Southwest Acres December 2012 by Acres Midwest

Standard Wilmington News Journal Permit No. 10 Wilmington, Ohio Post Office

of Southwest Ohio Issue 10

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CORN GROWERS HAIL EPA RULING Ethanol production will continue full steam By GARY BROCK and Wire Reports gbrock@recordherald.com

WASHINGTON — A bushel of corn may bring $6, but it may actually be worth its weight in gold over the next year. And that bushel of corn’s value rose even higher in late November when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Thanksgiving week declined to relax its requirement on the use of corn ethanol in gasoline, rejecting the request from several states and organizations related to a steep decline this year in America’s corn production. And while that is good news for Ohio’s corn growers, it may not be such good news for the livestock industry, restaurants chains and probably consumers - anyone, in fact, that depend on corn for food. Continued on page 4A

The next generation? As numbers fall, concerns rise for the future of the family farm

By CHELSEA HALL info@peoplesdefender.com

hat will we be eating in a decade if there are no farmers to replace the current farmers once they retire? For nearly 70 years, the number of U.S. farms has been declining, while the average age of farmers has been rising — it’s now 57 years old, according to the most

recent U.S. Department of Agriculture statistics. The fastest growing group of farm operators is those 65 years and over, while the number in the age group entering the farming profession is dwindling, according to USDA statistics. In 2002, there were 674,968 farm operators 65 years and older. By 2007, the number had risen to 823,435 farm operators, a significant increase in this oldest group of farmers. On the other hand, in 2002, there were 851,091 farm operators under 45 years old. That number dropped in the next five years to 732,322. Eighty-one percent of farm owners under 45 years of age also work off the farm, according to the USDA. New farms tend to be smaller and have younger operators who also work off the farm. In a closer look, the 2007 Census of Agriculture shows a significant difference in the numbers of farmers at opposite ends of the age spectrum. In 2007, there were 54,147 farm operators under the age of 25, in comparison to 289,999 operators 75 years and over. “There are not many new farmers - the replacements are children of current farmers,” said David Dugan, the OSU extension educator for Ag and Natural Resources. One such replacement is Erik Scott of Georgetown, who was recently named Ohio’s Outstanding Young Farmer by the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation. The Outstanding Young Farmer contest is designed to help young farmers

INSIDE THIS ISSUE 4

Farmers back school for grant

Christmas on the farm

Will D.C. renew biofuel incentive

OSU biogas work continues

New, Small Farm Colleges

Vet to make house, farm calls

Miller’s tree farm in 20th year

New farm bill to affect farmers

Farm-to-school conference set

Amish Cook

Ladies rule on DeGroat farm

Continued on page 3A

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December 2012

ACRES of Southwest Ohio

Will ‘13 be lucky or unlucky for Ohio farmers

of Southwest Ohio December 2012 Publisher — Pamela Stricker Editor — Gary Brock Layout — Jayla Wallingford

Sales Adams County (937) 544-2391 Lee Huffman, Publisher lhuffman@peoplesdefender.com

By GARY BROCK

Brown County (937) 378-6161 Steve Triplett, Publisher striplett@newsdemocrat.com

gbrock@recordherald.com

Clinton County (937) 382-2574 Sharon Kersey, Ad Director skersey@wnewsj.com Fayette County (740) 335-3611 Sherri Sattler, Ad Director ssattler@recordherald.com Highland County (937) 393-3456 Mickey Parrott, Ad Director mparrott@timesgazette.com Subscriptions Brenda Earley, Circulation Director (937) 393-3456 bearley@timesgazette.com Contact ACRES of Southwest Ohio: 761 S. Nelson Ave. | Wilmington, OH 45177 | (937) 382-2574

ACRES of Southwest Ohio is published monthly by Ohio Community Media, LLC and is available through the Georgetown News-Democrat, Hillsboro Times-Gazette, Ripley Bee, Washington CH Record-Herald, West Union People’s Defender and Wilmington News Journal. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction of any material from this issue in whole or in part is prohibited. ACRES of Southwest Ohio is available for purchase at each of the newspaper offices for $1/copy or contact us to subscribe. Subscriptions $19.95 per year.

Please Buy Locally & Recycle.

With just a few weeks to go before the end of the year, Ohio’s farmers can breathe a sign of relief that 2012 will soon be over and their attention can turn to 2013. In fairness to 2012, most farmers are now saying that, while the extended drought this past summer was bad, and had a serious impact on many crops at harvest time - it was not as bad as some feared and could have been far worse. What now has farmers concerned is the uncertainty of the future. What lies ahead in 2013 for Ohio’s farmers? Right now, as of the end of November, a lot of things that affect our farmers remain cloudy. - First, there is the federal Farm Bill. It hasn’t been passed, and if there isn’t a resolution to the stalemate in Washington, all bets are off in 2013. That is because without the legislation in place,

Gary Brock is Editor-InChief of Acres.

many regulations either end or revert back to earlier laws. This will effect farmers and agriculture producers throughout the United States and right here in Ohio. According to our “Acres” article in this edition, the bill includes an array of policies that influence the price of agricultural commodities, ensure the availability of food, temper the cost of farming and provide for agricultural research and conservation. The 2008 farm bill expired on Sept. 30, but many of its provisions will retain funding or continue to pay out until the end of the harvesting season in 2013.

But the major worry is the safety net that many farmers receive either yearly or when needed farm subsidies. Will some or all of those subsidies expire in 2013 if there is no Farm Bill approved? - What will happen in 2013 with the corn industry and the ongoing need for corn in the production of ethanol? Just before Thanksgiving, the U.S. EPA rejected a request from a coalition of states and special interest groups to roll the ethanol standard back because of the corn shortage this year. The EPA said no dice the standard is the standard. What that means is that millions of tons of corn will still be needed in 2013 for the production of ethanol. What isn’t known is what impact that will have on corn prices and the prices of so many other products that use corn as its base. Supplies of corn will be scarce after the ethanol producers take

their share. Will livestock owners take a major hit in 2013 in the cost of feed? - Then there is the possibility of new U.S. Department of Agriculture rules regarding health and food safety standards. Will those change next year? Will there be increased pressure on more restaurant and supermarkets chains to tell suppliers that the animals used for meat they receive must have received more humane treatment than present standards require? On top of this is the new biodiesel tax incentive legislation. Will it be renewed? And the list goes on. As we prepare to welcome in 2013, there are plenty of questions from Ohio farmers about what kind of year ‘13 will be. Will it be a great year or an unlucky one as the “13” implies? Time will tell. (Gary Brock is Editor of ACRES of Southwest Ohio.)

