WOOSTER, Ohio—Emily Doss’ road to the Kubota Tech College training program, taught at Ohio State ATI, began in her hometown of Oak Hill in southern Ohio.
“I started out by going to the vocational school there, taking their ag diesel class,” she says. “I really enjoyed what I did there and was good at it, so I got a job where I work now, at Ricer Equipment, the Kubota dealer where I live.”
Seeing her skills and potential, Kubota staff asked if she’d be interested in taking the Kubota Tech College training program, which ATI offers in partnership with the company. Located in Wooster, ATI is part of The Ohio State University College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences.
Doss jumped at the chance, she said, for two reasons:...
MANSFIELD, Ohio—If you’re new or new-ish to making maple syrup, there’s a lot you can learn at Maple Bootcamp: Ohio.
Set for June 22–24 at The Ohio State University at Mansfield, the event, its website says, will provide “intensive hands-on training for beginner and intermediate maple producers.”
Participants will get details on how to assess a sugarbush and all the steps that follow, from collecting sap to boiling, bottling, and selling. Classroom sessions will take place on the Ohio State Mansfield campus. Field trips and tours will visit local maple operations, including one located right on the campus.
By the end of the program, participants “will gain the skills necessary for the safe, efficient, and...
COLUMBUS, Ohio—Individualized coaching coupled with an app for tracking could help families greatly reduce some types of food waste, in turn helping combat climate change.
That’s a finding from a recent study co-led by Brian Roe, holder of the Fred N. VanBuren Professorship in Farm Management at The Ohio State University College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences (CFAES).
“Food waste is one of the greatest sources of greenhouse gas emissions, and it’s something that nearly everyone can address in their daily lives,” said Roe, who is a faculty member in the CFAES Department of Agricultural, Environmental, and Development Economics. He is also the director of the Ohio State Food Waste Collaborative.
The study, Roe...
COLUMBUS, Ohio—The Ohio State University College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences (CFAES) has named M. Monica Giusti, Jay F. Martin, and Sandra Velleman as its 2021–2022 Distinguished Professors of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences.
The honorific title, selected annually on a competitive basis among faculty members at the rank of full professor, recognizes excellent work and significant impact in fulfilling CFAES’ missions—teaching, research, outreach, and engagement.
“We congratulate these outstanding faculty members, and all of the nominees, for their impactful contributions—to their fields, to their students, to our college, university, and the public,” said Cathann A. Kress, Ohio State vice president for...
OREGON, Ohio—Manure happens. And when it does, there are ways you can use it that help crops grow and yet also protect the environment.
That’s the premise of Waste to Worth 2022, set for April 18–22 near Toledo, which will share the latest science on animal agriculture and environmental stewardship.
Organized by the national Livestock and Poultry Environmental Learning Community (LPELC) and hosted by The Ohio State University College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences (CFAES), the conference brings together leading experts on manure use. Its theme is “Advancing Sustainability in Animal Agriculture.”
Speakers from CFAES will include:
Cathann A. Kress, Ohio State vice president for agricultural administration and dean of...
WOOSTER, Ohio—Registration is open for the annual Greenhouse Management Workshop by The Ohio State University College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences (CFAES), set to be held virtually from Jan. 26–28, 2022.
The workshop will focus on integrated management of insects and diseases, with the speakers being experts from CFAES, the U.S. Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS), and industry. Hours are 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. EST on all three days of the program.
The $60 registration fee can be paid online at go.osu.edu/CD4p or by mail using the registration form available at go.osu.edu/CD4k. Registrants will receive Zoom links for the workshop on Jan. 23, 2022.
Here are the topics and speakers scheduled...
WOOSTER, Ohio—Farming is becoming even higher-tech, and an upcoming event will talk about how.
“Robotics in Agriculture: What Will It Mean to the Food You Eat” will feature five speakers from the farm industry and from The Ohio State University College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences (CFAES). It takes place at 7 p.m. Dec. 1 in Fisher Auditorium at CFAES Wooster, 1680 Madison Ave., Wooster.
“We hope attendees will broaden their understanding of the possibilities for using robotics, artificial intelligence, and related technologies to improve food production,” said co-planner Mary Wicks, a program coordinator for CFAES’ Program for Bioproducts and the Environment.
Wicks said the speakers will give a variety of...
COLUMBUS, Ohio—The Ohio State University will be the lead partner on a new five-year, multimillion-dollar pilot watershed project in northwestern Ohio designed to demonstrate that agricultural conservation practices—if used on 70% of the farmland in a watershed, and evaluated on a watershed scale—can help meet Lake Erie’s water quality goals.
The Regional Conservation Partnership Program, part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service, is providing $6.8 million in funding for the project.
A further $4 million is being made available to the project by the state of Ohio through the H2Ohio water quality initiative, which the project will complement.
Key to the project are investments by other partners that...
LONDON, Ohio—There’s a place you can go to discover such things as:
How grazing goats can help control invasive plants in your woods.
How to call turkeys, identify frogs, stock your pond with the best types of fish, and grow your own edible mushrooms in a bucket.
How and when to harvest timber, and what today’s volatile lumber prices can mean for you and your woods.
