Author: Nanette Neal

2024 ePLUS On-Farm Research Report (specialty crops, fruit, vegetable, and more)

| Nanette Neal
The first-ever ePLUS annual report is here! Browse the issue online or download a PDF copy of the 174-page, full-color publication. Physical copies will be available soon from OSU Extension.
ePLUS represents an Ohio State University program dedicated to advancing production agriculture and wise use of natural resources through on-location research. This program utilizes modern technologies and information to conduct applied, cooperative research with an educational and demonstration component used to help growers, managers, and advisors understand how new practices and techniques can improve farm, forest, and garden sustainability.

2025 Southwestern Ohio Small Farm Management College

| Nanette Neal

Location: Wilmington College, Wilmington, OH

Dates: February 5, 12, 19, & 26, 2025

Time: 6:30 PM to 9:00 PM

Cost: $80 for the first family member.  Each additional family member is $40 per person.  Each family receives only one binder of resources.  Participants are expected to attend every session.

Registration: Pre-registration is required.  Registration deadline is January 31, 2025.

2025 Southwestern Ohio Small Farm Management College

Contact Information: Greg Meyer, (513)695-1853 or meyer.213@osu.edu

Syllabus highlights:

Session I:       February 5, 2025   Getting Started on Your New Farm Business

Session II:       February 12, 2025   You Can’t Measure What You Don’t Track (Farm Recordkeeping, Budgets and Taxes)

Session III:      February 19, 2025  The Legal Side of Small Farm Management

Session IV:       February 26, 2025 Money, money, money!  The Financial Side of Small Farm Management

USDA Increases Funding for New Specialty Crop Program; Reminds Producers of Upcoming Deadlines

| Nanette Neal

WASHINGTON, Jan. 6, 2025 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) reminds specialty crop producers to apply for assistance for marketing and food safety certification expenses. Specifically, USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) is providing an additional $650 million in funding for the new Marketing Assistance for Specialty Crops (MASC) program and extending the MASC application deadline to Friday, Jan. 10, 2025. Meanwhile, FSA also reminds specialty crop producers of the Jan. 31, 2025, deadline to apply for the Food Safety Certification for Specialty Crops (FSCSC) program for 2024 expenses.

Advanced Tree Identification

| Nanette Neal

Registration is open for the Advanced Winter Tree ID class. In this day-long class, spend time with samples and, if weather permits, outdoors.

This class will be held on Feb. 18th at the Fairfield County Extension office. The registration deadline is 2/12.

Can you identify trees with leaves? What about without leaves? Identifying trees in winter can be a real challenge. This is an advanced class for individuals who are familiar with using dichotomous keys.

This class begins indoors with some introductory identification clues and samples. A guide for identifying trees by fruit and twigs will be utilized for a major portion of the class. The afternoon portion of the class may be outside, depending on the weather and time.

Registration is $40 and includes lunch and materials.

Register here

2025 Ohio Woodland Water and Wildlife Conference

| Nanette Neal

Registration is now open for our 2025 Ohio Woodland Water and Wildlife Conference.  Join us for this conference, covering topics geared towards natural resource professionals and land managers.

This year, the topics include:

  • Rooted in Ohio: Oak Identification and Proper Site Selection
  • Reintroduction of Ohio’s Fishes of Greatest Conservation Concern
  • Landscape Designs for People and Wildlife

A full listing of talks is available here.  There will be continuing education credits offered for ISA, SAF, and pesticide credits.

Early registration is $70 and includes a continental breakfast, lunch, and materials.

Registration after 2/14 is $85.

Register here.

Communication Preferences for Farmers in Appalachia Ohio Survey

| Nanette Neal

Hello Agriculture Producer,

My name is Josh Winters, I am a master’s student at The Ohio State University in the Agricultural Communication, Education, and Leadership program. I would like to invite you to participate in my study for my thesis research project. You have been selected for this study because you are an agricultural producer in a county that has been identified as “Appalachia.” I am conducting this research to discover what the preferred outlets for communication in Appalachia Ohio as it relates to agricultural producers. The specific objectives guiding this study are:

  1. To identify the core communication outlets Appalachian farmers prefer when receiving educational or promotional information.
  2. To identify if different variables such as age, farm size, or commodity produced influence communication preference.
  3. To identify barriers, if any, that limit access to information.

If you could take 10 minutes of your time to complete a survey about Communication Preferences for Agricultural Producers in Appalachia Ohio that would be greatly appreciated. Please review the verbal consent form before proceeding. If you agree to participate, confidentiality will be upheld. Your completion and return of the survey will imply your informed consent to participate in this study. Participation in this study is voluntary. You can choose not to answer certain questions and withdraw at any time without penalty.

Please return the physical survey to the address/email below or complete the Qualtrics link by March 31st at 11:59 pm.

Follow this link to the survey: https://osu.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_3Q7wute6DXBOReu

Or Scan the QR Code to the survey:

If you have any questions or concerns, don’t hesitate to get in touch with me or my advisor, Dr. Jefferson McCutcheon.