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FARMING’S FUTURE, From page 1A

strengthen their business skills, develop marketing opportunities and receive recognition for their accomplishments. Contestants are judged on the growth of their farm businesses and involvement in Farm Bureau and their community. Scott, 27, farms with his parents, growing corn, soybeans, tobacco, hay and pasture. They also raise beef cattle and operate a farm market that sells all natural beef, according to The News Democrat. “The younger generation is having a tough time going into farming,” Scott said. “Some of that can be blamed on the older generation if they didn’t do estate planning.” With no estate planning to provide for the transfer of a farm from one generation to the next, a farm may end up out on the open market. A research farm in Scott’s area recently sold in the vicinity of $3,800 to $3,900 an acre, bringing the total purchase price to $1.2 million. With banks requiring 20 percent down, that’s nearly a quarter of a million dollars a buyer would have to have up front to make the purchase. And that’s if the buyer qualifies - some-

thing difficult to accomplish for someone just trying to get started. “It’s extremely hard to buy farms,” said Scott. “There are so many large operations competing for the farms that they bring an outlandish price. If you don’t have a chunk of money laying aside, you can’t make the down payment, and most young people lack the credit history to get a loan. “That’s the hardest part - one person I know tried to buy his family’s farm, but he didn’t qualify for the loan. There went the hope of keeping the farm in the family. It’s really a let-down when that happens, after the grandparents or parents work so hard to pay for the farm and develop it, and then the children have to see it go out of the family. They need to leave the farm in a trust or an LLC (limited liability corporation).” Fortunately for Scott, his maternal grandparents had the foresight to set up a plan to keep their family’s farmland in the capable hands of his parents, Frankie StithScott and Fred Scott, and their descendants. The family has its own corporation, Walnut Farms, Inc., that owns the real estate. Scott, his parents and his sister are the shareholders. The corporation’s by-laws even protect the farm from becoming part of a divorce settlement in the future

Erik Scott of Georgetown, was named Ohio’s Outstanding Young Farmer by the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation.

as the shares cannot be owned by anyone who is not a blood relative of his parents, according to Scott. The farm is further protected from being lost through the risks involved in its operation. Walnut Farms does not operate the farm, but Scott and his father operate the farm under a completely separate partnership. The partnership owns all the equipment and livestock. In addition to the farm market for beef, they are also in the process of making their own brand. “It’s one thing to buy a farm,” Scott explained. “It’s another to buy it and operate it. If an estate plan is done correctly, and you have a way to get started with a farm, then you have to have a way to operate it. To operate a farm takes a huge amount of capital. A lot of people dive in without consideration of

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market swings and droughts. They plan for a typical year, but when that doesn’t happen, they have to make a decision to either pay back the operating loan or make their mortgage payment.” “People that have the potential of taking over farms are seeing more opportunities elsewhere for an occupation,” said Becky Minton, Peebles High School agriculture educator and FFA advisor. “When you consider the time, money and stress involved with farming, it makes sense that the younger generation is taking different paths for employment. What is being done to increase the interest for younger farmers to stay in the farming business? Agricultural classes are offered at many high schools in Ohio, but the problem is that, from those groups of students, few of them are already “farm kids” and many are going into other aspects of agriculture, niche farming or are taking a completely different path in general, according to Minton. Students have been taught that unless there is a settled farm to be taken over, it is a very risky endeavor and for good reason, she said. “The problem I have, is what about the younger generation whose parents don’t farm?” questioned Scott. “It ‘s very, very tough for them to get started in

farming, but I won’t say it can’t be done. First they would have to learn the practices and general knowledge they would need to be successful.” Scott said he is still learning from his parents, and the experience they have is priceless. His father has spent his lifetime farming and works at the local equipment dealership. His mother is an agricultural finance major from The Ohio State University and has worked since graduation as a loan officer with USDA. They went through a major drought during the 1980s from two different perspectives. His mother saw the financial aspect from working with farmers going through the drought. His father saw the producer’s side. “It would be really hard to replace their experience,” Scott said. “They can ask the right questions - is this the right time to start something new? Will the market hold? Their experiences are extremely valuable. That is really going to be what sets the farmers in the younger generation apart - will they be able to take the experience of the older generation and apply it?” “What farmers do is essential and good, for the community, and for the future,” Minton said. “It is important to provide support for young people who are interested

December 2012 3A in agriculture and would like to begin a career in agriculture. Our well being depends upon those who choose to produce our food products… The important thing to remember is not to dwell on the issue but find ways to turn the trend around. As an agricultural educator, I feel an importance to educate everyone about agriculture and where our food comes from; and a sense of urgency to ensure that the art of farming is not lost. “It seems that America has lost sight of the importance of agriculture in our country and our ability to feed the world,” said Minton. “However, when you look at all of the statistics and logically look around at what is happening in the U.S., the future of agriculture doesn’t look grim but is plentiful. On average each farmer in America produces enough food to feed 155 people, and one in seven Ohioans has an agriculture-related job, which is a huge increase, even in the last 50 years. It has been a tough couple of years for farmers, but they continue to produce a local, safe, affordable food supply so that people can still “talk” about farmers while their mouths are full of food.” (Chelsea Hall is an intern at The People’s Defender in West Union, Adams County. Staff writer Carleta Weyrich also contributed to this story.)

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December 2012

ACRES of Southwest Ohio

Farmers nominate Clinton-Massie for education grant By ANDREA CHAFFIN achaffin@wnewsj.com

CLINTON COUNTY — Clinton-Massie Local School District is one of eight Ohio school districts which received a rural education grant thanks to the recommendations of local farmers. Clinton-Massie was selected for a $10,000 grant because of its use of technology in the schools, said Superintendent Michael Sander. America’s Farmers Grow Rural Education, sponsored by the Monsanto Fund, gives farmers the opportunity to nominate a public school district in their community to compete for a merit- based grant of either $10,000 or $25,000 to enhance education in the areas of math and/or science. More than 1,000 nominated school districts submitted applications. After being nominated by

EPA RULING, From page 1A

But a member of the Ohio Corn and Wheat Growers Association believes that the news may not be so bad for Ohio’s livestock producers. Board member Jed Bowers of Fayette County thinks that the supply of corn in coming months will be greater than the pessimists are predicting. This past summer’s drought that withered crops led not only to higher prices, but the prospects of less corn to go around to all those needing it. Estimates indicate that as much as half of the nation’s crop will be used to produce ethanol this year to meet the federal renewable energy standard for transportation

local farmers, school districts completed an online application and finalists were chosen by math and science teachers from ineligible school districts. Another Clinton County district, East Clinton Local School District, was also nominated, but was not a finalist. The America’s Farmers Grow Rural Education Advisory Council, a group of 26 prominent farmers from across the country, then reviewed the finalists’ applications and selected the winners. “Clinton-Massie is honored to receive this award. Our teachers work hard to provide the highest possible education to our students. We also are extremely fortunate to live in a community where our residents go above and beyond the call of duty to support our schools,” Sander said. “We appreciate the recommendation of our community for this award and feel that it is because of their recommendation that we moved

fuel. The federal standard means there is a mandated quota on how much corn is needed for the ethanol production. Congress set the ethanol year-by-year quota for biofuels in 2007, and that quota doesn’t change for the variation in year-toyear corn crop yield. “We recognize that this year’s drought has created hardship in some sectors of the economy, particularly for livestock producers,” Gina McCarthy, an E.P.A. assistant administrator, said in a statement. “But our extensive analysis makes clear that Congressional requirements for a waiver have not been met.” To approve a change in the standard, the agency would have to conclude that the fuel rule would “severely harm” the econ-

Clinton-Massie Local Schools are located in Clarksville.

to the head of the applicants and were awarded this grant.” There were 176 school districts in 35 states that received grants of up to $25,000, totaling $2.3 million from The Monsanto Fund. America’s Farmers Grow Rural Education started with a successful pilot in Illinois and Minnesota in 2011, in which farmers were given the opportunity to nominate public school districts in 165 eligible counties in those two states.

omy, according to The New York Times report on the issue. The E.P.A. said it had analyzed 500 potential market variations and that most of them showed no impact from the use of corn for ethanol; those that did showed an average impact of 7 cents a bushel, less than 1 percent of the price, it said. A coalition of livestock groups expressed frustration with the decision, as did the National Council of Chain Restaurants, which says its costs have also risen because of the use of corn in ethanol production. Bowers says he understands the concerns of the livestock producers, but prices may not be as high as they fear. “Corn growers planted 96 million acres of corn in 2012,” he said, and that is

