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Farm Bureau seminars offer tools to create strong communities, support agricultural prosperity

Farmers are a major force in Ohio’s economy. How do we protect our property and help our community interests prosper, while increasingly being a part of a rural/urban mix? What are the conflicts arising from this neighborly interaction, and how can we address these conflicts through common sense and public policy?

Beginning in March, Ohio Farm Bureau and county Farm Bureaus will offer three workshops that will examine issues and develop strategies to create strong communities and support farming prosperity in our future. A three-city tour promoting the importance of planning in preserving agricultural vitality in Ohio will focus on the commonality of issues facing agricultural communities statewide and will connect farmers and local decision makers in community discussions about ways they can address local planning efforts that preserve agricultural interests amidst competing objectives.

OFBF Director of Community Alliances Marilyn Baker said members are welcome to attend any or all of the workshops. Cost is $10 for members; $20 for nonmembers. Below are dates, locations and some of the topics to be discussed. Each workshop begins at 9:30 a.m. and concludes at 4:00 p.m.

Partnering for A Prosperous Agriculture: Neighbor to Neighbor and Across Local Jurisdictional Lines, Cincinnati, Friday, March 7

• Overview of Ohio’s traditions in planning and land use control
• How do we use planning to protect our vision?
• What are frustrations that fester on a neighbor to neighbor basis?
• Preserving infrastructure and protecting interests

Your Land, Your Money and Your Future: Land Trusts, Agricultural and Conservation Easements, Agricultural Security Areas and Brownfields, Cleveland, Friday, March 14

• Creating Farmland Preservation Programs
• Tax and family considerations
• Growing role of Land Trusts in conserving land
• Agricultural Security Areas

Competing Visions for Growth: Public Initiatives with Special Protections, Columbus, Friday, March 21

• Impacts of Growth on Central Ohio (eight county region)
• Growth trends in Ohio
• What Ohioans think about agriculture
• Preview of MORPC’s public discussion
• Need for collective community visioning

• *How do we use planning to protect multiple jurisdictions and multiple interests?
• *Pickaway County and Transfer of Development Rights

Visit the Ecology of Agriculture section of the OFBF Web site, www.ofbf.org, for a more complete agenda and workshop schedule. To register, contact Baker at 614- 246-8265 or mbaker@ofbf.org or Amy Hurst at 614-246-8262 or ahurst@ofbf.org no later than the Monday before each tour.