Grassroots is a term we use regularly in Farm Bureau. It’s shorthand for saying that everything we do is from the bottom up, not top down. From defining our values to developing our policies to recruiting new members, everything starts…
All Posts by Adam Sharp
Across the Table: 100 Years of Ohio Farm Bureau
We’re 100 years old. A lot has changed in Ohio Farm Bureau’s first century, and yet a lot hasn’t changed a bit. In 1919, our fledgling Farm Bureau existed in a different world. Some 30 percent of Ohioans lived on…
Across the Table: Listening to the Members
When I was hired a couple years ago, I made a promise to you and your fellow members. I would listen to what you want from your organization. The map you’re looking at is my proof of performance. As the…
Across the Table: Election Day is coming soon
I’m bracing myself, trying to mentally prepare for the onslaught of nastiness that’s about to suck the joy out of watching fall football (or anything else) on TV. Election Day is coming soon, and as someone deeply interested in politics,…
Across the Table – Government rule book is growing
$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…
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….