News from OSU Extension
More Blue, More Green
Sea Grant Expert Grows Lake Erie Tourism
Lake Erie tourism is good for Ohio. It creates new jobs and boosts the economy. So when Mark Winchell, executive director of the Ashtabula County Convention & Visitors Bureau, needed help ramping it up in his county, he turned to Ohio Sea Grant --specifically to its Tourism Program, part of OSU Extension.
Melinda Huntley, the program's director, helped Winchell lead the county's first Tourism Summit. Business, community, and tourism leaders took part. Farmers, vintners (the area is known for its wines), and others did too. With Huntley as their facilitator, they laid "the groundwork for a future vision of what Ashtabula County can be," Winchell said. In fall, they rolled out their action plan.
"She's a true champion for everything 'Lake Erie,'" Winchell said of Huntley--"from smart growth and tourism principles to environmental and legislative issues that shape the entire Great Lakes region. She's had a profound impact on my professional career."
Based in Sandusky, Huntley works throughout Ohio's Lake Erie counties: Lucas, Ottawa, Erie, Lorain, Cuyahoga, Lake, and Ashtabula. She keeps two goals in focus: to increase the economic wallop of tourism there; and to identify, protect, and improve what makes the lake special. The aim is being sustainable.
As it is, Lake Erie tourism provides jobs for 119,000 people in Ohio. It generates more than $750 million in state and local tax revenues and brings in nearly $11 billion in visitor spending every year. Growing the industry by just 10 percent would create 12,000 new jobs, yield an additional $75 million in tax revenues, and pump up visitor spending by $1 billion.
"Sustainable tourism diversifies the economy and gives a dollar value to the resources that make our communities unique," Huntley said. And that, she said, benefits the economy, environment, and Ohio together.
Lake Erie Tourism:
• Provides jobs for 119,000 people in Ohio.
• Generates more than $750 million in state and local tax revenues.
• Brings in nearly $11 billion in visitor spending every year.
• Growing the industry by just 10 percent would create 12,000 new jobs, yield an additional $75 million in tax revenues, and pump up visitor spending by $1 billion.
For more information, go to http://go.osu.edu/BgH.
--By Kurt Knebusch

Big Radish, Big Conference Help Conservation Tillage Farmers Save Money
Fairfield County farmer Dave Brandt yanks an oilseed radish from his field. The cover crop boasts a taproot up to a foot long and three inches thick. Picture a good-sized burrito.
"Oilseed radish is nature's plow," said Brandt, who's been growing cover crops for 32 years and is amazed by the plant's abilities. He thanks Ohio State University's Conservation Tillage and Technology Conference, the biggest and most comprehensive conservation tillage event in the Midwest, for introducing him to it. OSU Extension and OARDC are two of the event's sponsors.
"I first learned about oilseed radish five years ago at the conference," Brandt said. "A year and a half after placing it into my crop rotation, I saw improved crop yields and lower input costs." What he's picked up at the conference, he said, helps him produce and store 100 units of nitrogen and save $50-$70 an acre on fertilizer.
Other attendees see similar gains. Farmers value the education they get at the conference at $13 an acre, a $7 million total benefit. Certified Crop Advisers (CCAs) rate it even higher, at $16 an acre. Based on an average of 30,000 acres per CCA and some 400 CCAs attending, it's a $12 million dollar impact.
Scientists say conservation tillage, in all, gives a number of benefits. Less soil erosion, less wear and tear on equipment, better soil quality--and better yields as a result--and fuel, time, and labor savings are some of them.
This year's conference took place at Ohio Northern University in Ada in late February. Last year saw a record crowd of nearly a thousand. This year, the crowd numbered even more: 1,024.
Said Brandt: "There's no better place than the Conservation Tillage and Technology Conference (to get) technical information and hands-on advice from researchers and fellow farmers on cost savings and ag production management techniques."
For more information, go to http://ctc.osu.edu.
--By Candace Pollock

