CFAES holds its 2017 Agricultural Diversification Research Tour from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. this Thursday, Aug. 17, at OARDC’s Mellinger Research Farm, 6885 W. Old Lincoln Way, in Wooster. The focus is on how small- and medium-sized farms can widen their product range and increase their profitability without having to get bigger in size. Free. Learn more. OARDC is CFAES’s research arm.
farm income
It’s a great Pumpkin Field Day, Charlie Brown
The Western Agricultural Research Station of OARDC, CFAES’s research arm, is holding its Pumpkin Field Day for growers on Aug. 17. What’ll you get? Research updates by OARDC scientists on weed, disease and pest management and on new pumpkin and winter squash varieties.
Registration is $5. You can register to attend online.
Ohio’s 2016 pumpkin crop, 6,700 acres in all, had a production value of more than $16 million, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
OARDC’s Western branch is in South Charleston, about 40 miles west of Columbus.
Keeping corn strong despite weather extremes
A recent major project hopes to help farmers handle the heat — and drought and other weather extremes — caused by climate change. Continue reading Keeping corn strong despite weather extremes
We’ve got the local meat. Now how do we sell it? OEFFA conference preview
Marketing locally raised meat can be “time consuming, costly and complex,” says the description of Hannah Scott’s workshop at the upcoming Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association annual conference. But the challenges, the description says, can be addressed by using the cooperative business model. Scott, who’s program manager of the Ohio Cooperative Development Center at CFAES’s OSU South Centers in Piketon, will explain the model in her workshop. She’ll give good examples of farmers who’ve teamed up to market their meat with success. “Local Meats and the Co-op Model,” Session IV, 8:30 to 10:30 a.m., Saturday, Feb. 11. Complete conference schedule.
Learn to earn green in your woods
There’s bucks in and under your trees, CFAES experts say. They’ll show you ways to earn them — sustainably, from maple syrup, timber and more — in this workshop.
Good pick for growers of specialty crops
Sustaining sweetness: Ohio Maple Days are Jan. 19-21
This year’s Ohio Maple Days are Jan. 19 in Morrow County, Jan. 20 in Wayne County (the location is close to Holmes County, too) and Jan. 21 in Geauga County. The annual events, which are the same at all three locations, help maple syrup producers get ready for the coming season, which in Ohio usually starts sometime in February. They’re sponsored by CFAES’s Ohio Maple Syrup Program. Check out the brochure, which includes program details and a registration form, here.
Event in Mt. Hope for produce and flower growers
The 2017 Mid-Ohio Growers Meeting, whose tagline is “Top-notch education for produce and flower growers,” will feature several CFAES experts among its speakers: Brad Bergefurd (“Pumpkins and Gourds from Seed to Harvest”), Sally Miller (“Managing Soil-Borne Diseases in Vegetables” and “Vegetable Seed Treatment”), Celeste Welty (Using Multiple Tactices to Manage Pests”) and Rory Lewandowski (“Applying the Correct Chemicals Efficiently”).
The event is Jan 12-13 in Mt. Hope in Holmes County. Admission is $20 by Dec. 31; $25 afterward, including at the door; with children 14 and under free.
Download the event brochure, which includes the complete schedule, speaker details and a registration form, here.
This Christmas tree has CFAES roots, has helped sustain state’s industry
If you decorate your home with a live Christmas tree, and that tree is a Canaan fir (pictured here in close-up), thank Jim Brown, a now-retired forestry professor with CFAES’s research arm, OARDC in Wooster. You can unwrap the details here. (Photo: Ken Chamberlain, CFAES.)
9 farm strategies for a profitable 2017
Despite low commodity prices, Ohio farmers can stay in the black in 2017 — but they’ll need to tighten their belts and slash expenses, says CFAES agricultural economist Barry Ward. He lists nine keys to a Happy New Year …