The Monsanto Fund awarded more than $266,000 to local schools in 16 communities. Now, the program has expanded to 1,245 eligible counties in 39 states. America’s Farmers Grow Rural Education is sponsored by the Monsanto Fund to help farmers positively impact their communities and support local rural school districts. “School districts were innovative and creative in their applications,” said Deborah Patterson,

one of the highest ever. “Despite the drought, I think we had a better corn crop than people were expecting. Even with the drought, there will be a lot of bushels to go around.” He said some of the talk of corn shortages is a “scare” and while livestock owners were paying $7 or $8 a bushel for feed, he feels that won’t be the case in the future. “I think the livestock producers will be OK,” he said. Bowers, who is also a member of the National Corn Growers Association Public Policy Action Team, applauded the EPA decision. He said its impact will be huge on communities such as those in southern Ohio where corn growers provide thousands of bushels of corn to ethanol plants every day.

the Monsanto Fund president. “We are really looking forward to seeing the proposals come to fruition and learning how the students benefit from them.” This program is part of the Monsanto Fund’s overall effort to support rural education and communities. Another program that is part of this effort is America’s Farmers Grow Communities, which gives farmers the opportunity to direct a $2,500 donation to their favorite community nonprofit organization in their county. Farmers can participate in this program through Nov. 30, 2012 by visiting growcommunities.com. Other school districts receiving the award in Ohio are Crestview Local Schools, Eastern Local Schools, Garaway Local, Northeastern Local, Ridgedale Community, West Liberty-Salem Local and Westfall Local. (Andrea Chaffin is a staff writer for the Wilmington News Journal.)

The ethanol plant in Bloomingburg, for example, grinds about 100,000 bushels of corn per day or more at peak production. Bowers said the plant has operated lower recently, at 80-90,000 bushels when the price of corn was much higher. He said the EPA decision is “wonderful for our community, for our market area.” He said the revenue from the corn production has allowed farmers to pay for updating their equipment and to hire additional workers. “All of that money goes right back into the local economy,” he pointed out. The head of the Ohio corn growers group also applauded the EPA ruling. “We support the decision the US Environmental Protection Agency has made to continue to up-

hold the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) promoting American-grown energy. Thanks in part to the contribution made by corn ethanol and biofuels, our dependence on foreign oil continues to decline, keeping billions of dollars in our economy. Energy independence is an important goal of our country and the RFS is a vital tool to accomplish that task. In spite of the drought, Ohio’s corn farmers have helped to produce the eighth-largest U.S. corn crop in recorded history, helping us to maintain our path towards American energy independence,” said Ohio Corn and Wheat Growers Association Executive Director Tadd Nicholson. (Gary Brock is Editor of ACRES of Southwest Ohio.)

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December 2012

CHRISTMAS ON THE FARM By GARY BROCK gbrock@recordherald.com

There is magic in the air during this Christmas holiday season. And there is no better place to enjoy the holiday season than on the farm. There are plenty of special events scheduled around Ohio for the holiday season. Here is just a sampling of where you can go this month to enjoy the Christmas season on an Ohio farm: THE NIEDERMAN CHRISTMAS FARM The Niederman Christmas Farm is a free walk-though Christmas display. Visitors can enjoy tens of thousands of lights that illuminate the path. Fifty speakers set the mood with Christmas music as you view life-size nativity and several Biblical scenes telling the real story of Christmas. In addition there are hundreds of decorated trees and live animals. The walking path is wheel chair and stroller accessible. Free hot chocolate and cookies for everyone. Free admission and free parking. • When: Open every night through Sunday, Dec. 30. Hours are Sunday - Thursday – 6 to 9 p.m. and Friday - Saturday – 6 - 10 p.m. • Location: 4972

LeSourdsville-West Chester Drive in Liberty Township, Ohio 45011 • Phone: 513-887-0725. CHRISTMAS IN AMISH COUNTRY If you have always wanted to experience a country Christmas, here’s your chance. Berlin, Ohio’s Schrock’s Amish Farm & Village and Tis the Season Christmas store are offering their family-friendly annual Christmas Down on the Farm celebration on Saturday, Dec. 4 from noon to 7 p.m. Christmas Down on the Farm in the heart of Ohio’s Amish country offers visitors a taste of an old-fashioned country Christmas. Sleigh rides, buggy rides and train rides will be offered (weather permitting). Other activities for visitors to enjoy include Christmas cut out cookie decorating, make and take ornaments for kids, and you can even decorate your own gingerbread house. There will also be strolling carolers, a live Nativity scene and you will be able to take photos with Santa or Rudolph. Refreshments will be offered at the adjacent shops including Tis the Season, The Berlin Craft Mall, Gramma Fannie’s Quilt Barn, Berlin Leather, Precious Petals,

Berlin Pets, and Quail Hollow Candle. Admission to the Christmas Down on the Farm celebration is free but there are minimal charges for some of the activities. Schrock’s Amish Farm & Village is located at 4363 State Route 39, Berlin, Ohio (I-77 Exit 83 then 18 miles west on SR 39). Call 888-893-3604 for information and additional tour dates in December. THE CHRISTMAS RANCH With more than 350,000 lights, synchronized to music using state-of-the- art technology, The Christmas Ranch “The Gift of Lights” display is a spectacular experience. The Christmas Ranch sprawls over five acres and includes a scenic drive-thru route which leads you to a magical Christmas Village. Meander through the twinkling town and stop in the barn for some hot chocolate before heading out to watch the Jingle Bell Show. Take a stroll through a forest of giant animated Christmas trees that twirl with 15,000

synchronized lights, or dance along with dozens of Santa’s and Snowmen that bop and spin to the sounds of Bing Crosby, Trans-Siberian Orchestra, and traditional Holiday tunes. A portion of the entrance fee to “The Gift of Lights” will be donated to the Ronald McDonald House of Cincinnati. Admission: $12 per vehicle, Buses – $1 per person ($12 minimum) cash and credit cards accepted. Special admission discount: $2 off for visitors who donate a bag of “gently used items” which will be donated to Goodwill of Cincinnati. $2 off general admission for visitors who donate a new toy to Toys for Tots. Half off admission is available for members of the armed forces on Tuesdays. • Open: Through Jan. 1. Operating Hours: Sunday through Thursday, 6 - 10 p.m.

Fridays, Saturdays, and holidays, 6 - 10:30 p.m. • Location: 3205 South Waynesville Road, Morrow, Ohio 45152 • Phone: 513-697-2640 FREE 513-697-2640 • Web Site: www.thechristmasranch.com EVENING CHRISTMAS LANTERN TOUR The feeling of a Victorian Christmas will be brought to life for this evening lantern tour at Carriage Hill Metro Park & Farm, Huber Heights. Tour various candle lit stops around the farm while merrily singing carols. Then join a period Christmas party and enjoy a hot cup of wassail while visiting the farmhouse. • Saturday, Dec. 8 - 5:30 – 9 p.m. All tours start at the Visitor Center and run every 20 minutes. No registration required. Contact (937) 278-2609.

