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The Ohio Farm Bureau Foundation hosted its first-ever event – the Ohio Farm Bureau Foundation Invitational June 10 at The Country Club at Muirfield Village in Dublin. The golf outing was an opportunity to connect friends of Ohio agriculture, raise awareness of the foundation and its goals, and raise funds for the foundation. The event raised $16,000.

Nationwide Insurance signed on as event sponsor, and former OFBF Executive Vice President C. William Swank was the inaugural honoree.

The foundation was established in 1985 and is committed to community improvement through its support of special projects that focus on agricultural education, environmental and economic issues. Currently, the foundation provides scholarships to college students through the Darwin Bryan Scholarship Fund, and has received grants to support one of the summer teacher conferences and the OFBF agricultural ecology program.

There are several projects looking to the foundation for funding:

• The Ohio Agricultural Environmental Assurance Program is a public-private partnership formed to develop an environmental self-audit program for Ohio’s agricultural and horticultural commodities.

• The Metro Garden program will work in a specific Columbus neighborhood and develop a community garden.

• The Land and Living – Agriculture…Your Link to Life exhibit is an innovative, agricultural education opportunity at the Ohio State Fair that goes beyond livestock barns and promotes the diversity of Ohio agriculture. The exhibit features a live, working stream flowing next to a riparian zone and a corn climbing wall that also tells the story of ethanol and corn products that are used daily.

In addition to the money raised at the golf outing, the foundation received a $2,500 Core 4 Conservation Alliance Grant from the Conservation Technology Information Center to be used for the Ohio Agricultural Environmental Assurance Alliance. Funds from the grant will be used for printing promotional materials and for two steering committee meetings.