March 2012 Ohio's Country Journal

BuCKeye BRieFs Ohio’s Country Journal

news OFBF grants distributed The Ohio Farm Bureau Foundation con-

tinues to develop programs helping small- er, community-based groups and has awarded a series of Agricultural Action and Awareness Grants for the 2012 program year. The competitively awarded grants sup-

port programs and projects focusing on agricultural education and ecological and/or economic development. This year’s grant recipients and

projects: • Clintonville Farmer’s

Market, Connecting Farmers and Emerging Market Customer Population, $2,000; • Community Food Initiatives, Dig in

for Health, $2,500; • Cuyahoga Soil and Water

Conservation District, Conservation From the Ground Up: From Soil to a Healthy Ecosystem, $2,266; • Fairfield Soil and Conservation

People IAS hires Davis Integrated Ag Services (IAS), Milford

Center, Ohio, announced the addition of Grant Davis to its Crop Advising Team. Davis’ primary responsibility will be to

provide agronomic consulting services to IAS’ northeast territory and help introduce

District, Soil Testing for Fields Receiving Municipal Biosolids and Digester Biosolids, $700; • Ohio State University Scarlet & Gray

Ag Day Committee, Agriculture: Superheroes in Our Fields, $3,000; • Muskingum Soil and Water

Conservation District, Kids Farm Safety Day, $1,100; • Ohio State University Ag Safety and

Health, Farm Safety Round Up, $3,000; • Preble County Farm Bureau, Preble

County Grow It Know It Expansion Grant, $3,000; • Rural Action, Developing a Local

Food, Regional Distribution System, $3,000; • Seneca Soil and Water Conservation

District, Agriculture Technology for Youth by Soil and Water, $3,000; • Southeastern Correctional

Institution, The Green Zone Community Garden, $2,966; • Stratford Ecological Center, Stratford’s

Children’s Program, $3,000. “The Foundation awarded more than $29,000 in grants,” Foundation President

more farmers to IAS and its family of products and services in western Champaign and eastern Miami counties. Davis and his wife, Stephanie, have a

small hay and beef cattle business outside of Christiansburg, Ohio, primarily selling all-natural freezer beef.

Clark is AAW officer

American Agri-Women (AAW) recently elected officers at the group’s 36th annual convention in Wichita, Kan. Ohio’s Peggy Clark, Dayton, was elected treasurer. AAW is a national coalition

of more than 40,000 farm, ranch and agribusiness women, representing 60 state and commodity affiliates.

Jack Fisher said. “That is double what we were able to do when the grant program started seven years ago.” Agricultural Action and Awareness

Grants focus on funding needs for smaller, community based groups that often find the larger-scale, public and private grant solicitation process daunting.

New Ohio AgrAbility resources Farmers, growers and any agricul-

ture workers dealing with a disabling condition can find tips on how to cope with their condition while continuing to farm thanks to 15 new fact sheets from the Ohio State University Extension’s Ohio AgrAbility Program. The fact sheets are designed to pro-

vide useful information and resources to any farmer or agricultural worker who has a disability, injury or illness, said Kent McGuire, Ohio AgrAbility program coordinator. “Much of the focus of this series of

fact sheets is on helping farmers pre- vent injuries, including secondary injury, and how to manage serious con-

OABA welcomes Davis-Haines The Ohio AgriBusiness Association

(OABA) has hired Angela Davis-Haines as director of communication and member education. The position is a new role with- in the OABA staff that will focus on pro- viding comprehensive communication for the association, while also providing lead- ership and direction for OABA educational programs, including workshops, seminars and conferences. Davis-Haines was born and raised on a

grain farm in Fairfield County and is look- ing forward to once again working in the agricultural industry.

Wells is new Farm Bureau communications specialist

Callie Wells has been named com- munications specialist by the Ohio

ditions such as arthritis or Parkinson’s disease while being able to continue daily farm activities,” he said. The fact sheets also seek to provide

farmers with tips on how to use assis- tive technology to be able to remain productive on their farms and can be useful to any grower or producer, McGuire said. “They provide useful information on

health and various strategies that can be used to help with a particular issue in farming,” he said. “The fact sheets help farmers, growers and producers to continue to be productive in order to maintain their life and livelihoods on the farm and reduce the potential for secondary injury that may be caused by an original disability.” This group is the second in a series

of 40 new fact sheets the Ohio AgrAbility Program is planning to pro- duce over the next year. This second set is available to download as PDF files now at http://ohioline.osu.edu/lines/ farm.html#FSAFE. For more, visit the website at http://agrability.osu.edu.

Farm Bureau Federation (OFBF). She’ll contribute to the organization’s Web and multimedia team, focusing on communications through OFBF’s website, e-newsletters and participa- tion in social media. She also will write and do photography for Our Ohio magazine and Buckeye Farm News, Ohio Farm Bureau’s consumer and farm publications. Wells grew up in rural Butler

County. She is a graduate of The Ohio State University with a dual degree in animal science and agricultural educa- tion and is nearing completion of her master’s degree in agricultural commu- nications also from Ohio State. She’s a volunteer for local and state 4-H pro- grams and is active with a local FFA Alumni organization.

Ohio’s Country Journal • ocj.com • March 2012 • News 11

Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4 | Page 5 | Page 6 | Page 7 | Page 8 | Page 9 | Page 10 | Page 11 | Page 12 | Page 13 | Page 14 | Page 15 | Page 16 | Page 17 | Page 18 | Page 19 | Page 20 | Page 21 | Page 22 | Page 23 | Page 24 | Page 25 | Page 26 | Page 27 | Page 28 | Page 29 | Page 30 | Page 31 | Page 32 | Page 33 | Page 34 | Page 35 | Page 36 | Page 37 | Page 38 | Page 39 | Page 40 | Page 41 | Page 42 | Page 43 | Page 44 | Page 45 | Page 46 | Page 47 | Page 48 | Page 49 | Page 50 | Page 51 | Page 52 | Page 53 | Page 54 | Page 55 | Page 56