Sincerely,

Joshua Winters, Graduate Student                         Dr. Jefferson McCutcheon, Advisor

17 Standpipe Rd. Jackson, Ohio 45640                             16714 Wolf Run Rd. Caldwell, Ohio 43724

740-339-9228                                                                         740-305-3189

Winters.249@osu.edu                                                          McCutcheon.30@osu.edu

Tri-State Green Industry Conference

| Nanette Neal

Thursday, February 6th, 2025

 Sharonville Convention Center
11355 Chester Rd
Cincinnati, OH  45246

Don’t miss this premier Tri-State Green Industry Educational Event:

  • Ten education tracks with sessions on horticulture, tree care, lawn care, and more
  • Networking opportunities
  • Trade show
  • Professional credits for ISA, LACES, and pesticide applicators in OH, IN, and KY

More details at go.osu.edu/gic_info

REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN!

Early Bird Registration (until Midnight, January 17th) $120.00
Late Registration (January 18th-30th) $150.00
On-Site Registration (at the door, February 6th; Lunch not included) $150.00

 Register now: go.osu.edu/gic2025_register 

Stay tuned for student and educator pricing.

For bulk registration (10+ attendees) email Fern Gulley gulley.66@osu.edu

Support a legacy conference: Become a sponsor!

Consider increasing your company’s visibility and helping this cornerstone industry event thrive by being a sponsor. Opportunities start as low as $250!

Learn more at go.osu.edu/gic_sponsor

The Tri-State Green Industry Conference is a collaborative educational effort between the following organizations, arboreta, and botanical gardens, as well as Green Industry leaders:

  • Ohio State University Extension
  • Purdue Extension
  • University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension
  • Cincinnati State Technical and Community College
  • University of Cincinnati
  • The Boone County Arboretum
  • Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden
  • Spring Grove Cemetery and Arboretum

Questions? Email Fern Gulley at gulley.66@osu.edu

Wednesday Women in Ag Webinar – Demystifying Wine and Food Pairings

| Nanette Neal

Join us on December 4, 2024, for the next session on…

Demystifying Wine and Food Pairing

Join Todd Steiner where he will help demystify wine etiquette and cover basic principles of what wines pair well with certain foods. Principals covered will help you feel more relaxed and confident in having friends over for a fun and enjoyable wine and food pairing event.

Register at this link one time for all the series. https://go.osu.edu/wiawednesdaywebinars2024

The 2024 Series will be on the 1st WEDNESDAY of each month. 10:30 am – 11:30 am

Via Zoom Platform

Farmer and Farmland Owner Tax Webinar

| Nanette Neal

The December Edition of Farm Office Live will be a special edition focused on tax issues. This webinar will be held on December 6th from 10am to noon.

Are you a farmer or farmland owner wanting to learn more about the recent income tax law changes and proposals? If so, join OSU Extension Educators Barry Ward, Jeff Lewis, Robert Moore and David Marrison as they discuss issues related to farmer and farmland owner tax returns, tax planning in a low income/drought year, CAUV and property tax, the Residual Fertility Deduction and other income tax issues that may affect farmers and farmland owners for the 2024 tax season and beyond.

This two-hour program will be presented in a live webinar format via Zoom. Individuals who operate farms, own property, or are involved with renting farmland are encouraged to participate.

Register for this free webinar at https://go.osu.edu/farmofficelive

This Farmer and Farmland Owner Tax Webinar will focus on a number of tax issues listed here:

  • Farm Economy and Tax Planning
  • Tax Planning in Low Income/Drought Years
  • Beneficial Ownership Information (BOI) Reporting
  • Pending Sunset of Larger Estate Tax Exclusion Amount (Unified Credit)
  • Residual Fertility/Fertilizer Deduction
  • Clean Fuel Production Credit (I.R.C. § 45Z)
  • Current Ag Use Valuation (CAUV) Changes in 2024
  • IRC § 45Q – Credit for Carbon Oxide Sequestration
  • Farm Loan Immediate Relief Under Inflation Reduction Act: Income Tax Options Triggered by Corrected 1099s
  • Taxability of USDA Discrimination Financial Assistance Awards
  • Pending Expiration (Sunsetting) of other Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) Provisions

Presenters include: Barry Ward, David Marrison, Jeff Lewis and Robert Moore.

Basics of Grain Marketing

| Nanette Neal

Registration is now open for the Basics of Grain Marketing Workshop, January 16 & 17, 2025, at the OSU Extension Champaign County Office in Urbana, Ohio.  This in-person workshop offers education and farm-ready strategies on topics such as basis, market carry, margins, cash markets, forward and futures contracts, hedge to arrive and basis contracts, differed price, hedging, storage, and overviews on options, spreads, and crop insurance.  It’s “more than a 2-day workshop”, featuring pre-workshop activities on calculating grain cost of production and measure of risk comfort. The workshop will include grain marketing basics, applications, and activities, plus a panel of industry professionals.  A post-workshop grain marketing peer group will be offered to strengthen learning and bring it into action with webinar updates.  The workshop has 50 limited seats.

Expert instructors: Seungki Lee, The Ohio State University; Grant Gardner, University of Kentucky; and Ben Brown, University of Missouri.  Hotel block rate deadline: December 15, 2024.  Workshop registration deadline: January 3, 2025.  For more information and registration, visit https://go.osu.edu/grainmarketing

This workshop is made possible by the support of grower checkoff dollars via the Ohio Soybean Council and Ohio Corn & Wheat. It is led by Ohio State University Extension and the Ohio State University Farm Financial Management & Policy Institute.