Food Safety Specialist Offers Research-Based Guidance on Kitchen Sanitizing
About 1 in 6 Americans suffers from foodborne illness each year. Lydia Medeiros, food safety specialist for OSU Extension, helps consumers protect themselves by offering guidance on cleaning and sanitizing kitchen surfaces.
Medeiros, working with colleagues at Colorado State University, examined the effectiveness of common, inexpensive household products against three major foodborne pathogens, E. coli, Listeria monocytogenes, and Salmonella. While commercial sanitizers are available, their relative high cost sometimes prevents consumers from using them.
"We found you can make your own sanitizer at home for a much cheaper price," Medeiros said. Sanitizers should be used periodically on countertops, cutting boards, dishes, utensils, and pots and pans. Households with members who are under the age of 5, elderly, pregnant, or who have chronic illness, as well as households with pets, are at higher risk and should consider sanitizing surfaces at every meal or daily, Medeiros said.
Medeiros said that to be effective, sanitizers must be used properly. For example, surfaces must be cleaned with soap, rinsed, and dried before sanitizing. Other guidelines are available in a fact sheet, downloadable at http://go.osu.edu/sanitizePDF, and a video, at http://go.osu.edu/ clean.
The researchers found:
• A scant teaspoon of regular chlorine bleach in one quart of water was effective at killing 99.999 percent of all three types of bacteria when left on the surface being sanitized for just one minute.
• Undiluted hydrogen peroxide or white distilled vinegar also were effective against all three pathogens after one minute, but only when they first were warmed to 150 degrees F. (Don't mix the two sanitizers: Combining hydrogen peroxide and vinegar can be dangerous.)
• At room temperature, hydrogen peroxide was effective against only E. coli and Salmonella, and only when left on surfaces for 10 minutes. It was not effective against Listeria monocytogenes.
• At room temperature, white distilled vinegar was effective against only Salmonella, and only when left on surfaces for 10 minutes.
--By Martha Filipic

Extension Plays Key Role in State, National Bed Bug Fight
OSU Extension is playing a crucial role in education and research regarding the growing public health threat posed by bed bugs--not just within Ohio but also at the national level.
Extension urban entomologist Susan Jones is a member of the Joint Bed Bug Task Force in Cincinnati/Hamilton County and the Central Ohio Bed Bug Task Force in Greater Columbus--which help people, organizations, and communities learn more about bed bugs, the extent of the problem, ways to prevent an infestation, and what to do if bed bugs become a problem.
At the state level, Jones was heavily involved in drafting bed bug management recommendations to the Ohio governor and general assembly, submitted early this year by the Ohio Department of Health's Ohio Bed Bug Workgroup. The report states that bed bugs have "the ability [to] impact every single Ohioan if left unaddressed" and that "not only must the federal government work tirelessly with pesticide manufacturers on a chemical solution that is safe, effective, and affordable," but "state and local governments must work just as hard in educating Ohioans on awareness and prevention measures."
Jones is also part of the recently formed National Pest Management Association (NPMA) Blue Ribbon Bed Bug Task Force. "This group just came out with a set of best practices for pest management so that methodology being used can be standardized," explained Jones, who provided lots of input for the preparation of the NPMA document, available online at http://www.npmapestworld.org/publicpolicy/BedBugs.cfm.
Finally, Jones has been busy on the research front of the battle against bed bugs as well. Along with colleagues at the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center, she co-authored the first genetic study of bed bugs, published January 19 in the online journal PLoS ONE. This study has paved the way to the identification of potential genes associated with pesticide resistance and possible new control methods for the troublesome insect. More about this groundbreaking study is available at http://go.osu.edu/Bnw.
--By Mauricio Espinoza

ChickQuest Brings Science to Life in Akron Public Schools
Katrina Halasa bubbles with enthusiasm when she talks about Ohio 4-H's ChickQuest program.
"We do hands-on science in the classroom all the time," said Halasa, science learning specialist for Akron Public Schools. "But this takes kids through the scientific thinking process, through critical thinking. It's amazing, just amazing."
ChickQuest challenges third-grade students to study the lifecycle of egg-laying animals while monitoring the 21-day incubation period of an embryonic chicken egg and observing the chicks that hatch. Unlike a traditional embryology program, it incorporates a daily science lesson geared to Ohio's academic standards.
Halasa first learned of ChickQuest at a statewide 4-H workshop in November 2008. When Akron schools received a STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) K–8 Excellence Grant from the Ohio Board of Regents in 2009, Halasa used part of the funds to purchase materials for ChickQuest and another "Science Alive" 4-H School Enrichment project, Rockets Away.
To make the ChickQuest program work, Halasa partners with local 4-H professionals, particularly educator Jackie Krieger.
"ChickQuest has established a new standard of excellence when we look at group projects," Krieger said. "Third-graders are collecting data, taking measurements, making observations. They are more of a participant in the learning instead of an observer. When some of the classes did the Rockets Away program, they were quoting Newton's Laws of Motion--this is the third grade."
Bob Horton, Extension specialist in educational design and science education, directed the development of ChickQuest.
"Embryology programs have always been a great capstone-type program," Horton said. "There's a real gee-whiz factor with the incubator and the understanding of the lifecycle. And now, ChickQuest is built around the state science standards, and it has the added benefit of incorporating technology and engineering."
OSU Extension has sold nearly 800 copies of the ChickQuest teacher guide and more than 6,400 of the student logbook. Both are available through OSU Extension's online store, http://estore.osu-extension.org.
For more on ChickQuest and other 4-H School Enrichment Programs, see http://www.ohio4h.org/sciencealive.
--By Martha Filipic