How to identify the spotted lanternfly, an invasive species new to Ohio that can damage your fruit and shade trees and grape vines.
If you want to learn more about woods, water, wildlife, and grazing lands—and walk among them while you do it—check out the Gwynne Conservation Area at this year’s Farm Science Review.
The nearly 70-acre demonstration...
CELINA, Ohio—Manure Science Review this year will feature a cutting-edge livestock farm that’s keeping soil and water healthy by practicing regenerative agriculture.
The event takes place Aug. 10 at MVP Dairy in Celina.
Started in 2019, MVP Dairy is home to 4,400 cows, uses a variety of state-of-the-art technology, and was named 2020 Innovative Dairy Farmer of the Year by the International Dairy Foods Association and Dairy Herd Management magazine.
The farm, its website says, “was specifically designed to effectively and efficiently handle manure from our cows while reducing odors and preventing potential runoff.”
Responsible manure management, the website says, “is always a top priority.”
During Manure Science...
COLUMBUS, Ohio—Douglas Karcher, PhD, an alumnus of The Ohio State University College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences (CFAES), is returning to the college as professor and chair in the Department of Horticulture and Crop Science. His four-year term begins Aug. 1, 2021, pending approval by the university’s Board of Trustees.
Karcher currently works at the University of Arkansas, where he is interim assistant director of the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station and is turfgrass specialist, professor, and assistant head in the Department of Horticulture. He started his career as an assistant professor in that department in 2000, was promoted to associate professor in 2005, and became professor in 2016.
“We are excited in bringing an engaged...
WOOSTER, Ohio—With the COVID-19 pandemic raging on, the U.S. bioeconomy is facing challenges.
On Friday, Feb. 12, from 9 a.m. to noon, The Ohio State University’s Advanced BioSystems Workshop will look at those challenges and will brainstorm ways for research, technology, and the government to address them.
Workshop organizer Ajay Shah, agricultural engineer with Ohio State’s College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences (CFAES), said plant-based fuels and products “have the potential to decrease U.S. dependence on petroleum feedstocks, improving energy security, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and creating new industries.”
Good for industry, climate, the nation
But he said the COVID-19 pandemic and...
WOOSTER, Ohio—Drones. Automation. Artificial intelligence. They’re some of the new, cutting-edge ways to monitor greenhouse plants. They’re also some of the subjects to be covered by an upcoming workshop for greenhouse growers.
With a theme of “Improving Production Via Listening to Plants,” The Ohio State University’s 2021 Greenhouse Management Workshop takes place online from Jan. 27–29.
“Growing ornamental and food crops in a controlled environment requires careful monitoring of plants’ physical and physiological aspects,” said workshop co-organizer Chieri Kubota, professor of controlled environment agriculture with Ohio State’s College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences (...
COLUMBUS, Ohio—It’s crazy to start a vegetable garden in fall, right?
Actually, it’s crazy not to—that is, if you like having lots of fresh produce to eat.
Plus, now it can taste like Victory.
Contrary to what some people think, vegetable gardening doesn’t end with summer, said Pam Bennett, horticulture educator with The Ohio State University College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences (CFAES).
Come autumn in Ohio, “there’s still plenty of time left in the growing season,” she said.
Bennett directs CFAES’ statewide Master Gardener Volunteers program. And she’s helping lead the new Ohio Victory Gardens program, a joint effort by CFAES and the Ohio Department of...
COLUMBUS, Ohio—For Rachel Cochran, a typical day involves working one-on-one with farmers, while practicing social distancing, of course.
“It could be contacting them about pulling cores for a soil health study,” she said. “It could be talking to them about potential best management practices that they might be thinking about using.”
For Boden Fisher, his workday could involve being invited to attend a farmer’s wheat harvest, allowing Fisher to measure the crop’s quality, part of a study comparing the use of top-dressed manure and commercial fertilizer.
For Nick Eckel, a typical workday, and every workday in general, means helping farmers successfully implement new conservation practices.
The practices, Eckel said, “...
COLUMBUS, Ohio—Lots of Ohioans started gardening this spring, some for the very first time, possibly including you.
In a time of pandemic and staying at home, gardening gets you out into fresh air and sunshine, keeps you properly socially distanced, and yields healthy food for your family.
Call it, yes, a victory garden—one that stretches your food budget, limits your time in the grocery store, and helps ease the strain on food supply chains.
So how, now that your garden is growing, can you keep it strong all summer long?
Tim McDermott, an educator with The Ohio State University College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences (CFAES), shared his top six tips, especially for beginners. He runs the Growing...
COLUMBUS, Ohio—There’s a bit of good news for Ohio farmers to counter the bad news caused by COVID-19, as well as by last year’s historic rain.
In counties scheduled for property value updates in 2020—about half of Ohio’s 88 counties—the average value of farmland enrolled in the Current Agricultural Use Value (CAUV) program should be about 40% lower than 2017–2019, or about $665 per acre.
That’s according to projections by researchers at The Ohio State University College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences (CFAES).
The same projections say that in counties due for property value updates in 2021—another quarter of Ohio’s counties—average CAUV values should be about 25% less than 2018–...
