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Agricultural educators across the country devote countless hours, and often their own resources, to positively impact the lives of their students. Nationwide, along with Ohio Farm Bureau, Ohio FFA, Farm Credit Mid-America and AgCredit, ACA recognizes the state’s Ag Educator of the Year with the coveted Golden Owl Award trophy and, along with it, $3,000 in funding to help bring new opportunities to their programs. On this Our Ohio Weekly, meet this year’s winner, Barrett Zimmerman and find out how to nominate the next Golden Owl recipient.

00:00 – Brad Liggett, president of Agribusiness at Nationwide and Barrett Zimmerman, 2022 Golden Owl Award winner, talk about the amazing work of ag educators in Ohio and how they are being recognized.

23:50 – On the latest “To the Beat of Agriculture,” hear from a member of the Young Agricultural Professionals State Committee, Jaclyn DeCandio, as she tells us about the upcoming Winter Leadership Experience and gives just a few reasons as to why you should consider taking part.

32:20 – Now that the election season is over, we are entering into the lame-duck session for Ohio’s Senate and House. What are some of the issues Ohio agriculture is keeping an eye on during this interesting time in Ohio politics? Ohio Farm Bureau’s directors of state policy, Evan Callicoat and Stephan Shehy, tell us.

42:20 – Twenty Ohio Farm Bureau leaders are serving on the 2022 Ohio Farm Bureau Federation Policy Development Committee. The policy committee consists of 10 members from Ohio Farm Bureau’s board of trustees and 10 representatives of county Farm Bureaus. Mike Bensman of Sidney and Scott Bugg of Union County talk about their involvement and some of the tough issues they are tackling on behalf of Ohio Farm Bureau members.