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A crush of supporters filed friend-of-the-court briefs, joining the American Farm Bureau Federation in urging the U.S. Supreme Court to hear arguments on the Environmental Protection Agency’s plan to micromanage state land-use and development decisions under the guise of the Chesapeake Bay water quality “blueprint.”

Filers included 92 members of Congress, 22 states, forestry groups represented by the Pacific Legal Foundation, and a broad cross-section of the U.S. economy represented by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers and the National Federation of Independent Business.

“The fact that so many voices are being raised in support of Supreme Court review shows the broad and severe threat that EPA’s action here poses nationwide,” said Bob Stallman, AFBF president. “EPA has asserted powers that do not appear in any law written by Congress, and it has done so in the context of an iconic national treasure, hoping that will inoculate its power grab in the courts.… Continue reading

The Ohio Farm Bureau Foundation kicked off a five-year fundraising campaign with the goal of raising $15 million for a variety of initiatives that make up the organization’s three pillars — the environment, education and economic development.

The campaign launch took place during Ohio Farm Bureau Federation’s (OFBF) annual meeting as delegates, state trustees and board members met in Columbus Dec. 2-4.

“As an organization we must challenge ourselves to chart an ambitious course forward,” said John C. “Jack” Fisher, OFBF executive vice president. “In the future, we can play an even larger role in solving the challenges facing Ohio by preparing the next generation of leaders, funding innovation in our communities and ensuring a healthy environment.”

The foundation’s new slogan, “Strong Foundation: Building for Tomorrow,” was on prominent display at the meeting, and the group’s silent and live auction was held throughout the event. The Rural-Urban Community Silent and Live Auction featured locally produced items, sports memorabilia and tickets, handmade items and agritourism experience opportunities put up for bid by county Farm Bureaus and partners throughout the state.… Continue reading

Matt and Liz Funderburgh of North Lewisburg were recently elected chair couple of the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation (OFBF) Young Agricultural Professional Advisory Team. Kyle and Ashton Walls of Mount Vernon were elected co-chair couple. Terri Specht of Johnstown was elected secretary.

The team develops and directs programming, activities and contests for Ohio Farm Bureau’s program for young adults who are interested in improving the business of agriculture, learning new ideas and developing leadership skills.

Other team members are Greg and Theresa Corcoran of Chillicothe, Eric and Shelly Prysi of New Philadelphia, Doug Toops of South Vienna, Karl Wedemeyer of La Rue and Jennifer Wilson of Jenera.… Continue reading

Steve Hirsch of Chillicothe was re-elected president of the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation (OFBF) during the organization’s 97th annual meeting Dec. 2-4. Hirsch holds the highest elected office in the state’s largest and most inclusive farm organization. He is the 23rd president of OFBF, which was founded in 1919.

Hirsch also is District 15 trustee, representing members in Fairfield, Hocking, Pickaway and Ross counties. He began his Farm Bureau career 22 years ago and has served on OFBF’s state board since 2001.

The Hirsch family farm dates back to 1890 and today is run by Steve, his father and his brother. They produce apples, peaches, grapes, strawberries, raspberries and other crops and operate an on-farm and an off-farm retail market and a cider making facility. He and his wife, Kimberly, have three children.

Frank Burkett III of Massillon has been re-elected first vice president of the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation (OFBF) as well as District 9 trustee.… Continue reading

Four finalists have been named in Ohio Farm Bureau Federation’s (OFBF) 2016 Discussion Meet. They are Stephen Caraway of West Union, Mike Derringer of Eaton, Andy Korb of Oxford and Joy Sizemore of Monroeville.

The annual contest tests participants’ subject knowledge, problem solving abilities and personal and small group communications skills. These young agricultural professionals will compete in the finals at the Young Agricultural Professionals’ Leadership Experience at the Hyatt Regency in Columbus Jan. 29.

The finalists were named after a preliminary competition at the Ohio Farm Bureau’s Ohio Farm and Food Leadership Forum in Columbus where they discussed topics impacting the agriculture industry.

“The Discussion Meet contest is a great opportunity for young ag professionals to strengthen their skills in working together to solve issues facing agriculture today. I look forward to watching these finalists compete at the finals in January,” said OFBF Young Agricultural Professionals Coordinator Melinda Witten.

