Top Headlines

Scientists at Ohio State University are in a multi-year research project to find ways to help growers, producers and just about any Ohioan who has a problem with pests find sustainable and ecological ways to manage them.

Because of a renewed three-year, $750,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture, experts from Ohio State, Ohio State University Extension and the Ohio State Integrated Pest Management program are researching sustainable ways to manage pests and help people use methods that minimize environmental, health and economic risks.

From farms, vineyards and orchards to schools, nursing homes and consumers’ homes, lawns or gardens, the IPM program works to find sound, economical ways to help people deal with pests, said Joe Kovach, director of the IPM program and a professor of entomology.

Those pests can include weeds, disease, insects and vertebrates such as deer and rabbits, basically anything that can attack people, their homes or their crops.… Continue reading

Nineteen select leaders and advocates recently graduated from Ohio Farm Bureau Federation’s (OFBF) AgriPOWER Institute. The intensive, yearlong leadership training program was launched in 2008 to help farmers and agricultural professionals gain influence over public policy issues that impact their businesses.

Class IV graduates are: Matt Aultman, Darke County; Michele Burkey, Tuscarawas County; Yvonne Fair, Jefferson County; Adam Garman, Ross County; Jeff Heimerl, Licking County; Ty Kellogg, Geauga County; Jack Leslie, Wyandot County; Jeff Moore, Gallia County; Katie Myers-Griffith, Wayne County; Amanda Propst, Champaign County; Kristin Reese, Fairfield County; Bruce Simmons, Medina County; Myra Snider, Delaware County; Terri Studer, Butler County; Matt Stump, Union County; Leland Tinklepaugh, Franklin County; Curtis Tobe, Putnam County; Kris Vincent, Stark County; and Carol Wildman, Clark County.

During the past year, participants engaged government officials, activists, media insiders and farm leaders on pressing local, state and national issues. Among the topics were government structure and spending, regulations, the environment, animal welfare, international trade and public relations.… Continue reading

OHIO CROP WEATHER HIGHLIGHTS

The average temperature for the State was 48.2 degrees, 0.1 degrees above normal for the week ending Sunday, April 15, 2012. Precipitation
averaged 0.49 inches, 0.40 inches below normal. There were 41 modified growing degree days, 1 day above normal.

Reporters rated 5.9 days suitable for fieldwork during the seven-day period ending Friday, April 13, 2012. Topsoil moisture was rated 2
percent very short, 17 percent short, 73 percent adequate, and 8 percent surplus.

FIELD ACTIVITIES AND CROP PROGRESS WEEK ENDING SUNDAY APRIL 15th 2012

Temperatures for the State were slightly above normal for the week, with the exception of 2-3 nights below freezing; and precipitation
for the State was below normal. Freezing night temperatures recorded throughout the state may negatively impact this year’s apples, peach, and alfalfa hay crops. Other field activities for the week include field application of fertilizers and manure, tilling ground, planting corn and soybeans, and protecting fruit crops from freezing temperatures.… Continue reading

A new online resource called WhiteMoldInfo.com is now available for soybean growers seeking timely information and disease prevention strategies to stay one step ahead of white mold this year.

Developed by MANA Crop Protection, growers can utilize this exclusive online resource and enroll for Soybean White Mold Weekly Updates by accessing URL address http://whitemoldinfo.com/, or by simply typing whitemoldinfo.com into their Internet browser.

Dave Feist, Project Development Leader for MANA Crop Protection, said the new online resource was created to deliver highly relevant information to soybean growers seeking disease management insight behind the complexities of white mold.

“Growers who have soybean in high alert areas for white mold are encouraged to utilize the information to gain an understanding of the disease’s profile and proliferation trends, ways to minimize spreading between fields, evaluate its economic impact on yields, and learn preventative approaches to minimize risk,” he said. “Also, growers can opt to receive a weekly email update which will give additional insights during the season, along with regional planting progress and outbreak reports.”… Continue reading

The United States Department of Agriculture announced new funding that aims to provide fresh, healthy food for children in schools across America, and to bolster and sustain local farmers and ranchers.

The agency said that $3.5 million in new funding will be available to help local school districts organize and implement new Farm to School programs. Those critical initiatives seek to educate children about where their food comes from and improve the quality of school meals. At the same time, they also improve local and regional food systems and create new markets for local food producers.

“The local and regional food sector of agriculture is growing rapidly, as are Farm to School initiatives,” said Helen Dombalis, a Policy Associate for National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition. “While there is now at least one Farm to School program operating in each state, there is lots of work to be done to deepen and extend these programs, especially in more disadvantaged communities.… Continue reading

A group comprised from the commodity, dairy, livestock and specialty crop industries in urging the House and Senate to enact legislation before the end of the year to provide permanent and meaningful estate tax relief. The group supports permanently keeping the current exemption at $5 million per person and retaining the top rate of 35%.

