News & Events
Connect
What's this?Recent Articles
- Ohio Livestock Coalition accepting nominations for 'Neighbor of the Year' awards
- Ohio Agricultural Hall of Fame Inductees announced
- Ohio Congressional delegation involved in Farm Bill progress
- It’s half a ton, it’s on the loose and it wants to run. Stay calm?
- Legal tips for all purpose vehicle use
Member of the News Media?
Reporters, please visit our news room located in the Media and Publications section of this site.
Lawmakers plan to start drafting farm bill next week
The Senate panel has scheduled a bill-drafting session for May 14. Its House of Representatives counterpart, unofficially, aims to start writing its version on May 15.
Here Comes the Farm Bubble
If you're buying farmland as a short to medium-term investment, you're probably about to lose a lot of money:
USDA Announces Final Call for 2012 Census of Agriculture
With the window to respond to the 2012 Census of Agriculture officially closing on May 31, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is urging farmers and ranchers not to miss this opportunity to be counted and help determine the future of farming in America. USDA has already received more than 2 million completed Census forms.
Can Activist Groups Use Drones to Spy on Farmers?
It will be a while before we fully understand the role that drone technology will play in both agriculture and activist’s efforts against agriculture. If they do play a substantial role, I imagine the law related to drones will evolve.
Franklin County Farm Bureau to host free breakfast in Plain City
The Yutzy family will host the event in a pasture at their dairy farm. Talk with Ohio Farm Bureau members about how food is produced, harvested and processed. Eat made-to-order omelets and biscuits under a tent. Milk Bessie the Buckeye Cow, pet a farm animal, handle grain or participate in a scavenger hunt.
Water Resources Development Act being considered by the Senate
The system is aging and the rest of the world is gaining ground on the transportation infrastructure of the U.S. For this reason, passage of the Water Resources Development Act of 2013 (S. 601), is essential to America’s economic growth, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation.
Cooper Farms expands into Defiance County
Fox Tail is among the first of its kind in the area, utilizing group pen gestation for sow housing and an innovative electronic feeding system. This system allows the sows to have free movement in a group setting, while providing individualized feeding information about each sow.
Legislation Would Push FDA To Investigate Antibiotic Use In Farm Animals
The bipartisan Antimicrobial Data Collection Act, introduced this morning by Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (New York), Dianne Feinstein (California), and Susan Collins (Maine), calls for “increased data collection by the FDA, enhanced transparency and public awareness of antimicrobial drug use in agriculture and strengthened FDA accountability regarding unsafe antimicrobial drug use.”
Peterson Hopeful For Passing Farm Bill This Summer
U.S. Rep. Collin Peterson, the ranking Democrat on the House Agriculture Committee, had threatened earlier this year to sit out writing a new farm bill unless he got a guarantee from House Republican leaders that they’d let the legislation get a floor vote this time.
AGRICULTURE DEPARTMENT CONSIDERS DATA-DRIVEN NUTRITION ASSISTANCE
The proposed database would help the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and its state-level partners make smarter decisions about where to invest time and money,
Scioto County: Bringing agriculture to area students
The event brought hundreds of area elementary students to the fairgrounds to learn about various aspects of agriculture in the community.
Farmers get reprieve on fuel storage regs
This amendment states the U.S. EPA may not use any of its funds to enforce the SPCC rule against farms for a period of 180 days, until after Sept. 26, 2013. So while this ruling does not currently exempt farmers from having a SPCC plan, it does give them a few more months to develop a plan.
USDA and EPA: Report shows no definitive reason for honey bee colony collapse
The USDA and the United States EPA released a comprehensive scientific report on honey bee health May 2. The report states that there are multiple factors playing a role in honey bee colony declines, including parasites and disease, genetics, poor nutrition and pesticide exposure.
New farm machinery cautioni signs planned
Farm machinery caution signs are being installed on Hancock County and township roads. The Hancock County Farm Bureau recently purchased 75 diamond-shaped signs with the message, "Caution-Farm Machinery."
Extension agent: Farmers need to help curb flooding
Hoorman said three things are important when slowing down the rate of water going to the ditches and rivers: water infiltration, soil absorption of water and peak water discharge to the rivers and streams. He said tillage and land management affect them all.
Draft farm bill aids pork, beef lobbies
The Midwest Corn Belt would retain its costly new Agricultural Risk Coverage program—which was the mainstay of the commodity title approved last summer by the Senate in the last Congress. But the ARC payments have been trimmed back modestly and more importantly, the standard index changed from a five-month average market price to the 12-month average.