WASHINGTON, D.C.—New technology holds promise for America’s small farms and rural businesses, but public-sector involvement—such as for expanding rural broadband access—is needed for that promise to be realized.
So said Doug Jackson-Smith, professor of water security and rural sociology in The Ohio State University College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences (CFAES), in comments delivered Jan. 9 in Washington, D.C., to the U.S. House Committee on Small Business’ Subcommittee on Innovation and Workforce Development.
“New technology offers opportunities for small businesses, especially small farmers,” Jackson-Smith said at a hearing convened by the subcommittee titled “Farming in the 21st Century:...
Update, Jan. 13: The optional Jan. 25 program has been cancelled.
WOOSTER, Ohio—Join experts from The Ohio State University College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences (CFAES) and beyond in discovering Ohio’s possible new cash crop.
A workshop titled “Growing Hemp in Ohio: Separating Fact from Fiction,” featuring 10 sessions by 18 speakers, is set for Jan. 24 at the CFAES Wooster campus, about 60 miles south of Cleveland.
The event will look at the opportunities and challenges facing Ohio hemp growers. Subjects will include hemp plant basics, growing practices, business considerations, rules, and regulations.
Also offered is an optional program from 9:30 a.m. to noon the next day, Jan. 25, featuring six sessions by speakers from...
COLUMBUS, Ohio—The Ohio State University College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences (CFAES) has named Ohio scientist Heather Raymond as director of its new Water Quality Initiative. She began her appointment Sept. 1.
Raymond, a national leader on policies and responses regarding harmful algal blooms, joins CFAES from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, where she was state harmful algal bloom (HAB) coordinator and lead hydrogeologist. She was also recently elected to serve on the National HAB Committee.
Harmful algal blooms are the often pea-green, sometimes-toxic slime outbreaks plaguing water bodies including Lake Erie.
“We’re fortunate to have recruited someone with so much expertise and experience in water quality,”...
WOOSTER, Ohio—Swarms of bugs will be out in the darkness—buzzing, flying, bioluminescing—on July 13 in Wooster. And that’s good news for curious kids and their hopefully equally eager families.
The Ohio State University’s annual Insect Night is set for that evening at Secrest Arboretum. The event will celebrate the many-legged creatures that call our planet home—especially the creepy-crawlies for whom the nighttime is the right time.
“Insects are the most diverse animals on Earth. They affect our ecosystems, agriculture, and health,” said event co-organizer Kendall King, an Ohio State graduate student in entomology, or insect science. “This is our way of sharing our passion for insects with our local communities.”...
STRASBURG, Ohio—Expect plenty of fertile conversation at Manure Science Review.
Designed to share ways to put manure to good use, and to do it while protecting the environment and water quality, the annual event is on Aug. 7 at JIMITA Holsteins, a 400-plus-acre family dairy farm in Strasburg. Strasburg is about 20 miles south of Canton in northeast Ohio.
Manure offers nutrients that crops need to grow and can reduce a farmer’s commercial fertilizer costs, said event co-organizer Chris Zoller, educator, agriculture and natural resources, Tuscarawas County office of Ohio State University Extension.
“That’s especially important as the margins in agriculture, especially in the dairy economy, have been very tight,” Zoller said.
OSU...
Update, May 2, 2019: Secrest Arboretum has posted hyperlinks to the plant sale lists at go.osu.edu/CuGg.
WOOSTER, Ohio—A cardinal has been pecking at the windows of the new but not yet open Secrest Arboretum Welcome and Education Center.
“It wants to be the first one in,” Jason Veil, curator of the arboretum in Wooster, said with a laugh.
With spring unfolding around them, Veil, his staff, and arboretum volunteers are preparing for two big events on May 11.
There’s an open house slated at the welcome center, which is the public’s first chance to tour the $2 million facility.
And there’s the annual Plant Discovery Day plant sale, which will be at the center, too.
The open house is a “chance...
WOOSTER, Ohio—Polymer scientist Judit E. Puskas, who coinvented the coating on a heart stent implanted in millions of Americans, has joined The Ohio State University College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences (CFAES).
Puskas, who is also developing an innovative way to improve breast reconstruction after cancer surgery, was appointed a professor in CFAES’ Department of Food, Agricultural and Biological Engineering at the start of the year. A native of Hungary, she worked most recently at The University of Akron.
She will be based at the CFAES Wooster campus, where she will specialize in green polymer chemistry and biomaterials. She will also be a member of Ohio State’s newly created Sustainability Institute....
COLUMBUS, Ohio—The answers to growing better crops are under your feet if you look.
So says Steve Culman, soil fertility specialist at The Ohio State University, who is helping lead an upcoming workshop on how to test your soil.
“Soil testing provides a window into the soil, revealing if a plant is likely to see the nutrients it needs to grow and thrive,” said Culman, based at the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences (CFAES).
The workshop, called “Digging Into Soil Health: What Tests Can Tell Us About Our Soil,” will be Feb. 14 in Dayton. It’s part of the annual conference of the Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association (OEFFA), which runs from Feb. 14–16.
Now celebrating its 40th year, the OEFFA conference is...