The finalists will compete for a $1,000 cash award from Nationwide Insurance, a Polaris Most Versatile Generator and an expense-paid trip to American Farm Bureau Federation’s annual convention in 2017.… Continue reading

Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS) virus was first detected in the U.S. in 1987. Pigs that contract the disease have extreme difficulty reproducing, don’t gain weight and have a high mortality rate. To date, no vaccine has been effective, and the disease costs North American farmers more than $660 million annually. Now, a team of researchers from the University of Missouri, Kansas State University, and Genus plc have bred pigs that are not harmed by the disease.

“Once inside the pigs, PRRS needs some help to spread; it gets that help from a protein called CD163,” said Randall Prather, distinguished professor of animal sciences in the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources. “We were able to breed a litter of pigs that do not produce this protein, and as a result, the virus doesn’t spread. When we exposed the pigs to PRRS, they did not get sick and continued to gain weight normally.”… Continue reading

Including plants’ acclimation to changes in temperature could significantly improve the accuracy of climate models, a Purdue University study shows.

Plants are the largest drivers of carbon fluxes between land and the atmosphere, taking up and releasing carbon dioxide through the processes of photosynthesis and respiration. The rates at which these processes occur are sensitive to temperature and gradually adjust over time in response to long-term temperature shifts, a phenomenon known as acclimation.

Jeffrey Dukes, professor of forestry and natural resourcesand biological sciences, and a team of researchers found that adding formulas for acclimation into climate change models more closely aligns their simulations of carbon exchange with those observed in nature. The accuracy of model projections of carbon flux in tropical forests improved by 36% when acclimation was included.

“We want climate models to be as accurate as possible and represent the world in the way we know it to work,” Dukes said.… Continue reading

In response to a World Trade Organization (WTO) decision announcing that Canada and Mexico are authorized to apply a total of over $1 billion in retaliatory tariffs to U.S. exports, dairy producers and exporters renewed their call for Congress to take swift action to eliminate the threat to dairy exports.

“The WTO decision makes it crystal clear that Congress must act immediately to prevent retaliation against the U.S. dairy industry and others whose products could be targeted by Canada and Mexico,” said NMPF President and CEO Jim Mulhern. “At a time of overall softening in the U.S. farm economy due to a drop-off in export demand, we cannot afford further erosion in income resulting from the unnecessary loss of markets that would result from the WTO sanctions.”

The WTO decision establishes the level of retaliation tariffs that Canada and Mexico will shortly be given final authorization to levy against a wide range of U.S.… Continue reading

Hunters checked 73,399 white-tailed deer during Ohio’s 2015 deer-gun hunting season, Nov. 30-Dec. 6, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR). This represents a significant increase over last year’s harvest of 65,484 deer. During the 2013 deer-gun season, 75,408 deer were checked.

To date, for the 2015 deer hunting seasons, hunters have checked 152,554 deer. Last year at this same time, hunters had harvested a total of 148,821 deer. Given that the year-to-date harvest is only slightly higher, the significant increase in this year’s deer-gun season can most likely be attributed to better weather conditions compared to the 2014 deer-gun season. A smaller contributing element could be the fact that there was not an antlerless muzzleloader season in October this year. This year’s harvest was closer to the 2013 deer-gun season harvest, which also points to last year’s poor weather as the primary factor for the increase.

Two days (Monday, Dec.… Continue reading

The National Biodiesel Board called on Congress to quickly pass a reformed biodiesel producer’s tax incentive as tax negotiations heated up on Capitol Hill and lawmakers introduced updated biodiesel tax legislation in the House and Senate.

“The biodiesel industry cannot grow and support good-paying jobs without some level of predictability on tax policy, and the legislative clock is winding down,” said Anne Steckel, NBB’s vice president of federal affairs. “This tax incentive has strong bipartisan support, as demonstrated by the bills introduced today. It’s good for the economy, it’s good for the environment and it’s good for consumers. And importantly the reforms included in today’s bills will appropriately focus the incentive on U.S. production”

The new legislation, sponsored by Sens. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) and Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), and Reps. Kristi Noem (R-S.D.) and Bill Pascrell (D-N.J), builds on legislation (S. 1946) that won unanimous support from the Senate Finance Committee in July.… Continue reading

The Senate approved the conference report on the Surface Transportation Reauthorization Act, more familiarly known as the Highway Bill. The final legislation is formally titled the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act, and will now head to President Barack Obama for signature.