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WILL D.C. RENEW BIOFUEL INCENTIVE? By PAUL COMSTOCK pcomstock@delgazette.com

Elements of the agriculture and energy industries are watching the U.S. Congress to see if and when the biodiesel tax incentive is renewed. The incentive was in effect from 2005 to 2009, and again in 2011. During that time, reports the National Biodiesel Board, the incentive spurred biodiesel production to a level exceeding one billion gallons a year and helped increase to 39,000 the number of jobs in affiliated industries. That production consumed large amounts of soybean oil and animal fat. Even french fry grease could be used. The incentive was a $1 a gallon credit tax exemption, said Ben Evans of the NBB. It was such a boon to the biodiesel industry, he said, that the production and revenue it generated came close to paying for the incentive in terms of increased taxes to the federal government. The incentive “clearly works,” he said, and “we want to try to continue that momentum.” One problem, Evans said, is such tax incentives usually are temporary, particularly in the beginning. Now, he said, the incentive has been caught up in “a broader political dispute” over federal spending, including the anticipated fiscal cliff crisis. This has occurred despite considerable bipartisan support for the incentive in the House and Senate, he said. The incentive created “a lot of plants in rural areas with spinoff jobs. Now we are hearing reports many of the plants

are laying people off,” Evan said. Forbes Magazine has predicted as many as 75 percent of those producers might have to shut down. The loss of the incentive “is really catching up to the industry and really hurting,” Evans said. The NBB supports efforts to deal with the federal budget, he said, but “it will take a long time to deal with those issues.” The NBB would like to see Congress take immediate steps to renew the incentive. “We think if it came up for a standalone vote, it would pass with flying colors,” he said. Andrew Conley, program director for CleanFuelsOhio, agreed, “There is strong bipartisan support for this (but) Congress gets distracted. … Tax incentives are something that are on the chopping block. … My personal sense is nobody’s going to move on this until they settle the whole fiscal cliff discussion.” The soybean market faces uncertainty but is unlikely to be affected in the short term, said Adam Ward of the Ohio Soybean Council and Association One reason, he said, is an increased demand for U.S. soybeans in China. Another, he said, is the federal government is requiring large oil companies to continue biodiesel use at a rate that will match the record 1 billion gallons produced in 2011. That’s not the same, the BDD website says, as letting the biodiesel industry “continue to competitively pro-

“We think if it came up for a standalone vote, it would pass with flying colors.” —Ben Evans, National Biodiesel Board duce” its products, which the incentive would allow. Evans said the oil companies are not happy, but they are able to purchase “Renewable Identification Numbers,” which reduces the amount of biodiesel

they must produce. Those numbers, or RINs, represent biodiesel produced elsewhere. Buying the RINs lets the oil companies produce less biodiesel themselves and the RIN sellers make money. The Environmental Protection Agency has accused some companies of selling fraudulent RINs that don’t represent actual biodiesel production. Evans said those “isolated cases where a couple of bad actors came in and took advantage of the system … don’t implicate the entire program. … We are working very closely with the EPA to make sure those cases of fraud don’t happen again.” Ward said extending the incentive would be a “win-win for the agriculture industry … creating investment in new technology and growth in current businesses.” Because biodiesel is not carbonbased, Conley said, it is a renewable resource that produces cleaner emissions than 100-percent petroleum diesel. For more on NBB’s efforts to extend the incentive, visit biodiesel.org/policy/fuelingaction-center.

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ACRES of Southwest Ohio

December 2012

OSU gets grant to expand project to produce biogas By OSU Extension

WOOSTER — Ohio State University’s Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center (OARDC) has received a $6.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Energy to test and expand a university-developed technology that can produce biogas from a variety of solid organic wastes and bioenergy crops. Awarded through the Biomass Research Development Initiative (BRDI), the three-year grant will also allow researchers to develop technology for converting biogas to liquid hydrocarbon fuels, with the aim of further diversifying the country’s currently available suite of renewable transportation fuels. University partners in the grant include Mississippi State University and the University of Georgia. The project’s main industry partner is quasar energy group, a Cleveland-based company that operates several anaerobic digesters (systems that produce biogas from organic waste) in Ohio and Massachusetts, including one on OARDC’s Wooster campus. Other industry partners include AgSTAR, Aloterra Energy, American Electric Power, CNH and Marathon. The project’s main goal

is to enhance the integrated anaerobic digestion system (iADs), a patentpending technology developed by OARDC and operated by quasar. The system combines quasar’s commercial liquid biodigester with a novel solidstate or “dry” biodigester. This combination allows the overall system to process types and amounts of dry biomass — such as yard waste, crop residue and lignocellulosic food waste — that the liquid biodigester can’t handle alone. “The iADs can treat and recover energy from organic materials with up to 85 percent solids content,” said Yebo Li, the OARDC biosystems engineer who invented the integrated system and the grant’s principal investigator. “By comparison, liquid biodigesters currently used in the United States can only process up to 14 percent solids content.” In the anaerobic digestion world, this difference is very important. Biogas is produced from the solid nutrients present in the biodigestion process, so the more solids that go in, the more biogas that comes out. Another advantage of this system is that it significantly increases the amount of biomass that can be fed to biodigesters and transformed into energy, allowing this budding green industry to expand and create new jobs. The first iADs was

Photo by Lee Jones Fellow educators, farmers and representatives from the USDA recently attended a day-long conference at a OSU branch campus to learn more about anaerobic digestion. Above, lab tech Stephen Park shows off a reactor during the September lab tour.

built in 2012 next to quasar’s biodigester in Zanesville, and can process 8,000 tons of waste annually. Construction of this system was supported by a $2 million grant from the state of Ohio’s Third Frontier Advanced Energy Program. “The BRDI funding leverages our 2010 Third Frontier award, expanding the public-private partnership between The Ohio State University and quasar,” said quasar president Mel Kurtz. “Work related to this grant will be performed at our energy campus in Zanesville — quasar’s largest facility

and proving ground for iADs development.” The new grant will allow Li and collaborators to research production of biogas from three feedstocks: yard waste, corn stover and giant miscanthus (Miscanthus x giganteus). Giant miscanthus is a perennial warm-season grass from Asia that is garnering attention across the Midwest as a potential bioenergy crop. Researchers at OSU South Centers at Piketon have been testing the crop’s adaptability to Ohio since 2010. Project collaborators Rattan Lal, an Ohio State

soil science expert, and Denny Hall, assistant director of the university’s Ohio BioProducts Innovation Center, will evaluate the nutrient-rich “digestate” left over from the anaerobic digestion process as a fertilizer to grow giant miscanthus on strip-mined land not suitable for traditional crops. Additionally, Scott Shearer, chair of Ohio State’s Department of Food, Agricultural and Biological Engineering, will study biogas feedstock logistics, including the use of a methane-fueled truck to both transport the digestate to the field and bring

the miscanthus biomass back to the biodigester. The idea, Li said, is to “close an ecological loop,” reducing transportation costs while improving soil fertility and crop yield. To that extent, Bhavik Bakshi, a researcher in Ohio State’s Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, will conduct a life-cycle analysis to determine the economic and environmental impact of the dry biodigester technology. While biogas can be burned to produce electricity or compressed to use as vehicle fuel, the project will also seek to expand its use in transportation by developing a technology to convert biogas to liquid hydrocarbon fuels — so that it can be used just like gasoline. Scientists will use techniques such as catalytic reforming and FischerTropsch synthesis to achieve that goal. Another aim of the project is to develop a technology for pretreatment of lignocellulosic biomass. Pretreatment, Li said, can enhance the “digestibility” of this biomass in the dry biodigester, leading to higher biogas production. Another project collaborator, Zhongtang Yu of Ohio State’s Department of Animal Sciences, will study the microbial community present during the anaerobic digestion of pretreated feedstocks.

