Top Headlines

By Laura Lindsey and Matthew Hankinson, Ohio State University Extension

This fall, with funding from Ohio Corn and Wheat, we will begin a new project “The Wheat to Beat” to identify management practices of interest to farmers that improve wheat yield, profitability, and quality. This project will include a “people’s choice treatment.” To vote on management practices and inputs to be examined in this study, please complete this brief survey: https://osu.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_7TJJyZf8mK2oNXo.

Please complete the survey by Sunday, Sept. 3.

Project guidelines:

Location — A high-yielding wheat variety will be planted in three locations (Northwest Agricultural Research Station in Wood County, Wooster Campus in Wayne County, and Western Agricultural Research Station in Clark County).

Baseline treatments — The wheat variety to be planted at all three locations is Seed Consultants 13S22. At all three locations, soil test P and K will be adequate for wheat production. (You may choose to apply additional fertilizer if you wish and can indicate this on the survey.)… Continue reading

Logan Minter has been hired as field specialist, specialty crops production systems, for Ohio State University Extension in The Ohio State University College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences (CFAES).

Minter, who previously worked as an associate professor of biology at Shawnee State University, began his new position Aug. 1, said Jacqueline Kirby Wilkins, associate dean and director, OSU Extension.

“In this new role, Logan will provide overall leadership for a comprehensive outreach, applied research, and teaching agenda for Extension’s statewide agriculture and natural resources program,” Wilkins said. “Logan’s work with specialty crops will be relevant to Extension professionals, growers, industry contacts, and other Extension clientele throughout Ohio.”

Specialty crops as defined by the United States Department of Agriculture include fruits, vegetables, nuts, nursery crops, flowers, and other horticultural crops. Minter will address several priority production issues such as pest control, disease management, production methods, organization systems, and breeding and varietal trials of new cultivars.… Continue reading

By Barry Ward, Leader, Production Business Management, Director, OSU Income Tax Schools, College of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, OSU Extension, Agriculture & Natural Resources

Continued high crop prices, reasonable crop margins and relatively healthy farm balance sheets over the last 2 years have given strength to farmland markets. Higher input costs over the last two years together with rising interest rates have offset some of this support but farmland values continue to increase. Many of these same factors have given support to the farmland rental markets which have also seen increases last year and are expected to see additional increases in 2023.

Results from the Western Ohio Cropland Values and Cash Rents Survey show cropland values in western Ohio are expected to increase in 2023 by 6.1 to 10.7% depending on the region and land class. This follows increases ranging from 6.9 to 13.8% from ’21 to ’22.

Cash rents are expected to increase from 5.0 to 6.7% in 2023 depending on the region and land class.… Continue reading

Ohio 4-H youth development will be one of the first 4-H programs in the nation to offer high school students a work ethic certification. 

Designed by Mike Rowe, best known as the host of television’s Dirty Jobs, the work ethic curriculum will be offered under the Ohio 4-H Pathways to the Future initiative. Ohio high schoolers will have the opportunity to learn about the importance of work ethic, personal responsibility, delayed gratification, and a positive attitude when it comes to future employment.

“In 2008, Mike Rowe saw a need to connect with a skilled workforce and offer youth the opportunity to engage with the demand for a career in the trades,” said Margo Overholt-Seckel, program manager, Ohio 4-H Workforce Development and Pathways. “His foundation created the MRW Work Ethic Certification.”

Four Ohio 4-H professionals completed the training and can now offer the work ethic curriculum. Several other 4-H and community development Extension educators and professionals in the process of completing the training. … Continue reading

By Jake Zajkowski, OCJ field reporter

GrowNextGen ambassadors can be found at the county fair, library events, and even local community events. This group of young educators travels across the state, connecting soybeans with science in ways that many might not consider.

Microinvertebrates, although not something raised on a farm, are organisms that serve as crucial indicators of a healthy water system in agriculture. Shelbie Snoke talks about microinvertebrates in her role as a GrowNextGen ambassador while demonstrating water quality to children.

“We have three different water quality buckets. One contains super clean sand, while the others are so murky you can’t see through them,” Snoke said. “We have various microinvertebrates living in our water samples that serve as a visual, teaching kids how water quality can be determined by the organisms within it.”

Snoke set up her station in the Land and Living Building at the Ohio State Fair where she interacted with countless fairgoers whose sole exposure to agriculture may only be a few minutes with her.… Continue reading

By Alyssa Essman, Ohio State University Extension

Pigweed plants that escaped POST applications or emerged after can now be seen above soybean canopies. Especially important are waterhemp and Palmer amaranth, as these species pose increased economic and management concerns. Waterhemp and Palmer plants can produce upwards of one million seeds per plant in certain situations. Managing these weeds often starts with preventing introductions. Anything we can do from now through harvest to prevent seed from being deposited into the soil seed bank will pay dividends down the road. At this point there are limited control options beyond scouting and hand pulling. Just a few plants left in the field can lead to a total infestation if they produce seeds. 

