$14,666 a year is a lot of money to cover in the family budget. It’s more than the average household spends on food, transportation, health care, clothes or any other expenditure other than housing. It’s almost 20 percent more than…
All Posts by Adam Sharp
Across the Table: OFBF Professional Services
My doctor, lawyer and accountant have two things in common with my electrician, mechanic and plumber. They’re really good at their jobs, and they’re not cheap. Roughly speaking, $100 gets me 15 minutes with my doc, a half hour with…
Across the Table: Sometimes, a family business takes some explaining
Sometimes, a family business takes some explaining. “Hydro biomass application engineer” is one way a friend of Megan Dresbach’s describes what she does. Her dad, Eric, once told a stranger their family enterprise was “organic nutrient recycling,” which drew the…
Across the Table: ‘Facts’ about agriculture often aren’t true
“Does chocolate milk come from brown cows?” I get a chuckle when kids ask that. But when 16 million adult Americans believe that’s true? Not so funny. A Washington Post story that examined that apparently common misperception says many Americans…
Across the Table: The Prosperous Farmer
Across the Table with Adam Sharp, OFBF executive vice president If he wants, Matt Aultman can now afford to pasture a few more Nigerian dwarf goats or maybe invest a little in his small orchard, beehives, sheep, tank-raised fish or…
Across the Table: A Diverse Food Space
When I heard Dr. David Hughes extol the virtues of adjectives over nouns, it wasn’t an English lesson. It was economics. Hughes, known as “Dr. Food,” travels the world talking to decision makers at companies like McDonald’s, Kraft and Nestle….
Across the Table: Water quality
Farmers of Grandpa’s generation didn’t think much about public opinion and didn’t need to. People mostly still had ties to family farms and understood how things worked. Dad’s generation had it more challenging; adapting to a public less connected but…
Across the Table: Wildfire Relief
“We’ve been told we shouldn’t be surprised to see grown men cry.” Rose Hartschuh was explaining to a reporter the expectations she and other Ohio farmers had as they staged their caravan of supplies and workers headed for wildfire devastated…
Across the Table: If the jacket fits–an FFA legacy
Like all parents, Lisa and I want our kids to get an exceptional education. To that end, we’re dressing them in blue corduroy. You probably recognize the iconic jacket that is the official dress of the FFA. You may not…
Across the Table: Lifelong friendship formed around sausage gravy
Of all my favorite local foods, the one I’m most up close and personal with is Bob Evans Sausage Gravy. Biscuit slathering as a Sharp family tradition began when my grandparents took us to a Bob’s after church and continues…