CFAES’s Organic Food and Farming Education and Research program will hold a public listening and planning session on Nov. 9 in Wooster. Organic farmers and others are invited to attend.
The purpose of the event is to help plan the program’s future, said Doug Doohan, interim director of the program, which is called OFFER for short. He’s a professor in CFAES’s Department of Horticulture and Crop Science.
There will be updates on current research, time for questions and answers, and a discussion to hear participants’ ideas on where the program should be going. Leah Miller, former director of the Fresno, Ohio-based Small Farm Institute, will facilitate the discussion.
Help chart the program’s direction
Started in 1998, OFFER conducts scientific research on organic farming. It shares its findings through educational outreach to Ohio’s organic farmers and organic industry.
“Organic farmers have been a huge part” of the program’s past success, Doohan said. “We need their best thinking and innovation” for charting the future, too, he said.
Register free, lunch provided
Participation is free, but seating is limited. Refreshments and a hot lunch are included. Participants must register in advance by contacting Kathy Bielek of OFFER at bielek.4@osu.edu or 330-202-3528. The deadline to register is Oct. 31.
In Wooster in NE Ohio
The event is from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Shisler Conference Center at the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center, 1680 Madison Ave., Wooster. Wooster is about 60 miles south of Cleveland and 95 miles north of Columbus. The center, too, is part of Ohio State and the college.
For more information, visit the program’s website at u.osu.edu/offer.