Providing funding certainty for road and bridge construction and maintenance was a priority for the American Soybean Association in the legislation, as well as reversing the $3 billion in cuts to crop insurance that were included in the bipartisan budget deal passed in October.

“The cut to crop insurance was a dealbreaker for soybean farmers and we’re very relieved to see these cuts reversed,” said Wade Cowan, ASA’s president and a farmer from Brownfield, Texas. “Soybean farmers across the country rely on crop insurance in times of extreme weather to ensure they can stay in business to farm in the coming year. An ill-advised $3 billion in cuts would have severely hobbled the program, and we’re happy to see them reversed.”… Continue reading

Understanding what consumers value and look for when purchasing meat can help livestock producers increase their profit potential and become more competitive in the cattle industry.

“The average livestock producer rarely follows the animals through harvest to the finished product,” said John Grimes, beef coordinator for Ohio State University Extension and a member of the OSU Extension Beef Team.

“Understanding how prime, choice and select cuts are determined and what goes into establishing value can help producers make more informed choices in their day-to-day management on their farm operations,” Grimes said.

To help bridge the knowledge gap, beef experts with the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences are offering a two-part Beef 509 series Feb. 20 and 27, designed to help producers take advantage of increasing consumer demand for high-quality beef products as well as position themselves for continued long-term success, he said.

“This workshop can offer producers a view beyond the farm gate to the consumer’s plate,” he said.… Continue reading

Registration is now open for the Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association’s (OEFFA) 37th annual conference. Pre-conference intensives will be held on Friday, February 12 and the two-day conference will take place Saturday, February 13 and Sunday, February 14, 2016 at the Granville Middle and High schools in Granville, Ohio (Licking County).

As the state’s largest sustainable food and farm conference, more than 1,200 attendees from across Ohio and the U.S. will come together to enjoy keynote sessions with Lindsey Lusher Shute and John Ikerd; nearly 100 educational workshops; three pre-conference intensives; a trade show; locally-sourced and organic from-scratch meals, and more.

“This conference is about working with nature, rather than trying to control it,” said OEFFA Program Director Renee Hunt. “Sustainable agriculture is not only a path for growing right by nature, but for doing right by our communities, public health, and our economy, as well.”… Continue reading

Livestock producers need to take extra care when creating and maintaining stored silage piles to not only ensure they produce quality animal feed but also to lessen the risk of injury or even death from suffocation caused by an accidental silage avalanche.

Creating safe and nutritional silage piles starts with making sure the height is never higher than what your loading or unloading equipment can safely reach, which is typically 12 to14 feet above the silage floor, said Rory Lewandowski, an Ohio State University Extension agriculture and natural resources educator.

While that may sound intuitive, Lewandowski said, numerous silage avalanches have occurred nationwide in recent years that have resulted in several deaths, according to data compiled by Ruthie and Keith Bolsen, nationally known silage safety experts.

“The biggest concern is that we can have these silage avalanches where silage will break off the face of the pile that you are drawing feed from, burying anyone beneath it,” he said.… Continue reading

The seventh annual Ohio Grain Farmers Symposium (OGFS) will be held on Thursday, December 17th at The Ohio State University Nationwide and Ohio Farm Bureau 4-H Center. The symposium will bring together farmers, researchers and industry experts who will offer insight into key agricultural issues such as land values and rents, input margins, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a crop market outlook, and how the federal clean power plan could impact Ohio.  Attendees will also hear an update from their national grain associations as well as from the leaders of the Ohio Corn and Wheat Growers Association (OCWGA) and Ohio Soybean Association (OSA).

The event is free, but registration is strongly recommended. Deadline for registration is December 11. Visit www.ohiograinfarmerssymposium.org to RSVP, or call OCWGA at 740-201-8088.

On-site registration opens at 8:00 a.m. followed by the start of the program at 9:00 a.m.  A full OGFS agenda is available online at www.ohiograinfarmerssymposium.org.… Continue reading

Unverferth Manufacturing announces its 31 Days of Christmas Rebate for purchasers of its brands of new grain carts and wagons from December 1, 2015 through December 31, 2015.  Purchasers of Brent, Killbros, Parker or Unverferth grain carts and high-capacity wagons during this time period will receive up to a $4,000 rebate check on grain carts and up to $1,100 on grain wagons.