Viability of pigweed seed is greatly reduced after 3 to 5 years. Management over a couple of growing seasons can drastically reduce populations. Aside from tremendous seed production, fast growth rates, and lengthy emergence windows, what makes us most nervous about these weeds is their propensity to develop herbicide resistance.… Continue reading

By Brady Campbell, Assistant Professor, Ohio State University Small Ruminant Extension Specialist

A few seats still remain for the Statewide Sheep Shearing School. The Ohio State University departments of Animal Sciences and Extension are pleased to announce the dates of the 2023 Fall Statewide Ohio Sheep Shearing School to be held on Sept. 22-23, 2023 from 9:00 am – 4:00 p.m. at the Dave Cable Farm in Hebron, Ohio (10491 Canal Rd., Hebron, OH 43025).

During this two day schooling event, attendees will be given the opportunity to learn how to properly shear a sheep using the Australian shearing method. Those in attendance will be taught by veteran shearers as they walk through each step and demonstrate how to properly position the sheep and shearing hand piece in the correct location. Attendees will also learn to appreciate fleece quality by ensuring that their work station is clear of debris and how to keep the animals fleece all in one piece.… Continue reading

There’s a broad class of highly toxic chemicals called PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances). About 14,000 of them. But never mind remembering their scientific names, let alone learning how to pronounce them.

Instead, remember PFAS by their common moniker, “forever chemicals.” They earn this descriptive handle because they break down very slowly and cause long-lasting catastrophic damage to the environment, health, and even the livelihood of farmers, like Art Schaap and his wife. They were (note my use of the past tense) the fifth generation of their family to own and operate Highland Dairy, just a few miles from Cannon Air Force base near Clovis, New Mexico. 

Until recent years, Highland Dairy milked about 4,000 cows. I first read about the dairy and PFAS five or six years ago when the chemicals were detected at the dairy. 

A primary mission of their neighbor, Cannon Air Force Base, is to train airmen to extinguish devastating fires caused by plane crashes, bombings and fuel explosions.… Continue reading

On Sept. 6, Cargill customers are invited to see the new truck dump at Cargill’s new Sidney North facility at 701 South Vandemark Rd. from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., including lunch.

The event will include of cart tours of what the soybean delivery experience will be at the state-of-the-art crush plant. PPE will be provided, but all visitors must wear long pants and closed toe shoes. Customers bringing their truck license plant numbers can get Compuweigh cards if needed and see truck routs for beans, meal and hulls.   … Continue reading

By Karen Mancl

“Save your kitchen scraps to feed the hens,” urged a poster for the victory gardens created on the home front in the Second World War. Feeding food scraps to backyard chickens and pigs turned this waste into a delicious source of human food. Pigs were especially prized in this effort as they would eat what most other animals considered inedible.

Times have changed in both the United States and China. Chinese farms are the world’s number one chicken producers and raise half the world’s pigs. Today, most U.S. farms feed grain to pigs and chickens. China recently halted its widespread use of food waste to supply chicken and pigs after an outbreak of disease in 2019. 

Perhaps going back to past methods might create a greener future. Today, a third of food grown globally is wasted, and as it decomposes it emits methane that is 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide.… Continue reading

By Jon Scheve, Superior Feed Ingredients, LLC 

The recent Pro Farmer Tour estimated a national yield of 172. This is up 4 bushels per acres from last year’s prediction. However, in 7 of the last 11 years, the Pro Farmer’s corn yield estimate was between 2 and 6 bushels below the final USDA yield estimate. 

The market seems to be trading something closer to the August USDA production estimate. Weather data to this point throughout the Corn Belt, along with satellite imagery, and computer modelling is indicating that yields are likely still in the upper 170s.

Even if the yield is reduced to the value Pro Farmer’s Tour predicted U.S. export pace is dramatically behind what is needed to reach the USDA’s target. It is beginning to seem unlikely that carryout will drop below 2 billion bushels in the coming year. That could make price rallies difficult until something changes.

As I shared the past two weeks, I marketed my corn this year by first setting my basis and then working the spread markets.… Continue reading

In this episode of the Ohio Ag Net Podcast, hosts Matt Reese of Ohio’s Country Journal and Joel Penhorwood of Ohio Ag Net talk with Clif Little about the oil and gas industry within eastern Ohio. Little works as an Educator, Agriculture and Natural Resources for Ohio State University Extension in Guernsey County. He specializes in beef, sheep, forages, grazing systems, and oil and gas leasing. He is also the author of Important Aspects of an Oil and Gas Lease. Here’s the link to his article: https://ohioline.osu.edu/factsheet/anr-88.