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December 2012

ACRES of Southwest Ohio

Educating farmers: OSU Extension announces Ohio New and Small Farm Colleges By TONY NYE nye.1@osu.edu

Are you a small farm landowner wondering what to do with your acreage? Are you interested in exploring options for land uses but not sure where to turn or how to begin? Have you considered adding an agricultural or horticultural enterprise but you just aren’t sure what is required, from an equipment, labor, and/or management perspective? Are you looking for someplace to get basic farm information? If you or someone you know answered yes to any of these questions, then the OSU Extension Small Farm College program may be just what you are looking for. OSU Extension is offering a program targeted at the new and small farmer. The Ohio New and Small Farm College is an eight-week program that introduces new and even seasoned farmers to a wide variety of topics.

The program will teach participants how to set goals, plan, budget, and where to find resources available for them if they chose to start a small farming operation. The courses will layout how to manage financial and farm records. Extension Educators will illustrate many different enterprises that can be profitable on land as small as one acre. The educators will show the benefits and pitfalls of each enterprise so that the participant will be able to pick and chose what may work best for them and what suits their interest. To round out the experience, a bus tour will be held around area farms so that participants can see first hand how small farm life works, and also make contacts of practicing farmers in the area. The Small Farm College was originally conceived as a way to help southern Ohio’s tobacco farmers make the transition away from that crop as government subsidies

were phased out. OSU extension educators soon realized such programming also could benefit rural landowners who own small acreage in the countryside. Since 2005, past regional Southern Ohio New and Small Farm Colleges have helped 568 individuals representing 436 farms from 52 Ohio counties improve the economic development of their small family-owned farms. This program can help small farm landowners and farmers diversify their opportunities into successful new enterprises and new markets. And, it can improve agricultural literacy among small farm landowners not actively involved in agricultural production. Many program participants don’t expect to

make a living off the land, but do want to recoup something, said organizer Tony Nye of OSU Extension in Clinton County. First time farmers want their interaction with their land to be productive. “They like living in the country, getting their hands dirty,” Nye said. “That has been their motivation for buying land.” The New and Small Farm College will be conducted at two locations this year. The first college will be held in Pickaway County at the Circleville Fire Department, 586 N. Court Street, Circleville, Ohio on Wednesdays, beginning Jan. 9 through Wednesday, Feb. 27. Classes run from 6:30 to 9 p.m. each week. The second college will be held in Clermont

County at the OSU Extension Office, 1000 Locust Street, Owensville, Ohio on Thursdays, beginning Jan. 10 through Thursday, Feb. 28. Classes run from 6:30 to 9 p.m. each week. Limited to the first 50 registrations per location. The cost of the course is $150 per person, $50 for an additional family member. Along with the vast resources and knowledge gained, participants will receive a notebook (per each $150 registration) of all resource materials, a soil test, refreshments, and the bus tour. Registrations are now being accepted. Individuals interested in the program may con-

tact the Pickaway County Extension office at (740) 474-7534 or the Clermont County Extension office at (513) 7327070. Registration brochures for the program can also be found online at the following websites http://pickaway.osu.edu or at http://clermont.osu.edu and are available in area Ohio State University Extension offices. For further information contact Tony Nye, OSU Small Farm Program Coordinator at (937) 382-0901 or Email at nye.1@osu.edu. (L. Tony Nye is the Agriculture and Natural Resources Educator for OSU Extension, Clinton County.)

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ACRES of Southwest Ohio

PIKE

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PIKE COUNTY AGRICULTURE SNAPSHOT

SCIOTO

2007 CENSUS OF

Look for ulture more Agric in snapshots ns future editio! of Acres

AGRICULTURE County Profile

% 2007 2002 change Number of Farms ..............................................538......................505 ............+7 Land in Farms.....................................80,636 acres .......83,602 acres.............-4 Average Size of Farm ..............................150 acres ............166 acres...........-10 Market Value of Products Sold ...........$11,264,000 .........$8,289,000 .........+ 36 Crop Sales $95,916,000 (79 percent) Livestock Sales $26,124,000 (21 percent) Average Per Farm....................................$20,936 ..............$16,415 .........+ 28 Government Payments.............................$931,000 ............$765,000 .........+ 22 Average Per Farm Receiving Payments..........$3,998.................$4,297............- 7

Economic Characteristics

Quantity

Farms by value of sales: Less than $1,000 .....................................................................225 $1,000 to $2,499 .......................................................................61 $2,500 to $4,999 .......................................................................62 $5,000 to $9,999 .......................................................................71 $10,000 to $19,999 ...................................................................42 $20,000 to $24,999 .....................................................................6 $25,000 to $39,999 ...................................................................12 $40,000 to $49,999 ...................................................................12 $50,000 to $99,999 ...................................................................25 $100,000 to $249,999 ...............................................................15 $250,000 to $499,999 .................................................................3 $500,000 or more........................................................................4 Total farm production expenses ($1,000) .............................11,279 Average per farm ($)............................................................20,965

PIKE County – Ohio Ranked items among the 88 state counties and 3,079 U.S. counties, 2007 State Quantity Rank

Item

Universe

U.S. Rank

Universe

MARKET VALUE OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS SOLD ($1,000) Total value of agricultural products sold Value of crops including nursery and greenhouse Value of livestock, poultry, and their products

11,264 7,775 3,489

79 75 78

88 88 88

2,559 2,005 2,598

3,076 3,072 3,069

VALUE OF SALES BY COMMODITY GROUP ($1,000) Grains, oilseeds, dry beans, and dry peas Tobacco Cotton and cottonseed Vegetables, melons, potatoes, and sweet potatoes Fruits, tree nuts, and berries Nursery, greenhouse, floriculture, and sod Cut Christmas trees and short rotation woody crops Other crops and hay Poultry and eggs Cattle and calves Milk and other dairy products from cows Hogs and pigs Sheep, goats, and their products Horses, ponies, mules, burros, and donkeys Aquaculture Other animals and other animal products

6,001 (D) 538 (D) 285 (D) 680 19 2,097 1,046 241 25 33 8 19

67 8 47 68 73 (D) 63 84 68 69 66 80 81 38 72

88 12 88 88 87 84 88 88 88 86 88 88 88 53 88

1,421 (D) 1,032 (D) 1,680 (D) 1,900 2,175 2,271 1,328 1,180 2,151 2,423 1,046 1,792

2,933 437 626 2,796 2,659 2,703 1,710 3,054 3,020 3,054 2,493 2,922 2,998 3,024 1,498 2,875

10,105 7,860 7,253

73 66 69

88 87 88

1,710 1,090 1,291

3,060 2,039 2,634

804 (D)

67 12

87 35

1,700 (D)

2,481 281

6,984 1,120 868 862 485

63 64 65 56 59

88 88 88 88 88

2,261 1,530 1,247 1,577 1,491

3,060 3,024 2,958 3,066 3,023

TOP CROP ITEMS (acres) Soybeans for beans Corn for grain Wheat for grain, all Forage - land used for all hay and haylage, grass silage, and greenchop Corn for silage TOP LIVESTOCK INVENTORY ITEMS (number) Cattle and calves Hogs and pigs Sheep and lambs Quail Horses and ponies

Net cash farm income of operation ($1,000) ..........................1,514 Average per farm ($)..............................................................2,814

Operator Characteristics

Quantity

Principal operators by primary occupation: Farming................................................................................................198 Other ....................................................................................................340 Principal operators by sex: Male .....................................................................................................466 Female....................................................................................................72 Average age of principal operator (years)............................................55.8 All operators by race: American Indian or Alaska Native ............................................................6 Asian ........................................................................................................3 Black or African American ........................................................................4 Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander .................................................White....................................................................................................745 More than one race ..................................................................................1 All operators of Spanish, Hispanic, or Latino Origin.................................1