The grain cart rebate amounts are $4,000 for 2,000 bushel, $3,500 for 1500 and 1600 bushel, $3,000 for 1300 through 1100 bushel, $2,500 for 1000 bushel, $1,500 for 850 and 700 bushel and $1,000 for 650 to 500 bushel models.  Grain wagon rebates are $1,100 for 750 bushel, $950 for 650 and $800 for 550 bushel wagons.

Additionally, grain cart purchasers of any of these brands through year’s end also qualify for up to $3,000 in Buyer’s Bucks good toward the future purchase of a wide range of other Unverferth-branded products.… Continue reading

With the holiday season in full swing and the year quickly coming to an end, farmers and ranchers are urging Congress to reinstate and extend expired tax provisions that help improve the economic viability and stability of our food, fiber and fuel production. Farmers need provisions like section 179 small business expensing and bonus depreciation to help them make business purchases while dealing with uncontrollable weather and unpredictable markets.

This fall, Farm Bureau and more than 2,000 other companies and organizations sent a letter to lawmakers explaining why these provisions, most of which expired at the end of 2014, are so important. And today we’re calling for a “Tax Relief Tuesday” to finally bring farmers, ranchers, and other small business owners across the country the relief and predictability they need for economic growth. Failure to pass a bill extending these provisions amounts to a tax increase.

Farmers and ranchers need a tax code that gives them certainty for long-term business decisions that can grow and expand their operations.… Continue reading

National Farmers Union (NFU) President Roger Johnson urged Congress and international leaders to take meaningful steps to mitigate climate change and pledge themselves to provide adequate risk management tools for America’s family farmers and ranchers, who are charged with ensuring the nation’s food security and have been dealing with a changing climate for decades.

“Earth’s climate is changing — temperatures are rising, extreme weather events are becoming more frequent, and precipitation patterns are shifting. The nation’s family farmers and ranchers have been in the trenches, working through that reality for years,” Johnson said. “Farmers and ranchers need access to both robust risk management tools and resources to help them cope with this new reality, or global food security is at risk.”

Johnson noted that average temperatures have risen across the contiguous 48 states since 1901, with an increased rate of warming over the past 30 years.  And the most recent 50 years likely have been the warmest worldwide in at least the last 1,300 years. … Continue reading

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s final rules on the volume of biofuels that must be produced from 2014 to 2016 continues the current policy thrust that biofuels reduce greenhouse gas emissions compared with fossil fuels, Purdue University energy economist Wally Tyner says.

“While the final numbers are not as high as the ethanol industry wanted, they move much closer to the levels in the original legislation for corn ethanol and actually exceed the mandated levels for biodiesel,” Tyner said.

The EPA’s final numbers on the Renewable Fuel Standards, released Monday (Nov. 30), were somewhat higher than the original May 2015 levels, especially for ethanol. While there is no explicit mandate for corn ethanol, the implied conventional biofuel level, which includes corn ethanol, went from 13.4 billion gallons to 14.05 billion for 2015, an increase of 650 million gallons, or 4.9%.

Similarly, the 2016 level for conventional biofuel went up 500 million gallons to 14.5 billion, or 3.6%, compared with the May preliminary numbers.… Continue reading

One of the main challenges posed by the avian flu outbreak that has impacted the U.S. poultry industry in the past year is how to safely and effectively dispose of potentially hundreds of thousands of birds killed as a result of infection and eradication efforts.

“The U.S. strategy is to quickly identify the infected premises, depopulate, properly dispose of carcasses and manure, clean and disinfect the premises, and have 21 days of down time after cleaning before re-population can take place,” said Mohamed El-Gazzar, Ohio State University Extension’s poultry veterinarian. “As you might imagine, the logistics of depopulation and disposal are very challenging, particularly with the large-scale layer complexes, some of which have a capacity of more than 5 million birds.”

In 2015, this strategy has resulted in the culling of 7.5 million turkeys and 42.1 million egg-layer and pullet chickens, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

While the avian flu outbreak has not impacted Ohio poultry, experts with the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences at The Ohio State University have been helping poultry producers learn about the disease, boost biosecurity measures on the farm, and prepare to minimize the flu’s impact if it were to reach the state.… Continue reading