Day: June 17, 2025

Tick Info – Recordings

As we head into summer make sure that you are keeping you, your family, and your animals tick safe.  Tim McDermott DVM, Assistant Professor and Extension Educator Agriculture and Natural Resources for Franklin County, recently recorded two webinars that can be viewed using the links listed below.  One is a shorter one focused on human safety done in collaboration with American Electric Power for their field staff, the other is a full hour presentation done in collaboration with EABU (Purdue, MSU, and USDA).

Also, don’t forget that OSU now has tick testing capabilites. You can find more info on that here: buckeyeticktest.osu.edu

C.O.R.N. Newsletter: June 16-22

In this edition of the C.O.R.N. Newsletter:

  • Battle for the Belt: Season 3, Episode 12 – Economic Considerations for Replanting – Diego Miranda, Taylor Dill, Maria Kessler, Laura Lindsey, Osler Ortez, Eric Richer, CCA
  • Statewide Slug Monitoring Project – Update # 4 – Trevor Mullen, Rosalind Holt-Frank, Evan Hodkinson, Amy Raudenbush, Dean Kreager, Alan Leininger, Dean Kreager, John Barker, Nic Baumer, Amanda Barnum, Amanda Bennett, Ken Ford, Seth Kannberg, Dean Kreager, Alan Leininger, Clifton Martin, CCA, Kendra Rose, Jocelyn Ruble, Clint Schroeder, Ryan Slaughter, Jacob Winters, Tracy Winters, Ted Wiseman, Kelley Tilmon
  • Lep Monitoring Network – Corn Earworm and Western Bean Cutworm # 8 – Trevor Mullen, Rosalind Holt-Frank, Evan Hodkinson, Amy Raudenbush, Nic Baumer, Lee Beers, CCA, JD Bethel, Trevor Corboy, Mary Jo Hassen, Seth Kannberg, Alan Leininger, Clifton Martin, CCA, Garth McDorman, Jordan Penrose, Beth Scheckelhoff, Mike Sunderman, Kyle Verhoff, Jacob Winters, Curtis Young, CCA, Andy Michel, Kelley Tilmon’

C.O.R.N. Newsletter is a summary of crop observations, related information, and appropriate recommendations for Ohio crop producers and industry. C.O.R.N. Newsletter is produced by the Ohio State University Extension Agronomy Team, state specialists at The Ohio State University and the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center (OARDC). C.O.R.N. Newsletter questions are directed to Extension and OARDC state specialists and associates at Ohio State.

New Ohio law incentivizes energy generation on former brownfields and coal mines

Written by Ellen Essman, Senior Research Associate

Governor DeWine recently signed H.B. 15, which repeals parts of the controversial energy bill passed in 2019,  H.B. 6.  Introduced by Roy Klopfenstein (R, Haviland), H.B. 15 specifically repeals subsidies for coal-fired power plants introduced in H.B. 6, but it also does much more to promote energy production within the state of Ohio.

H.B. 15 is wide-ranging, but certain provisions may be of particular interest to Ohio agriculture and those living in rural areas of the state.  The bill allows county commissioners, municipal corporations, or townships to adopt legislation requesting that the director of the Ohio Department of Development “designate the site of a brownfield or former coal mine within the subdivision’s territory as a priority investment area.” When considering the designation of a priority investment area (PIA), the director of the Ohio Department of Development is required to “prioritize the designation of areas negatively impacted by the decline the coal industry.”  Under the law, the property becomes a PIA when the Director of Development notifies the local legislative authority, or within ninety days if no notification is sent.  Once designated as a priority investment area (PIA), a property will be exempt from taxation for five years, which encourages public utilities to use the property for energy development. The law also requires the Power Siting Board to adopt rules for the accelerated review of energy projects located in an approved PIA.

Agricultural commodity groups like Ohio Corn & Wheat, as well as environmental groups like the Nature Conservancy, have praised the bill, noting that generating power on brownfields and former coal mines will have the added benefit of protecting farmland and native habitats. The thinking is that with more PIAs available for energy generation and accelerated approval from the Power Siting Board of PIAs, the need to use farmland and other areas for renewable energy projects would diminish. Instead, under the new law, political subdivisions and energy generators would be incentivized to use brownfield and former coal mine land that has already been developed, helping Ohio to both protect farmland and meet the demand for more energy generation.  H.B. 15 will go into effect on August 14, 2025.  The bill is available in its entirety here.