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Ag Week Honors Farming
By Justin Petrosino,ANR Extension Educator
OSU Extension, Darke County
Let me start by saying Happy Ag Week to everyone! Last week Governor
Kasich signed House Bill 89 which designated the second full week of
March as Ag Week. The reason for Ag Week is to try and bridge the
tremendous gap between the general public, most of whom live off-farm,
and Ohio’s farmers. Although Ohio’s farmers only make up a very small
portion of our population they help generate $98 billion for Ohio’s
economy. That is billion with a B!
Locally the approximate 1,770 farms in Darke County generated $480
million for 2007 according to our last Ag Census. In that year our
local farmers produced 20 million bushels of corn, 6.5 million bushels
of soybean, and 1.2 million bushels of wheat on 350,000 acres. We also
ranked a close second to Mercer County in livestock production.
Our farmers endure constant changes in crop and input costs, drastic
changes in weather, and increasing government regulation to produce the
food we eat every day. Imagine owning a business where your wholesaler
controlled the cost of the product you stocked your shelves with, your
customer told you what the sale price would be, and Uncle Sam told you
how you could manage your business. The end result: please thank a
farmer this week, and every week for the food we eat every day. Without
our local farmers here in Darke County, the state of Ohio, and the USA
our food would be imported from countries without the environmental
stewardship, safety, and quality that we take for granted every day.
For any farmers reading this column Ohio State University Extension,
Darke County, has several programs coming up to help you improve your
operation.
Still need to get recertified for your private pesticide applicators
license for 2011? You have one last opportunity in Mercer County on
Thursday, March 17, at 6 pm. For more information contact the Mercer
County Extension Office at (419) 586-2179. Please RSVP to the event so
we can have the proper documents available for you at meeting.
Through the office we’ve heard there is pressure on farmers to utilize
crop protection programs that may not be warranted on wheat this year
and some are considering tearing up a good wheat crop to plant corn.
OSU Extension Darke, Shelby, and Champaign counties are holding a West
Ohio Wheat Production Meeting on March 24, 2011, at 7 pm. The meeting
will be held at the Shelby County Extension Office at 810 Fair Road in
Sidney. Contact the Shelby County Office at (937) 498-7239 to reserve
your seat. You can also call Shelby County to register for the March 22
rainfall monitoring meeting. It is our goal to have a rain gauge in
every township to report rainfall online, available to everyone.
The 2011 Ohio Swine Health Symposium is scheduled for March 22, 2011 at
the Der Dutchman Restaurant in Plain City, Ohio. To register you can
fill out and fax in the form for the symposium available at http://porkinfo.osu.edu/
under “In the News” or call the Putnam County Office at (419) 523-6294.
You can’t beat the education you will get plus a buffet lunch at the
Der Dutchman for only $10!
Keep an eye out for more great programs from OSU Extension by visiting
the Ag Crops website at http://agcrops.osu.edu/ or the CORN Newsletter at http://corn.osu.edu. If
you are interested in donating money to aid in the recovery of Japan
and other countries affected by the earthquake and tsunami both the Red
Cross and Salvation Army are accepting donations. To donate you can
visit either organizations websites at www.redcross.org or www.salvationarmy.org.
To make a quick $10 donation you can text the word “Japan” to 80888 for
the Salvation Army or text the word “REDCROSS” to 90999 for the Red
Cross.
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