my schedule this year of teaching, I was incredibly worried. I did not have my preparation period until the last period of the school day. This had happened my first year of teaching and it had been a rough year. I had felt like I was constantly behind, constantly running late, constantly on the verge of a nervous breakdown not having a break, except a short lunch, during the day. My only bright spot was that occasionally I would get to cover our outdoor skills class.

I saw that my prep was seventh period, the last period of the day. It was not until the first week that I realized that my prep once again corresponded with the outdoor appreciation class.

Let me explain a bit about our outdoor appreciation class.

Lately, American farmers have not been given much good news when it comes to trade. American Farm Bureau Chief Economist John Newton tells Ohio Farm Bureau Director of Media Relations Ty Higgins that big wins with the USMCA and Japan may get the ball rolling for more bilateral trade deals and could bring positive momentum to the upcoming trade talks with China.

Transcription

Ty Higgins: This is the Ohio Farm Bureau podcast. I’m Ty Higgins along with Dr. John Newton. He’s the chief economist with the American Farm Bureau Federation, and John on the economic side of agriculture so much to talk about. Let’s start with trade. We were hearing a lot about what might be happening with China in the near future but a big deal coming down the pike with one of our biggest trading partners in Japan.

Dr. John Newton: Well I think the administration sent the notice up to Congress that we’re going to see some details on the Japanese Trade Agreement very, very soon.

Milton Scheffler was inducted into the Crawford County Agricultural Hall of Fame Sept. 10 during the Crawford County Farm Bureau Annual Meeting held at the Trillium Event Center. Crawford County Farm Bureau partnered with other agriculture organizations to designate an inductee into the Crawford County Agricultural Hall of Fame, a recognition for outstanding contributions by an individual to agriculture. An honorary plaque was presented to honor Scheffler, and a permanent Hall of Fame plaque will be displayed in the Crawford County Agricultural Hall of Fame.

Crawford Antique Farm Machinery Association nominated Scheffler to receive this award for his service as a Crawford County farmer, his many other accomplishments in Crawford County and the state of Ohio, and his volunteer work with Crawford County youth.

Scheffler raised corn, soybeans, wheat, oats, hay, cattle and hogs in Crawford County. He served as a committee member of the Crawford County FSA, served on the Board of Directors for the former Zeigler Milling Company helping farmers to make decisions, and was a trustee for the Crawford Antique Farm Machinery Association.

There is nothing like the feeling of driving off the dealership lot in a brand new or new to you vehicle. Very few things can take that feeling away, but nothing could take that smile off your face like the tax bill on that car, truck or SUV.

On this Legal with Leah, Ty Higgins, Ohio Farm Bureau Director of Media Relations and Leah Curtis, Ohio Farm Bureau policy counsel discuss what the ag sales tax exemption covers and what it doesn’t.

Listen to Legal with Leah, a podcast featuring Ohio Farm Bureau’s Policy Counsel Leah Curtis discussing topics impacting farmers and landowners.

Transcript

Ty Higgins: Leah I know that you and Joe covered that ag does have an exemption on sales tax, but the question then becomes does the tax break apply for motor vehicles and trailer purchases as well. The answer?

Leah Curtis: Well generally it doesn’t apply to motor vehicles in particular.

First responders in rural communities across the state have an acute need for grain bin rescue training, but a finite amount of availability to take such training. That’s about to change.

From that knowledge came a vision that is taking shape at the Wayne County Regional Training Facility in Apple Creek, a nonprofit group formed to train first responders in a six-state area. The facility provides educational programs on firefighting, fire prevention, emergency squad and rescue work. In 2017, volunteers from Ashland, Holmes, Medina and Wayne County Farm Bureaus “started dreaming,” said Bob Hange, who was president of the Wayne County Farm Bureau at the time. The four counties had just donated grain bin rescue tubes to local fire departments, which was appreciated. Although, there was one challenge: First responders lacked the training to use the new piece of equipment.

The Ohio Department of Agriculture today recognized five families as winners of the 2019 Conservation Farm Family Awards at the Farm Science Review in London. Ohio Farm Bureau is a sponsor of the awards.

“It is one thing to talk about the importance of conservation on the farm, but it is quite another to practice it every day like these award-winning families,” said Ohio Department of Agriculture Director Dorothy Pelanda. “I am proud of each of them for being good neighbors, handling the land with care, and helping to responsibly keep food and agriculture a top-ranking industry in Ohio.”

The five families honored were: Kurt Farms of Hardin County; Rick and Janice Brill of Lorain County; Doug and Beth McConnell of Muskingum County; Timothy and Lynn Miller of Logan County; and Fred and Kristy Walters of Hocking County.

“Each of the five farm families we recognized operates in a different area of Ohio, with differing acreages, soils, and topography,” said Kirk Hines, chief of the department’s Division of Soil and Water Conservation.

Each spring farmers get geared up to go out in the fields and plant their corn and soybeans. They hope for good weather to allow them to get their seeds in the ground. Then they hope for a decent growing season that allows the crops to grow and reach maturity. At harvest time, they hope for dry weather that allows them to get their crops harvested without working in muddy conditions.

Unfortunately, few of these things happened this past spring and summer. Farmers were ready to plant, but the weather didn’t cooperate. They would be ready to get out in the field and go to work. But then another rain would come along and they would be delayed another week or more, depending on the amount of rain — and some dropped a lot of water.

Several farmers and some agriculture industry people say this has been the worst planting season they can remember…just too much rain at the wrong time.

Levi and Krysti Morrow from Morgan County are the editors of the Sept. 23, 2019 Growing our Generation enewsletter, featuring insights and ideas directly from Ohio’s young farmers and food and agricultural professionals.

Hi! We’re Levi and Krysti Morrow, your guest editors for the Growing Our Generation e-Newsletter this week! With the “help” of our 15-month-old son, Charlie, we own and operate Rocky Knob Farms in McConnelsville.  We are the u-pick strawberry and pumpkin source in Morgan County and now are dipping our feet into the commercial hair sheep business. Krysti spends her time split between mom life and farm life managing the day to day chores, marketing and planning for our u-pick operations and farmers markets. Levi is an agriculture education teacher at Morgan Local Schools in our county and does all the cropping and haying for the farm.

In our 2017 edition, we discussed the importance of business planning, knowing your resources as a beginning farmer and what exactly we do with our leftover pumpkins.