Farm payments to resume says FSA
This includes payments for the 2011 Supplemental Revenue Assistance Payments Program (SURE), the Noninsured Crop Assistance Program (NAP) and the Milk Income Loss Contract Program (MILC).
Still time to enter ODA’s “Agriculture is Cool!”
Ohio children enrolled in school or home schooled during the 2012-2013 academic year are encouraged to capture their personal interpretation of why Ohio agriculture is cool for their chance to win prizes including Ohio State Fair concert tickets. Entries must be postmarked by May 15, 2013.
HSUS creates its own Ohio ag council to try and gain farming ‘street cred’
I re-read a comment in HSUS’ media release from John Dinon, HSUS’ Ohio director of outreach and engagement: “We are excited to connect Ohio’s conscientious consumers to the kind of traditional family farmers they want to support.”
Congress Poised to Move on Farm Bill
The atmosphere on Capitol Hill for the farm bill suddenly seems to be full speed ahead.
The Senate Agriculture Committee will mark up its bill on Tuesday, and the House Agriculture Committee will follow suit on Wednesday.
Are your farm acres covered?
The Muskingum and Guernsey conservation districts will have a cover crop informational meeting from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. May 30. The meeting will be at the Guernsey-Muskingum Electric Co-Op meeting room, 17 S. Liberty St., New Concord.
House Ag Committee Releases Farm Bill Discussion Draft
House Ag Committee Chairman Frank Lucas of Oklahoma and Ranking Member Collin Peterson of Minnesota released a discussion draft of the Federal Agriculture Reform and Risk Management, or FARRM Act of 2013. The bipartisan bill cuts spending, reduces the size of government, and makes common-sense reforms to policy.
Future Heads of Family Farms Dig Into Financials
While other classes teach ag students how to repair combines or learn the proper chemical mixes of common fertilizers, students in agricultural economist Kevin Moore's "Returning to the Farm" class create business plans using financial information from their own family farms.
USDA Report Summary
The slow start to the corn planting this year has prompted USDA to back off its early projected corn yields, though the May World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates still project record corn production of 14.1 billion bushels.
OARDC breaks ground on new ag engineering building
The 40,000-plus square foot facility will replace the one destroyed by a tornado Sept. 16, 2010. It is expected to be finished in 18-20 months and will house more than 50 employees. All current employees of the facility have been forced to relocate.
Farm bill: Still a little something for everyone
Each bill would eliminate $5 billion in annual direct payments that aren't tied to production or crop prices and would consolidate other programs. At the same time, the bills would create new programs with some of that money and raise the subsidies for some crops while business is booming in the agricultural sector.
Crop Insurance Expansion Pushes Cost Increase in Latest U.S. Farm Bills
The federally subsidized crop insurance program, the costliest part of the U.S. farm safety net, would spin off at least three new types of coverage and could cost 10 percent more under draft farm bills pending in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate.
Catholic groups say agriculture laws should aid poor, farmers
“In the face of continuing budgetary constraints, the 2013 Farm Bill is an opportunity to address our nation’s broken and outdated agricultural policies,” they said.
Agriculture is expected to remain strong in the coming decade
Overall, this report indicates an optimistic future that includes some bumps along the way. A couple of these bumps include the short-term softening of commodity prices which are affected by increased production encouraged by high prices from the drought induced short crops of 2012 and increasing crude oil prices.
Supreme Court favors Monsanto in seed saving case
Despite the narrow focus of the ruling, many in the industry see the decision as having wide reaching implications.
EPA Makes a Mess
In a statement from Nancy Stoner, prepared for DTN, the agency acknowledges missteps were made: "After a recent release by EPA of CAFO- and AFO-related information under a Freedom of Information Act request, the agricultural community raised a number of privacy concerns. In response, EPA determined that some personal information that could have been protected under FOIA was released.
Bowman v. Monsanto: U.S. Supreme Court sides with Monsanto in biotech ag seed pa
A federal court in Indiana ruled in favor of Monsanto and awarded damages to Monsanto of $84,456. The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld the case, before the Supreme Court agreed to hear the matter. (Read the Supreme Court’s opinion in Bowman v. Monsanto.)
Tn. Governor vetoes 'ag gag' measure over constitutional issues
He also agreed with state Attorney General Robert Cooper’s assessment that the bill is constitutionally suspect. But the governor also called on state lawmakers to revisit the issue. He expressed sympathy for farmers who say they fear “large-scale attacks on their livelihoods” from secret recordings.
Farm bill with cuts to food stamps splits Democrats
The House Agriculture Committee will consider a farm bill Wednesday that contains a $20.5 billion cut over 10 years to the food stamp program, drawing objections from committee member James McGovern, Democrat of Worcester.
