The Andersons lead Third Frontier effort in advanced agricultural technology
The performance of a liquid combined with the convenience of a capsule is the focus of a $5 million three-year Third Frontier Grant from the state of Ohio exploring advanced granule technologies that address the economic, health, and environmental concerns of the turfgrass, horticultural, and agricultural industries. As part of the grant, The Andersons, Inc., based in Maumee, Ohio, and other collaborators are matching the state’s $5 million investment.
The Andersons is leading an Ohio BioProducts Innovation Center project to develop granular material that more effectively contains, transports, and delivers fertilizer and pesticides, or other biologically active ingredients, to specific areas. The result is a more effective, environmentally safer product, activating only when exposed to water.
Ohio State University’s Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center and Ohio State University Extension are providing scientists to develop and help commercialized the materials.
Other collaborators of the project include: Syngenta Crop Protection, Inc.; Ohio-based PSB Company, a division of White Castle System; Ohio-based National Lime and Stone Company; and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service.
The broad range of targeted applications of the granule technology includes turf, nursery, floriculture, fruits, vegetables, and field crops.
“This is a significant award for all Ohioans, as this investment will create new jobs and needed economic growth,” said Bobby Moser, dean of Ohio State University’s College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences. “We are honored to have the opportunity to collaborate with The Andersons and assist in the development and adaptation of the advanced granular technology in much larger agricultural markets in both the United States and around the world.”
This is just one of several Third Frontier grants in the college. Others include a $1.5 million grant to turn agricultural and food-processing wastes into energy; a $3 million grant to develop a renewable, domestic source of natural rubber; and a $11.6 million project for the Ohio BioProducts Innovation Center, which is developing chemical conversion technologies to generate lubricants, adhesives, and other industrial products from raw materials grown in the state, such as corn and soybeans.
Wright creates legacy in agricultural law
Paul Wright has been called the “grand-father of Ohio agricultural law.”
He grew up on a farm in Coshocton County and graduated from The Ohio State University with a B.S. in Agricultural Education. He began his career as an Extension agent. Through his work, Wright developed an interest in the economic side of agriculture, which led him to return to Ohio State for his master’s degree in Agricultural Economics.
As an Ohio State University Extension specialist, he focused on conducting educational programs in agricultural law, including continuing education and on-campus teaching. Wright retired from Ohio State as an associate professor emeritus in January 1988.
In his interactions with Ohio farmers, Wright saw a need for greater attention to the legal aspects of agriculture. He acquired his law degree by commuting for three years to the University of Toledo College of Law and began an agricultural law practice in his home.
In 2006, Wright established the Paul L. Wright Chair Fund in Agricultural Law, and this year, he completed the fund with a planned gift as part of his will. He says he was motivated by a wish to have someone in place who will continue to give focus to agricultural law as legal issues related to farming become more critical and more numerous, and as new topics arise. He wanted to provide for a faculty position that would have a broad agricultural scope and keep pace with the fast-changing industry of agricultural law.
Wright’s vision is for greater collaboration between the Michael E. Moritz College of Law and the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences, and he hopes that can happen in part as a result of his endowment.
Capping a lifetime of service, Wright is still going strong. On September 19, he was a presenter at the first-ever Agricultural Law Symposium at Ohio State, sponsored by OSU Extension and the Ohio State Bar Association. Some 55 attorneys and law students attended the event at the Nationwide & Ohio Farm Bureau 4-H Center.
Ohio State University’s first green building a popular venue
More than 3,000 individuals, businesses, groups, clubs, and organizations contributed to the Building the Future Campaign to establish the Nationwide & Ohio Farm Bureau 4-H Center. Led by the Nationwide Foundation and the Ohio Farm Bureau, groups in all 88 counties participated in the campaign along with individuals from across the country. Ohio’s 4-H Youth Development program is part of Ohio State University Extension.
The center, located on Fred Taylor Drive just north of Lane Avenue, was dedicated on April 4, 2008, with more than 500 friends, supporters, 4-H members, volunteers, and staff in attendance. “This building is for you,” Bobby Moser, vice president and dean of the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences, told the crowd. Dean Moser thanked U.S. Rep. David Hobson of Springfield (the birthplace of 4-H) for being a strong proponent of the center’s environmental features and for helping to secure federal funds to support them.
Since opening its doors in January 2008, Ohio State’s first “green” building has become the place for meetings, conferences, and meal functions. In late September, for example, President E. Gordon Gee hosted a brunch before the Ohio State vs. Minnesota football game. The program theme was campus sustainability and featured student and faculty efforts that are making not only Ohio State, but the world in which we live, a greener place.
Special thanks
The Building the Future Campaign has reached its goal of $15.5 million! Although efforts to increase endowment support for the new center continue, the college would like to thank those whose belief in the mission of 4-H and whose generous leadership gifts of $100,000 or more made the new center possible (in alphabetical order):
-Agricultural Commodities Group
-Bob Evans Farms Inc.
-Patricia Brundige
-Community Bankers of Ohio
-Jim Dailey Family
-Bob and Sheila Eastman
-Sally Ebling
-Former 4-H Member (anonymous)
-Albert and Margaret Gehres
-The Nationwide Foundation
-Ohio Farm Bureau
-Ohio Farm Bureau Leaders Circle
-Ohio Valley Bank
-Osteopathic Heritage Foundations
Give to CFAES
Generous alumni and friends enable the students and faculty of The Ohio State University’s College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences to make an impact on food supplies, health, and nature, locally and globally. Every day, thanks to its supporters, the college makes great advances toward its goal to be the standard of excellence for colleges of agricultural and environmental sciences.
Friends and alumni can support the college with gifts of cash or securities and pledges or planned gifts, as well as with corporate matching gifts. These gifts will help the college shape food, agricultural, and environmental policies, and help faculty and staff assist in producing a safe and abundant food supply for our country and the world. From classrooms and research facilities on Ohio State’s main Columbus campus to 4-H and Extension programs and efforts at the Agricultural Technical Institute, donors make a difference to CFAES.
Please visit http://www.giveto.osu.edu to give online, or use the enclosed envelope to mail a gift to Ohio State’s College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences. The college’s development staff is available to answer giving questions or to discuss making a gift. The staff can assist a donor in finding a particular fund or project to support, or can help with making an unrestricted gift to the Vice President’s Excellence Fund. Contact the development office at (614) 292-0473.
