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There is always a lot to take in at the Ohio Farm Bureau Young Agricultural Professionals Winter Leadership Experience. Plenty of educational seminars, resources for new and beginning farmers and an abundance of networking opportunities. At the event last weekend in Cincinnati, attendees also got some education and advice from a panel of more seasoned farmers, including Steve Hirsch, a fifth-generation owner of Hirsch Fruit Farm in Ross County, as well as a board member for Nationwide Insurance and Rose Hartschuh, an Ohio Farm Bureau board member who operates a dairy and raises grain crops, alfalfa and cover crops in Northwest Ohio. On this Our Ohio Weekly, hear some of their advice to younger farmers.

00:00 – Hirsch and Hartschuh talk about their current farming operations and the road from when they started their careers to where they are now.

16:50 – Hirsch and Hartschuh discuss some of the new ideas they brought to the farm when they first started and what a plan for the future looks like.

23:50 – On this edition of “To the Beat of Agriculture”, hear from the recipient of the Charles Boyles Master Shepherd of the Year Award. Learn how Roger Cox comes from a long line of sheep herders and how his children are already picking up the mantle from him.

32:20 – Hirsch and Hartschuh share some of the challenges they have seen throughout their career and how important networking is to their success.

42:20 – Hirsch and Hartschuh cover some of the barriers that young and beginning farmers may experience and who influenced them the most in their careers.