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Land in Farms by Type of Land

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Information from www.agcensus.usda

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December 2012

ACRES of Southwest Ohio

New $ystem $aves turkey plant million$ By MARTHA FILIPIC OSU Extension

HARRISON — A southwestern Ohio turkey processing plant has much to be thankful for this holiday season. Whitewater Processing Co. slaughters and processes 6,000 to 8,000 turkeys on a normal day, producing about 2.5 to 3 million pounds of turkey in an average month. The Kopp family has run the business since the 1930s, and with 110 employees, wanted to stay put. But in the 1990s, environmental concerns about the 145,000 gallons of wastewater it produces each day nearly sunk the business. Today, with a first-of-its-kind treatment system designed by an Ohio State University researcher, the rough waters have calmed. And although the costs have been considerable — about $1 million to build the wastewater treatment system plus an estimated $1.8 million to operate and maintain it over the next 20 years — the Kopp family figures the business will save at least $10 million over the next-best alternative. “It’s working very well, we’re very excited about it,” said Ryan Kopp, project manager. In the late 1990s, Whitewater began working with Karen Mancl, an environmental scientist and Ohio State University Extension water quality specialist, after the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency grew concerned about the company’s open-lagoon wastewater treatment system, especially with the

Whitewater River so close to the facility. “It’s a beautiful river, and we definitely wanted to make sure it’s protected,” said Mancl, who is also a professor in Ohio State’s College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences and a scientist with the college’s research arm, the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center. The timing was fortuitous: Mancl had just finished a study on using a sand bioreactor system to treat wastewater from a cheese-making plant. Though that company didn’t follow through with the system, Mancl’s studies showed bioreac-

tors provide an effective way to treat high-fat, high-organicmatter wastewater at a relatively low cost. Whitewater’s options were limited. The EPA first suggested it hook up to Harrison’s municipal wastewater treatment plant. But the company would still need to pretreat its water to remove pollutants that the municipal system wasn’t designed to handle, and it would still have to pay a premium to the facility. The total cost for the construction of the pretreatment facility, hook-up and use of the Harrison treatment plant over 20 years was estimated at $12.5 million.

“And it likely would have been even more,” Kopp said. “They had given us some estimates for future increases in treatment costs when we first looked at that option, and so far the actual increases have been more than they projected.” In 2001, Whitewater began funding research in Mancl’s lab to determine if bioreactors

Photo courtesy of Karen Mancl Ryan Kopp and Karen Mancl pose on top of one of the wastewater treatment bioreactors at Whitewater Processing Co. in August. The system, the first of its kind, is the result of more than a decade of Ohio State research.

would work for the type of wastewater its facility generated. That funding continued year after year as Mancl, graduate students and post-doctoral researchers ran test after test in the lab. “With all of Karen’s work, we knew the system would work great,” Kopp said. “It was just a matter of scaling up to what we needed for commercial use.” In fact, before treatment, the effluent at Whitewater is measured at over 800 BOD (biological oxygen demand), the standard that regulators use to measure water pollution. Normal sewage has a BOD of about 200. When Whitewater’s wastewater is tested after treatment, its BOD is less than 5, and it can be released directly into the Whitewater River, with the Ohio EPA’s blessing. “The EPA has been very helpful through this whole process,” Kopp said. “Very patient.” Whitewater’s bioreactor system covers 4 acres of land adjacent to the facility. “If you visit, it looks sort of like a park,” Mancl said. “All you see are 12 large rectangles of gravel, and grass is all around them. Continued to page 11A

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ACRES of Southwest Ohio

December 2012

11A

PLANT, From page 10A

“Under the gravel are the pipes that carry the wastewater and spray it, underground, onto the sand. It’s quiet, there’s no odor, and even though most wastewater treatment plants aren’t necessarily something you want to look at, it’s not ugly. They plan to plant trees to make it even more attractive.” One of the challenges with the system is that operators must be sure the bioreactor doesn’t get overwhelmed and become clogged, she said. “If the sand was to get clogged, the research we conducted here at Ohio State shows you need to turn that filter off and let it rest, and send the wastewater to another cell,” Mancl said. “Then the microbes consume the wastes that have clogged the filter and unclog it. That takes about four months.” Mancl knows this because her lab tested it. “The typical loading rate for a bioreactor system is about 1.5 gallons per square foot per day,” she said. “We loaded our lab system up with 6 gallons per square foot per day, and it took a year to clog the sand. “Then we let it rest, and after four months, it worked just like a brand new filter. You just have to let the microbes work to consume the extra organic matter that clogged the sand.” The amount of wastewater generated at Whitewater requires the use of eight bioreactor cells at a time. Whitewater is building 12 cells to have the backups needed to let filters rest; eight cells are currently online and in operation. “Two additional cells are 80 percent complete, with two more to go,” Kopp said.

Photo courtesy of Karen Mancl Kayakers enjoy the Whitewater River at the point where treated wastewater from the Whitewater Processing Co. discharges into the river.

Another concern with wastewater is the amount of ammonia it contains. “There’s a different group of microbes that consume ammonia, and they grow more slowly,” Mancl said. “We’re working with Whitewater to track that now as the new system is starting up. “It’s definitely improving, but for now they’re using a backup chemical ammonia-removal system that takes the ammonia down to practically nothing. And, the system also has some standby lagoons, so if for some reason they’re not able to discharge into the stream, they can hold the water in a lagoon.” Yet another concern regarding wastewater is its level of nutrients, such as phosphorus and nitrogen. Although currently there are no limits on nutrients

in treated wastewater, such regulations are definitely on the horizon, Mancl said. “We’re not just waiting to see what will happen, we’re trying to get out ahead,” she said. In research funded by the Ohio Water Development Authority, one of Mancl’s graduate students is using Whitewater’s treated wastewater to irrigate greenhouse plants, essentially recycling the nutrients to fertilize flowers, grasses and other horticultural products. If results are positive, Mancl and Kopp can envision a day when greenhouses could be built on top of the bioreactors or on another nearby three acres. Another challenge is the maintenance of the pipes, pumps, controls and valves that distribute

the wastewater. “Distributing wastewater over such a large area in a simple way really hasn’t been done before,” Mancl said. “The technology and the types of valves we’re using we’re using are new. It’s a new approach.” Both Kopp and Mancl believe such a system could work well at other food-related processing facilities. “But I think we were the perfect place to build the first one,” Kopp said. “There’s a gravel pit that sits right behind the facility. “The land we’re using was previously a junkyard that we just had to clean up. Everything was right here. If you’re farther away from gravel or in a setting without acreage, it would be more of a challenge.” But Kopp is a big believer in the system, and in Mancl herself. Sand bioreactor size was a big question and Mancl’s research helped Ohio EPA understand how big the system needed to be. Since most wastewater treatment systems need full redundancy to provide reserve capacity in case of short-term large flows or mechanical problems,

Photo courtesy of Karen Mancl Samples of wastewater before and after treatment from a sand bioreactor system.

EPA initially told Whitewater it needed to build 16 bioreactor cells instead of the 12 they had planned. However, Mancl held an OSU Extension workshop on the sand bioreactor system for EPA engineers that presented all of the research on this new technology. The information gave the regulators the assurance that this different type of system provided the safeguards necessary to protect Ohio’s environment. By reducing the number of cells from 16 to 12, Whitewater saved $250,000 in construction costs. “That’s the kind of sav-

ings that university research can provide,” Mancl said. Anyone interested in learning more and getting a closeup look at Whitewater’s facility can sign up for a Cincinnati-area conference Mancl is organizing on April 11-12, 2013. “Low-cost Treatment of Meat Processing Wastewater” is the topic of her annual 2013 Water Quality and Waste Management Conference. Registration is $200 before April 1. Details and online registration are available at http://setll.osu.edu/programs/owqwm_conf.html.