More in this week’s podcast: 

• Patrick Twining, Lorain County Fair: Patrick talks with Dusty about the massive rainfall that happened at the Lorain County fair, where some places saw 6 to 8 inches of rain. 
• Bill McDonald, Seed Consultants: What impact will the recent rainfall have on the yields this fall? Dale stops to talk with Bill to find the impact growers will see. 

As part of Governor DeWine’s H2Ohio initiative, the Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA) announces $5 million available in grants for a statewide conservation ditch program. Ohio county engineers and Soil and Water Conservation Districts (SWCDs) are eligible to apply for funding to construct two-stage and self-forming ditches.

“We are continuously improving and expanding our H2Ohio practices to reach our water quality goals,” said Brian Baldridge, ODA Director “Conservation ditches play an important role in improving Ohio’s waterways right at the edge of the field.”

ODA’s Conservation Ditch program is an expansion of last year’s Two-Stage Ditch program that reserved $4 million for 11 ditch projects in Northwest Ohio. More than 16,500 acres of watershed will benefit from the 8 miles of conservation ditch projects, which will be completed by the end of 2024.  Projects approved in this year’s sign-up will have until the end of 2025 to be completed.

Conservation ditches provide environmental benefits and improve water quality by slowing water flow, processing nutrients, and removing sediment. Applications… Continue reading

Heavy rains in Northern Ohio limited field work last week according to Ben Torrance, State Statistician, USDA NASS, Ohio Field Office. Topsoil moisture conditions were rated 1 percent very short, 9 percent short, 71 percent adequate, and 19 percent surplus. Statewide, the average temperature for the week ending on August 27 was 73.7 degrees, 3 degrees above normal. Weather stations recorded an average of 1.88 inches of precipitation, 1.1 inches above average. There were 4.1 days suitable for fieldwork during the week ending August 27. The rain that came last week will aid in grain fill. Southern Ohio needed additional precipitation to help later planted beans reach maturity. Seventy-nine percent of corn was in or past dough, and 30 percent of Ohio corn was in or past dent. Ninety percent of soybeans were setting pods. Corn and soybean condition were 79 and 76 percent good to excellent, respectively. Second cuttings of other hay were 88 percent complete.… Continue reading

By Robert Moore, attorney and research specialist for the OSU Agricultural & Resource Law Program

A new Ohio law took effect last year that impacts some landowners who want to terminate their farm crop leases. If a farm lease does not include a termination date or a termination method, the law requires a landowner to provide termination notice to the tenant by Sept. 1. The law was adopted to prevent late or otherwise untimely terminations by landowners that could adversely affect tenants.

It is important to note that the law only applies to verbal leases or written leases that do not include a termination date or method of notice of termination.  If a written lease includes a termination date or method of notice, the terms of the lease apply and not the termination notice law.  Also, the law does not apply to leases for pasture, timber, farm buildings, horticultural buildings, or equipment.… Continue reading

Don’t miss out on your chance to interact with OSU Extension Specialists and take a deep dive into new corn and soybean practices at the 2023 Northwest Agronomic Field Day on Thursday, August 31 at the Northwest Agricultural Research Station. 

Topics will include managing slugs with cover crops, adjusting corn nitrogen rates following a cover crop, intensive corn management, corn diseases, and updates from the Battle for the Belt program.

Registration will start at 8:30 a.m. with the programing beginning at 9:00 a.m. followed by a free lunch courtesy of the Ohio Soybean Council at 12:00 p.m. RSVP for the 2023 Northwest Agronomic Field Day at go.osu.edu/nwfieldday23 or by contacting Nick Eckel at eckel.21@osu.edu or 419-354-9050.… Continue reading

By Dusty Sonnenberg, CCA, Field Leader, a project of the Ohio Soybean Council and soybean check-off.

Since 1946 the Sullivan family has been farming in Franklin County. The farm now owned by Matt and Amy Sullivan has changed over the years. Matt and Amy, along with their sons Caleb and Timothy and Caleb’s wife Clair, operate Circle S Farms. What was originally a diversified livestock farm in the 1940s, later specialized in turkey production. Matt’s grandfather raised over 13,000 turkeys at one time on the family farm, supplying turkey to the Big Bear stores in central Ohio. As time went on and the family grew, the cropping mix changed. In addition to growing corn and soybeans, Matt’s father realized that there were opportunities to serve the fast-growing urban center of Columbus, so he started Circle S Farms. They diversified their crop operation by also producing strawberries, pumpkins and other vegetable crops.… Continue reading