Ohio Farm Bureau introduces Energy and Utility Issues Resource Guide
Ohio Farm Bureau’s newest resource for members seeks to help farmland owners navigate the many questions surrounding energy development.
Read MoreThe impact of a rainy spring can be pretty easy to spot when hundreds of thousands of acres that should be lush, green fields are instead dirt brown and riddled with weeds. Corn and soybean farmers across Ohio will tell you that this has been one of the most challenging planting seasons they have ever had, but that isn’t the same perspective you might hear from growers of specialty crops.
“The wet weather earlier this year didn’t make as drastic of an impact on perennial crops, including berries and some of the tree fruit” said Mike Pullins, from Champaign Berry Farm near Urbana. “The berry crop this year was pretty good. In fact, we probably had the best red raspberry crop we have ever had.”
Pullins said the farm’s phone has been ringing all spring with customers wanting to know if the relentless rains that kept grain farmers out of the fields meant that his u-pick business would suffer as well.
“They were wondering how high of boots they should wear when they came berry picking and if there would be any berries when they showed up,” Pullins said. “The challenges that a huge sector of Ohio agriculture has faced this year are most definitely valid, but consumers tend to expand that to all of agriculture and that is not necessarily the case. Communicating that to our customers has been a big obstacle this year.”
Members of the Ohio Produce Growers and Marketers Association met for their summer tour at Lynd Fruit Farm in Licking County recently to share how Ohio’s specialty crop segment has fared across the state. For Ethan Stuckey from The Pickwick Place in Crawford County, soggy fields only gave him one good old fashioned way to get some crops in the ground – by hand.
“For our very first planting of cantaloupe we had to go through and set about 2,000 plants by hand because we couldn’t even get a tractor in the field,” Stuckey said. “When transplants get big they get leggy and root-bound and they just don’t do well if you hold them for too long. That made for some long days.”
Ohio Farm Bureau’s newest resource for members seeks to help farmland owners navigate the many questions surrounding energy development.
Read MoreHB 683 would provide meaningful relief by investing $10 million in the counties that were most severely impacted by relentless hot and dry conditions this past summer.
Read MoreNew members are Katherine and Bill Brown of Stark County, Abby and Blake Campbell of Washington County, Josh Ison of Clermont County and Hannah Thompson of Meigs County.
Read MoreBob Evans Farms has been a passionate supporter of Ohio Farm Bureau’s ExploreAg program since it began in 2018.
Read MoreOhio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation offers five tips to help prevent slips, trips and falls—one of the top causes of workplace injuries.
Read MoreThrough a grassroots process, county leaders identified 106 seats where a Friend of Agriculture could be named, with 104 of those seats ultimately being won by a Friend of Agriculture candidate.
Read MoreOhio Farm Bureau’s 2024-2025 AgriPOWER Institute kicked off in October with 14 farmers and agribusiness professionals participating in Class XV.
Read MoreNationwide’s Grain Bin Safety campaign has awarded grain rescue tubes and training to 390 fire departments across 32 states since 2014.
Read MoreThe event takes place Feb. 7-8, 2025 at Kalahari in Sandusky, Ohio and is open to members of all ages. Registration closes Jan. 21.
Read MoreReceive free conference registration and complimentary transportation to and from the conference March 7-10, 2025 in Denver.
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