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Photo courtesy of Ryan Kopp Perforated pipes to distribute wastewater are installed on top of the sand in a bioreactor cell.

Photo courtesy of Ryan Kopp Workers spread fine sand in a bioreactor cell at Whitewater Processing, Inc. The sand is the heart of the wastewater treatment system: Microbes populate the surface of the sand grains to break down and remove pollutants from the water.

12A

December 2012

ACRES of Southwest Ohio

Late corn may show signs of ear mold WOOSTER – While ear mold is always a concern in late-harvested corn, growers who find blackish mold in their fields on corn husks may not have ears that are infested with grain-damaging and toxin-contaminated mold. Rather, the mold could be a variety that may only impact the husks, according to an Ohio State University Extension plant pathologist. But growers won’t know what kind of ear mold the fields may be infested with unless they examine the moldy-looking ears and send samples to a lab for testing, said Pierce Paul, who is also a researcher with the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center. OARDC is the research arm of Ohio State University’s College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences.

The concern for ear mold is higher than normal for some growers this year thanks to the drought, which created ripe conditions for the development of the fungal disease Aspergillus ear rot in some Ohio fields during the summer, Paul said. “Harvests that were delayed due to excessively wet conditions in areas that were affected by the drought during the summer and had problems with aflatoxin are of concern since delaying harvest may also increase aflatoxin contamination,” he said. “Stalk, root and ear rots may also cause considerable damage in fields waiting to be harvested. “Root and stalk rots leave plants weak and highly vulnerable to lodging, while ear rots may lead to grain contamination with mycotoxins.” The concern is that droughtstressed corn is more susceptible

“Growers are concerned when they see these black ears, but if the mold is an opportunistic fungi, the ear could be still good on the inside.” — Pierce Paul, OARDC researcher to infection by Aspergillus flavus, an ear rot fungus that produces a very potent group of carcinogenic (cancer-causing) toxins, called aflatoxins, which can be harmful for animals and for humans if used in corn for grain and human food consumption, Paul said. Besides aflatoxins, other examples of toxins produced in moldy ears are deoxynivalenol (vomitoxin), zearalenone and fumonisin. But, just because the corn may have ear mold, not all ear molds are associated with myco-

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toxin contamination, Paul cautioned. “Don’t just abandon your field if it looks dark and moldy,” he said. “Some opportunistic fungi grow on the husk without affecting the grain. “These typically leave the ear looking dark and discolored, but when the husk is removed, the grain looks healthy and normal. If you see the ear looking ugly, don’t assume you do or don’t have ear rot. Pull the husk back and take a look at what is going on.” To know for sure, Paul said

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it’s best to pull multiple ears from around the field to send in to a lab for testing. “Growers are concerned when they see these black ears, but if the mold is an opportunistic fungi, the ear could be still good on the inside,” he said. Samples from suspect fields should be sent to an approved laboratory to determine whether aflatoxins or other toxins are present and whether they exceed thresholds established by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. More information on aflatoxin testing and FDA thresholds is available at: www.rma.usda.gov/fields/il_r so/2012/aflatoxin.pdf and www.fda.gov/Food/GuidanceComplianceRegulatoryInformation/GuidanceDocuments/Chemi calContaminantsandPesticides/ucm077969.htm#afla.

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ACRES of Southwest Ohio

December 2012

13A

OHIO’S NEW CASH CROP:

AGRITOURISM C

OLUMBUS (AP) — If you’ve ever picked your own apples or bumped along on a hayride, you’ve taken part in agritourism. But the concept has grown up as more people want to learn about their food. That’s led to local-food meals served in the middle of sunflower fields and classes on making cheese from goat milk. It’s about relationships, said Rob Leeds, an Ohio State University Extension educator and pumpkin farmer who offers activities such as horse-drawn hayrides at his farm in Ostrander. “Picking your own food, knowing where it comes from, and hopefully while you are out there meeting the farmer - it all develops a sense of trust for

who’s raising your food,” Leeds said. No matter what form it takes, agritourism is growing in Ohio, said Julie Fox, a direct-marketing specialist at OSU Extension. More farmers are inviting consumers to buy baskets of seasonal produce, help make maple syrup or learn how to can fruits and vegetables. “People want unique food experiences,” said Fox, who leads a statewide team that is beginning to collect marketing and agritourism data. Close proximity to farms also is fueling agritourism growth, Leeds said. In Ohio, farm income from agritourism and recreational services more than doubled to nearly $5 million in 2007 from $2.2 million in 2002, according

to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s five-year farm census. Agritourism grew to 2.1 percent of farm income in 2007 from 1.4 percent in 2002. It took Val Jorgensen a long time to accept the “tourism” aspect of agritourism. “This is definitely not Disney World,” Jorgensen said about her 65-acre Jorgensen Farms in Westerville, which she sees more as an education hub than a tourist trap. “What I want to share with people is what real food is,” said Jorgensen, who grew up on a Michigan dairy farm. “My degree’s in nursing. So my focus is on health and sharing the process of growing healthy food.” Jorgensen raises sheep, which provide wool, pelts and meat.

She keeps bees, producing several herb-infused raw honeys. She grows fruits, vegetables and herbs and sells them to local food companies and restaurants. But hosting events from school tours to organization dinners to weddings “does balance the budget,” she said. Her Sunday Supper series features seasonal produce and meats grown on her farm or other farms just outside of Columbus, prepared by local chefs and served in a barn or sunflower field. Dinner tickets usually sell for between $58 and $75. “I want to provide a place for people to be nourished,” said Jorgensen, who sees herself as a steward, not an owner, of the land. “It warms my heart and

soul to see people come out to the farm.” Visitors to Orchard Hill Bed & Breakfast can feed the animals - including donkeys, potbellied pigs, llamas and alpacas while staying at the 1850 farmhouse near Granville. “The latest count is 72, if you count all the chickens and other fowl,” said Don Jones, who owns the B&B with Andrew Kohn. The three suites at Orchard Hill go for between $95 and $155 a night. Jones and Kohn feature local foods and products, including Gambier Gold honey and Tilton Hollow goat milk soap, at their B&B. Kohn makes jams, which are served to lodgers and sold online and at a few local stores. Continued on page 14A

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December 2012

ACRES of Southwest Ohio

Pet hospital now making farm, house calls Dr. Carrie Belles has joined the staff at Country View Pet Hospital, Inc. in Wilmington, as a Mobile Services Veterinarian. Dr. Belles is a Wilmington native who grew up on a small beef cattle farm just outside of Port William. She was a member of 4-H, where she showed beef cattle, and was active in the Wilmington Chapter of the FFA. She graduated from Wilmington High School as Valedictorian in 2002, and graduated from Wilmington College in 2006. Dr. Belles earned her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree from The Ohio State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine in 2011, and was then chosen for the highly coveted large animal internship at Ohio State’s Hospital for Farm Animals. Dr. Belles spent the past year completing this internship in Farm Animal Medicine and Surgery, and worked routine and emergency cases with such species as dairy and beef cattle, small ruminants, camelids, commercial and pot-bellied pigs, and deer. Professionally, Dr. Belles is a member of the American Association of Bovine Practitioners, the American Association of Small Ruminant Practitioners, and the Academy of Rural Veterinari-

