Events & Field Days

Soil Health Webinar Series 2026 – Save the Dates

Join the 2026 OSU Extension Soil Health Webinar Series and empower your farm with science-backed, practical strategies! Each monthly webinar delivers expert-led insights—from real-world cover crop management and soil testing to boosting yield, resilience, and profitability in Ohio’s fields. Aimed squarely at farmers, these sessions feature Extension educators, researchers, and producers sharing proven approaches you can start using immediately. Plus, Certified Crop Advisors can earn continuing education credits by tuning in live, and past recordings are conveniently accessible anytime. It’s your direct connection to the latest research and on-farm experience—designed to help your soil and bottom line thrive.

The webinars will be held from 8:00 to 9:00 AM on:

  • January 15, 2026
  • February 12, 2026
  • March 19, 2026
  • April 9, 2026

Speaker details and specific topics will be announced in December, so stay tuned!

We encourage you to share this with your network and post the attached flyer on your county website to help spread the word.

Please feel free to contact Manbir Rakkar (rakkar.4@osu.edu) or Asmita Murumkar (murumkar.1@osu.edu)  if you have any questions.

Don’t miss the chance to join these informative sessions and enhance your soil health knowledge!

Free Growing Berries Workshop

Small Farm College 2025 – Piketon, OH

Join us for the Small Farm College at the OSU South Endeavor Center (1862 Shyville Rd, Piketon, OH) beginning Wednesday, October 15! 

What is Small Farm College?
This 10-hour small farm management college is designed to help landowners examine potential ways to increase profits from their small-acreage properties. The program is open to all new or aspiring farmers, new rural landowners, small farmers, and farm families looking for new ideas. During this course, participants will be challenged to develop realistic expectations for their new farm business. Participants will receive information about getting started, identifying the strengths and weaknesses of their property, and developing a farm business plan. This college occurs over the course of 5 weeks. Each week will focus on a different topic, and at the end, participants will get to experience a simulation with the chance to apply the content from the previous 4 weeks.

Register at:  go.osu.edu/southernohiosfc

Session Dates & Information: 

  • Session I: Getting started on Your New Farm Business
    • Date: Wednesday, October 15 @ 6:30 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.
      • Developing real-life expectations for your farm.
      • Assessing your property and resources.
      • Developing your family and farm mission, goals, and objectives.
      • Managing farm and family income and expenses.
      • What is a farm business plan, and why do you need one?
  • Session II: You Can’t Measure What You Don’t Track (Farm Recordkeeping, Budgets, and Taxes) 
    • Date: Wednesday, October 22 @ 6:30 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.
      • Recordkeeping for farm businesses
      • Using enterprise budgets to project farm income and cost of production
      • Introduction to farm taxes
  • Session III: The Legal Side of Small Farm Management 
    • Date: Wednesday, October 29 @ 6:30 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.
      • Legal structures for farms
      • Farm Leases and Contracts
      • Licenses and permits for selling farm food products
      • Liability concerns for farms
  • Session IV: Money, money, money! The Financial Side of Small Farm Management
    • Date: Wednesday, November 5 @ 6:30 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.
      • Developing farm and family balance sheets
      • Developing financial statements for your farm
      • Farm financing options
      • Developing your farm business plan
  • Session V: Small Farm Reality Simulation 
    • Date: Wednesday, November 12 @ 6:30 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.
      • Experience farm management in a small farm setting with industry professionals

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.

To learn more, contact Amanda Perkins at 740-289-4837.

Urban Farm Education Field Day

Cohosted by The Ohio State University’s Student Farm and Urban Ag. Team, the Urban Farm Education Field Day will offer demonstrations and presentations to support small-scale and urban farming. Attendees will have the opportunity to learn from Ohio State University Extension professionals about a variety of topics, including the use of low tunnels for season extension and insect exclusion, high tunnel ventilation management, artificial intelligence-enabled robotic weeders for vegetable production, USDA funding to support urban high tunnels, and more. Program details are below and in the attached file; growers, producers, farmers, students, extension educators, and community members are all welcome to join the event!

Attendance is free. Mark your calendars and register here by September 14.

Urban Farm Education Field Day Flyer

Wednesday Women in Ag Webinar – Aquaculture is Agriculture!

Join us on August 6, 2025, for the next session of Wednesday Women in Ag Webinars with Herbert Quintero, OSU Program Director for Aquaculture Extension, on the topic of:

Aquaculture is Agriculture – Ways to Engage!

Aquaculture offers dynamic, hands-on learning opportunities that connect science, sustainability, and food systems. This session will explore how aquaponics facilities can play a vital role in enhancing food security while promoting environmentally responsible practices. Participants will gain insights into sustainable aquaculture methods and how they can be integrated into educational programs, community initiatives, and local food systems.

Register for the entire series using this link one time. go.osu.edu/wiawednesdaywebinars2025  

Ohio Farmland Leasing Webinar – August 15

We have planned the upcoming Ohio Farmland Leasing Update Webinar to address key issues and to share the latest data and outlook information on farm leasing issues.

Farmland owners, farmers, and others working in the field of agriculture can benefit from this Special Edition of Farm Office Live.

It is being held on Friday, August 15th, from 10 to noon via Zoom.

To register, visit: https://farmoffice.osu.edu/farmofficelive

Flyer  Ohio Farmland Leasing Webinar 2025

Selling Home Produced Foods that Use Fresh Fruit: Know the Laws

Selling Home-Produced Foods that Use Fresh Fruit: Know the Laws

Cultivating Connections Conference for Farm Transition Planners

Cultivating Connections Conference for farm transition planners coming August 4 & 5

FREE FARM PESTICIDE DISPOSAL COLLECTION EVENTS AVAILABLE IN FULTON, LAKE, AND GREENE COUNTIES July152025

The Ohio Department of Agriculture(ODA) will be sponsoring three collection events for farmers to dispose of unwanted pesticides. This year, the collections are available in Fulton, Lake, and Greene counties on the following days and locations:
August 13 – Fulton County Extension, 8770 State Route 108, Wauseon, Ohio 43567, 9 a.m.–3 p.m.
August 14 – Perry Coal and Feed (Lake County), 4204 Main Street, Perry, Ohio 44081, 9 a.m.–3 p.m.
August 27 – Greene County Fairgrounds, 100 Fairground Road, Xenia, Ohio 45385. 9 a.m.–3 p.m.

The pesticide collection and disposal services are free of charge, but only farm chemicals will be accepted. Paint, antifreeze, solvents, and household or non-farm pesticides will not be accepted.

ODA sponsors the pesticide collections in conjunction with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. To pre-register or for more information, contact the Ohio Department of Agriculture at (614) 728-6987.

New Sprayer Technologies and Best Practices for Vineyards and Orchards

This workshop will feature presentations on best spraying practices using conventional sprayers and new sprayer technology, including spray drones and Intelligent sprayer units. The afternoon will provide field demonstrations showing adjustments to improve the effectiveness of conventional sprayers, as well as sprayer operation and calibration demonstrations. OSU, MSU, and PSU Extension Specialists and the USDA-ARS Application Technology Research Unit are developing this workshop. Registration is required. Please see the agenda for program details. Lunch and workshop materials are included with registration.

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 GO.OSU.EDU/SPRAY2025

FLYER

This workshop provides you with the opportunity to learn best spraying practices using conventional sprayers as well as 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 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, as well as 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, as well as with the vendors who will bring their sprayers to the site for demonstrations.

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.