The American Soybean Association (ASA), that is a part of the group, believes it is also imperative that the permanent estate tax law index the exemption to inflation, provide for spousal transfers, and include the stepped-up basis.

If Congress does not take action on ASA’s recommendations before the end of the year, the exemption will drop to $1 million and the top tax rate above the exclusion amount will increase to 55%.

“If estate taxes are allowed to be reinstated at the beginning of 2013 with only a $1 million exemption and top rate of 55%, the negative impact on our industry will be significant,” stated the groups.… Continue reading

By Dave Nanda, Director of Genetics and Technology for 
Seed Consultants, Inc.

There are several factors that affect soybean populations. Soybean plants have a great flexibility to adjust to plant populations. Unlike corn plants, soybeans have a tremendous ability to adjust to variations in population density. Soybean plants adjust by producing more branches per plant, and by increasing or decreasing the number of pods on both the main stem and branches.

Depending on the variety, each plant uses about 6 to 10 inches of space in all directions. There is little change in size of the beans and in number of beans per pod. If the population is too thick, plants will grow taller, pods are placed higher and there will be fewer pods on individual plants with fewer branches. Taller varieties will yield less if there are too many plants.

For double cropping, seeding rate should be increased following wheat because establishing stand may be more difficult.… Continue reading

Yab-ba-da-ba-lulah! OCJ cartoonist Earl Musick entertains readers with his wit and artistic talent each issue. He shares  bit more here, with some help from his teenage son and the fun song by Chris Rice, “What if cartoons got saved?”… Continue reading

Corn seeding depth can play an important role in plant germination and could become even more vital if soils remain dry in the coming weeks, says a Purdue Extension agronomist.

Soil moisture levels and uniformity at planting depth can determine how rapidly and uniformly seeds germinate and eventually emerge. Even so, farmers often are content to leave planters set to the same seeding depth as the previous year — something Bob Nielsen said they might want to reconsider.

“Many agronomists agree that a seeding depth of 1.5 to 2 inches is a fairly all-purpose range that works well in most situations,” he said. “However, certain conditions merit consideration of changing seeding depth, the most common of which is soil moisture at seed depth.”

The recent warm, mostly dry weather have helped farmers to complete tillage and herbicide, nitrogen and fertilizer applications, and have sparked optimism about a rapid planting season.… Continue reading

The 2011/12 marketing year will end May 31, a point at which most analysts expect the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to make only minor changes to its year-end supply and demand estimates. USDA did make mostly small changes to wheat production, world trade and beginning stocks estimates in its monthly World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report released April 10. However, USDA sharply increased projections of wheat used for feed. Generally, a spike in feed use would indicate quality issues, but other market factors are driving the feed wheat use higher than ever this year.

Driving feed wheat demand is the very tight supply of corn. Despite five consecutive years of record corn production, projected 2011/12 world ending stocks are 2% lower than last year and 7% lower than the five-year average. USDA currently projects U.S. ending corn stocks down 29% in 2011/12 to 20.3 million metric tons (MMT), 46% below the five-year average of 37.8 MMT.… Continue reading

By Ron Hammond and Andy Michel, OSU Extension entomologists

We had reported the lack of eggs at most buckthorn sites last fall, but we did find lots of eggs on buckthorn at Mirror Lake on the OSU Campus in Columbus.  We sampled these various sites  over the past few weeks and did not find any aphids following the leafing-out of the buckthorn, including the Mirror Lake buckthorn where masses of eggs were found.

However, in looking at the eggs that were still there, it was observed that the eggs, while still present, were all shriveled. Having talked with people more in the know, these eggs were perhaps not fertilized last fall, maybe from a lack of males.

Based on these observations and past history, we predict that Ohio, and only speaking for Ohio, will experience a “low aphid” year.  We expect aphids to be hard to find through most of the summer, and will only rise in numbers in late summer/early fall prior to migrating to buckthorn. … Continue reading

A study conducted by Kansas State University shows that opponents of antibiotics use in livestock production wildly overestimate the amount given to food animals.

Using data from a 2006 U.S. Department of Agriculture swine survey and a 2009 survey of swine veterinarians, KSU found that annually about 1.6 million pounds of antibiotics are used in pork production for growth promotion/nutritional efficiency and disease prevention. A 2001 report, “Hogging It,” from the Union of Concerned Scientists claimed that 10.3 million pounds a year are used.

“The UCS report should have been titled ‘Fabricating It,’” said National Pork Producers Council President R.C. Hunt, a pork producer from Wilson, N.C. “Pork producers do not overuse antibiotics. We work with veterinarians to carefully consider if antibiotics are necessary and which ones to use.”