U.S. Senate panel approves farm bill that expands crop insurance
The Senate Agriculture Committee approved a farm bill on Tuesday, costing $500 billion over a decade, that would expand the scope of the federally subsidized crop insurance program and modestly trim spending on food stamps for the poor.
Ohio's farm counties mystified as feds leave them off the map
Ohio, for example, has 88 counties. Most methods of counting, including those used by the state, the U.S. Census Bureau and other government agencies, come up with 48 of them as rural. The CFPB, however, is only counting 20.
Agriculture Secretary Vilsack Unveils Vision for U.S. Organic Agriculture
Vilsack announced a number of changes and new initiatives to support the continued growth of organic agriculture, including that the USDA's Risk Management Agency's (RMA) federal crop insurance program will increase coverage options for organic producers this year and provide even more options in 2014, including a contract price addendum as well as new premium price elections for organic crops.
Ohio Ag Council announces 2013 Hall of Fame inductees
The Ohio Agricultural Council (OAC) will induct Shirley Dunlap Bowser of Williamsport, Louis M. “Mick” Colvin of West Salem, Bernard J. Scott of Tontogeny, and Doug White of Manchester, into the Ohio Agricultural Hall of Fame during a special breakfast ceremony held in the Rhodes Youth Center at the Ohio Expo Center.
Learning about farm animal behavio
Emergency personnel from as far away as Henry County and Cincinnati were at the Eastern Agricultural Research Station (EARS) near Caldwell on Tuesday, May 14, participating in Animal Agriculture 203, a basic hands-on training of farm animal behavior.
House Panel OKs Farm Bill With Food Stamp Cuts
The cuts are part of massive legislation that costs almost $100 billion annually over five years and would set policy for farm subsidies, rural programs and the food aid. The Senate Agriculture Committee approved its version of the bill Tuesday, and the full Senate is expected to start work on the bill next week. House action is expected this summer. Current programs expire Sept. 30.
Farm Equipment That Runs on Oats
Stephen Leslie, an artist and former Benedictine monk, guided two Norwegian Fjords down the field. The walking moldboard plow, a 300-pound curving steel blade, cut through the soil and sent it curling over itself in dark, crumbly waves. H
Agriculture Phrases that Frustrate Me
Why are we getting so stuck on terminology, and who is “better” than the “other”. And, why are we so worried about everyone who does things differently? If we look at differences under the same narrow focus, does that mean that corn farmers cannot get along with peanut farmers? What about fruit and vegetable farmers? They are different…why are they not arguing over methods of raising produce?
Livestock rules threatened by HSUS
Careful reading of the press release gives the real purpose of HSUS which is: "refining our dietary choices by switching to products that meet higher welfare standards; reducing our consumption of animal products; and replacing animal products in the diet with plant-based options."
OSU gets new trustee
Porteus, 56, replaces Brian Hicks on the OSU board.
He is a board member of Nationwide and served as president of the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation from 2008 to 2011.
Rain may increase algae in Lake Erie
Jeffrey Reutter, director of the Ohio Sea Grant Program, shared the data during an Ohio Senate Finance Subcommittee hearing yesterday. He said it doesn’t guarantee that a record algae bloom will spread across the lake as it did during the summer of 2011.
Legislators’ fix for Ohio deer season is rejected
The change would have added two days of open gun and bow hunting in early January, followed by three days of muzzleloader-only hunting. Members of the Ohio Wildlife Council, which approves Ohio Department of Natural Resources changes, bucked the measure in a 4-3 vote.
Farm Bill Fight Over SNAP Cuts Previewed in Markup
Just as with last year’s attempt at a farm program reauthorization, some conservatives say the bill’s proposed cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, amounting to $20.5 billion over 10 years, do not go far enough, while many Democrats say they are too much.
A New Kind Of Agriculture Replaces Intuition With Precision
The key is precision farming: the convergence of digital technology that allows farmers to apply just the right amount of fertilizer and water on their fields. Humans have practiced a rather crude form of agriculture for millennia: we douse fields to give them as much water and fertilizer as we think they need. Yet field conditions may differ drastically within a few feet.
Food stamps and ice cream shaping farm bill in Congress
Fewer people would get food stamps -- and ice cream and cheese might cost more. As disparate as these morsels appear, they are related.
Nutrient management workshop
Legal issues regarding manure hauling, as well as issues surrounding equipment inspections and highway safety, will be discussed by Ohio State University experts and others during a joint workshop and meeting of the Midwest Professional Nutrient Applicators Association June 11 in Findlay.