Author: Nanette Neal

Urban Ag Field Day

Are you new to Urban Agriculture, or have you been growing for years? No matter your experience, join members of the Urban Ag team for a variety of crop management topics aimed to help your Urban Ag farm operate more efficiently and profitably. The field day will be held at the NECIC site, which features several types of actively farmed high tunnels and raised bed systems on-site. Learn about strawberry production, modernizing your irrigation system, and the benefits of row covers. Each presentation will be 15-20 minutes long with time for questions at the end. Bring your production challenges, and we’ll discuss how to solve them.

-Registration IS required for this event by June 20. Please use this link or QR code to the right: https://go.osu.edu/necic25
-There is NO registration fee to attend this event.

DATE: June 25, 2025
TIME: 4:00–6:00 p.m.
LOCATION: North End Community Improvement Collaboration, 311 Bowman Street, Mansfield, OH

FLYER

EVENT SPONSORS:

  • OSU IPM Program
  • OSU Urban Ag Team
  • OSU CFAES
  • Immediate Needs Grant
  • USDA NIFA 20247000643574
  • USDA FSA
  • FSA23CPT0012850

SBA Relief Still Available to Ohio Small Businesses and Private Nonprofits Affected by September Drought

Deadline to apply for economic injury loans approaching

ATLANTA—The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) is reminding small businesses and private nonprofit (PNP) organizations in Ohio of the June 2 deadline to apply for low-interest federal disaster loans to offset economic losses caused by the drought beginning Sept. 24, 2024.
The disaster declaration covers the Ohio counties of Adams, Brown, Butler, Clermont, Clinton, Coshocton, Guernsey, Hamilton, Highland, Holmes, Knox, Licking, Montgomery, Muskingum, Pike, Preble, Scioto, Tuscarawas and Warren and Dearborn, Franklin, and Union in Indiana as well as Boone, Bracken, Campbell, Kenton, Lewis, Mason, and Pendleton in Kentucky.

Under this declaration, SBA’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program is available to small businesses, small agricultural cooperatives, nurseries, and PNPs with financial losses directly related to the disaster. The SBA is unable to provide disaster loans to agricultural producers, farmers, or ranchers, except for small aquaculture enterprises.

EIDLs are available for working capital needs caused by the disaster, even if the business or PNP did not suffer any physical damage. The loans may be used to pay fixed debts, payroll, accounts payable, and other bills not paid due to the disaster.

“Through a declaration by the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, SBA provides critical financial assistance to help communities recover,” said Chris Stallings, associate administrator of the Office of Disaster Recovery and Resilience at the SBA. “We’re pleased to offer loans to small businesses and private nonprofits impacted by these disasters.”

The loan amount can be up to $2 million with interest rates as low as 4% for small businesses and 3.25% for PNPs, with terms up to 30 years. Interest does not accrue, and payments are not due until 12 months from the date of the first loan disbursement. The SBA sets loan amounts and terms based on each applicant’s financial condition.

To apply online, visit sba.gov/disaster. For more information on SBA, applicants may also call SBA’s Customer Service Center at (800) 659-2955 or email disastercustomerservice@sba.gov.

Consider attending a “New Sprayer Technologies and Best Practices for Vineyards and Orchards” workshop on August 12.

This workshop allows you to learn the best spraying practices using conventional sprayers and the new technology available to growers to make the pesticide application more precise and cost-effective. For example, you will see an “intelligent sprayer” with an AI application (developed here in Ohio several years ago) that detects the existence of targets to be sprayed and varies the application rate on the go depending on the canopy characteristics (size, canopy leaf density). Another new technology gaining popularity is using drones to spray pesticides. These new technologies and several types of conventional orchard/vineyard sprayers will be demonstrated in the afternoon part of the workshop. There will be plenty of time to talk with the presenters of talks and the vendors who will bring their sprayers to the site for demonstrations.

The attached flyer provides detailed information about this workshop, including location, agenda, and registration, but here is the key information you should know.

DATE: August 12, 2025

TIME: 9:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.

LOCATION: Quarry Hill Winery & Orchard, 8403 Mason Rd #2, Berlin Heights, OH 44814

REGISTRATION COST (includes lunch and refreshments): Early Registration: $45 per person until July 1; Late Registration: $60 per person, July 2 until August 1

REGISTER at https://go.osu.edu/spray2025

FLYER  

The morning part of the workshop will be indoors, with limited seating capacity. Registration will be closed once the seating capacity is reached, so please consider registering early.

This event is a collaboration between Ohio State University Extension, Michigan State University Extension, Pennsylvania State University Extension, and the USDA-ARS Application Technology Research Unit.

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to get in touch with the following organizers of the workshop:

Erdal Ozkan: ozkan.2@osu.edu

Maria Smith:  smith.12720@osu.edu

Frank Becker: becker.587@osu.edu

April Ohio Fruit News

The April issue of Ohio Fruit News is now available online at https://bpb-us-w2.wpmucdn.com/u.osu.edu/dist/b/28945/files/2025/05/OFN_APR_2025-FINAL-3.pdf.
Features in the article include:
  • An introduction to pawpaw by Dan Lima
  • Best practices for spraying in the orchard and vineyard by Erdal Ozkan
  • Managing moths in the apple orchard by Ashley Leach
  • Update on federal funding to NCCR and NEWA by Melanie Ivey