The KSU study, which was published in the March issue of Foodborne Pathogens and Disease, found that 2.8 million pounds of antibiotics were used for growth promotion/nutritional efficiency, disease prevention and disease treatment.… Continue reading

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced its intent to publish in the Federal Register on Fri., April 13, 2012, its final Guidance 209 and a draft proposed rule on veterinary feed directives. Tom Talbot, a California beef producer, large animal veterinarian and current chairman of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association’s (NCBA) Cattle Health and Well-Being Committee, issued the following statement.

“Raising healthy cattle is the top priority for cattle farmers and ranchers. They work with veterinarians and animal health experts to implement comprehensive herd-health plans, which include the judicious use of antibiotics to prevent, control and treat any cattle health issues. NCBA is pleased that FDA has resisted unscientific calls to completely ban the use of antibiotics and antimicrobials in cattle and other livestock species. However, we remain concerned with regulatory actions that are not based on peer-reviewed science or that set the precedent to take animal care and health decisions out of the hands of veterinarians.… Continue reading

Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA) Director David Daniels today announced several new appointments to the department’s senior management team: Howard Wise, assistant director; Michael Bailey and Janelle Mead, deputy directors; Denise Franz King, executive director of the Office of Farmland Preservation; Traci Orahood, human resources chief; Erica Pitchford, communications director; and Erin Honnold and George McNab, legislative liaisons.

“We have assembled a great executive team of professionals who have wide array of experience in agriculture, public administration and public policy,” said Daniels. “I look forward to working with everyone to continue our daily work of assisting farmers and protecting consumers in the State of Ohio.”

Wise will oversee the department’s day-to-day regulatory operations and laboratories, in addition to the department’s policies and procedures. Prior to his this recent appointment, Wise served as the department’s assistant director from 2004 through 2006.  From July 1999 to June 2004, he served as the executive director of the department’s Office of Farmland Preservation. … Continue reading

A strong bi-partisan Farm Bill may be coming out of the Senate in the next two weeks, but as ASA Farm Bill Task Force Chair Rob Joslin stresses, that is not the finish line.

OSA ASA Rob Joslin Farm Bill Update… Continue reading

A strong bi-partisan Farm Bill may be coming out of the Senate in the next two weeks, but as ASA Farm Bill Task Force Chair Rob Joslin stresses, that is not the finish line.

OSA ASA Rob Joslin Farm Bill Update… Continue reading

Buying local is a fast moving trend across the U.S., but no other industry has experienced the benefits of this recent movement more than agriculture. Within Ohio, countless roadside stands, farmers markets, wineries, garden centers and U-pick locations all face strong competition from larger operations, but they have a big advantage by providing some of the freshest fruits and vegetables around. The distance food travels, or simply, food miles, is almost irrelevant when buying local.

To explain more about the buy local movement, the monthly Northwest Ohio Ag-Business Breakfast Forum will host Janet Cassidy, senior director, marketing communications, Ohio Farm Bureau Federation (OFBF), Thursday, Apr. 19 from 7:30 – 9 a.m. The program begins at 8 a.m. with informal networking prior, hosted by the Center for Innovative Food Technology (CIFT) at the Agricultural Incubator Foundation, north of Bowling Green, Ohio.

OFBF has some excellent tools to link consumers with local growers.… Continue reading

By: Heather Hetterick

Eighth-grader Spencer Channell had to choose an invention from the Industrial Revolution and make a presentation out of it for his history class at Olentangy Orange Middle School. Having no agricultural background, he choose the grain elevator, because it sounded neat to him. He didn’t make a presentation though, he spent two weeks writing, recording, filming and editing a music video about the grain elevator. He even went to a Heritage Cooperative location to film in front of their grain elevator.

Channell tells us it’s exciting to see all the attention the video is getting. Even for those who do have an agricultural background its educational and entertaining.

… Continue reading

By Ty Higgins, Ohio Ag Net

As of this week, 2 percent of Ohio’s corn crop is in the ground.

After planting his corn on March 21^st and 22^nd, Fayette County farmer Greg Bentley’s corn is up!

“I knew that the extended forecast was for above normal temperatures,” said Bentley. “I was just taking a chance and then they changed the forecast on me.”

That they did, as forecasters are now calling for cooler temperatures in April than what we had in March. Bentley knew planting so early was a gamble, but he still thinks it will pay off.

“I’m not sure if I have a perfect stand everywhere or not,” said Bentley. “I know corn can have a frost on it and as long as it doesn’t kill the growing points in the ground it should be okay.  I am not afraid of it being frosted a time or two.”… Continue reading