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A recent media/lawmaker tour of a tree nursery, dairy replacement farm and winery resulted in several articles being printed in three newspapers.

For the fourth year, Ashtabula County Farm Bureau coordinated the five-hour tour with the county's three commissioners and reporters from The (Willoughby) News-Herald, The Jefferson Gazette and the Ashtabula Star Beacon in attendance. About 20 people, including county Farm Bureau board members, took part in the Sept. 30 event, said Danielle Dufour, organization director for Ashtabula, Geauga, Lake and Trumbull counties. John Parker, Ashtabula County Farm Bureau's information coordinator, set up the tour.

"The newspapers did full-page articles with pictures. Because agriculture lately has been getting so much negative publicity, this was nice," Dufour said.

The group stopped first at Tree Tyme Nursery in Austinburg, which is known for its container grown plants and grows 12,000 trees and 60,000 plants each year. Bill and Pat Schubert own the nursery. The next stop was the Brian Forman Farm in Austinburg, a dairy heifer replacement farm owned and operated by Brian Forman.

The last stop was South River Vineyard owned and operated by Gene and Heather Sigel. In 2000 the family purchased an abandoned church in Portage County, dismantled it piece by piece and moved it to the vineyard where it is a winery-sales area. The group had a hot, catered lunch at the vineyard.

"It was very educational. It gave everybody the opportunity to talk and ask questions about agriculture. There were a lot of questions," Dufour said.

Caption: Brian Forman talks to reporters and Ashtabula County commissioners about his farm. Photo by Ashtabula County Farm Bureau