TOURISM, From page 13A

The B&B operators cooperate with local shop keepers and wineries to create package deals. “Wineries can be a hook” to attract well-heeled tourists, said Donniella Winchell, executive director of the Ohio Wine Producers Association. Slate Run Vineyard in Canal Winchester doesn’t do tours, but it does offer

ans. Dr. Belles joins owner Dr. Jill Thompson, and associate Drs. Patricia Haines, Jim Eimermacher, and Gabrielle DeHart in a newly expanded hospital. The hospital recently moved from a leasehold space into a brand new facility. This complete pet care facility contains an expanded veterinary hospital and a pet resort which houses luxury cat and dog boarding, daycare, grooming and retail. Dr. Belles will be available to make farm animal calls, as well as small animal house calls, within a 60 mile radius of the hospital. The location of Country View at State Route 73 and Interstate 71 makes it very convenient for serving the surrounding areas. “We are so excited to have Dr. Belles at our practice,” says Dr. Thompson. “She will allow us to accommodate our farm clients with large animal services, while also allowing us to expand our pet animal services to the comfort of our clients’ homes.” Appointments may be made for in house, haul-in, and mobile veterinary calls by contacting Country View at 937-382-7387. You may also visit www.countryviewpets.com for more information about this practice.

wine tastings and use of its “weinhaus” for events of up to 125 people. Owner Keith Prichard charges between $150 and $550 for weinhaus rental, he said. At Soine Vineyard in Powell, volunteers do much of the grape-picking in exchange for a good meal and glass of wine, said co-owner Sandy Sainey. Mockingbird Meadows between Plain City and Marysville connects visitors with healing herbs,

Submitted photo Dr. Carrie Belles has joined the staff at Country View Pet Hospital, Inc. in Wilmington, as a Mobile Services Veterinarian. She will be available to make farm animal calls, as well as small animal house calls, within a 60 mile radius of the hospital, located at State Route 73 and Interstate 71.

sustainable beekeeping, homesteaders’ dinners and the spirit of the farm, said co-owner Dawn Combs. Combs and her husband, Carson Combs, recently hosted a troop of Girl Scouts from Bailey Elementary School in Dublin for herbal facials and a tour of the couple’s biodiverse farm. “We like to do things with the girls twice a month,” said Tala Rogers of Dublin, one of the moms at the facial table. “A lot of

our girls are familiar with dairy farms. This is an herb farm, so they’re learning how to use herbs for health and beauty.” Dawn Combs infuses honey from the farm’s bees with herbs to create healing spreads. Three Mockingbird Meadows products are poised for national distribution. “It’s very difficult to live off a farm,” Dawn Combs said. “If we were just to be honey producers, we could not support our family. We

diversify our honey, and we diversify our herbs.” Regular events also bring in income, she said. At Blue Rock Station in Philo, home of the “Earthship” - a house made of mud, scrapped tires and other recycled materials Jay and Annie Warnke teach visitors how to make goat-milk cheese and use mud to plaster walls and build structures. Visitors can trek surrounding hills with llamas, finishing their journey with

a “proper English tea,” or they can stay a night in two cabins made of recyclables, said Annie Warnke. The Warnkes have written a dozen books on sustainable farming, based on nearly two decades of experience. “For me, it’s a whole way of life, every step you take,” said Annie Warnke, who started out in a corporation, not on a farm. “The gross domestic product of Blue Rock Station is happiness.”

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ACRES of Southwest Ohio

December 2012

15A

K ing s of an ex pandin g empire Family’s small poultry business grows by leaps and bounds By STEPHANI DUFF editorial@tdnpublishing.com

In 1994, William King and his wife, Marilyn, decided to start a small poultry business in order to keep their five young sons busy in the summer months. “It backfired, though,” joked Marilyn King recently, “because it ended up keeping us busy after the boys returned to school.” When the Kings began the business it was housed in a 20 by 30 foot building; in 2000 they added on a 40 by 30 foot space and since that time, they have expanded it by three additional add-ons. “In 1994, when we began, we were handling around 5,000 birds; in 1995 we were at 20,000 birds and have increased from that number by at least 1,000 each year,” Marilyn said. King and Sons has four full-time employees year round – William and Marilyn and their two youngest children, Levi and Reuben. Both Levi and Reuben are interested in and investing time and work to helping the business grow and become larger. King and Sons Poultry Services slaughter chickens, turkeys, and pheasants; customers bring in what they have raised for processing and then pick up the finished product. They provide basic butchering services and, for larger quantities, they cut up or grind for

sausages; all meat is vacuum packaged. Levi King explained the break-down of what meat is brought in by customers versus what is raised on site; “About 70 percent of our processing is customer orders and 30 percent is what we raise on site and sell.” Both Levi and Marilyn explained that their typical customers are individual farmers with the occasional fair project in the months of July and August. “Our customers come from long distances for the services we offer,” Marilyn said. “We have folks coming from as far as three and a half to four hours away with poultry that needs processing.” Long time, loyal customer, J.B. King, co-owner of King Family Farms with wife, Charlene, had nothing but positive reviews for King and Sons Poultry Services. “We have been a King and Sons customer for about 12 years now,” J.B. King said. “We started going there for processing because they were, and still are, one of the only processors in Ohio that will work with the size of orders we bring.” J.B. and his wife, Charlene, are no relation to the King and Sons owners, but own their own pork and poultry farm, King Family Farms in Athens County, Ohio. “Over the years we have taken between 7,500 to 10,000 birds per year to King and Sons for processing and there has never

been an issue once with their work,” said J.B. King. It is this guaranteed good work and their friendly service that keep J.B. and Charlene making the long, three-hour, 167mile drive to King and Sons 13 to 15 times a year. “We raise poultry to butcher and sell it to farmers markets in Athens County, Ohio, as well as various restaurants,” explained King, “and we are never disappointed with their work. I would recommend them to anyone who asked.” New customers are often coming to King and Sons because of customer recommendations; according to Marilyn the company does not do much marketing unless specifically asked. In 2001, Kings really opened up their potential customer base by becoming state inspected by the Ohio Department of Agriculture; this allows for their customers to resell butchered and processed products to farmers markets in various areas. “As part of that license,” explained Levi, “we have an ODA inspector on site, everyday, looking at every bird we slaughter.” Levi and Reuben King work hard raising their own personal chickens as well as processing what customers bring in. “We raise and process around 25,000 of the 120,000 birds processed a year under our own branding name, King Poultry

Photos by Anthony Weber Orville Hartman, of Brookville, picks up 6 turkeys and 2 roosters from Levi King at King’s Poultry Farm after having them processed November 7, 2012.

Farm,” explained Levi. The King Poultry Farm products are sold at various locations such as grocery stores, Flower Barrel, Troy Meat Market, Sunset Meats, and The Covered Wagon. The King and Sons Poultry Services is now approximately 4000 square feet and has eight seasonal employees from around May to Christmas time. During these months, employees slaughter three to four days a week and in the off season slaughter goes down to one day a King’s Poultry Farm worker Nicholas Bohman removes the week. neck as excess water runs off while going through dripping. From a small 650 square foot operation to a building a name and a rep- visit www.kingandson4,000 square foot business, utation customers are spoultry.com. King and Sons has done happy to continually pa(Stephani Duff works well for themselves in tron. For more information for the Troy Daily News.)

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16A

December 2012

ACRES of Southwest Ohio

A Christmas tradition:

Miller’s tree farm opens for 20th year By CARLETA WEYRICH cweyrich@peoplesdefender.com

LIBERTY TOWNSHIP — Thanksgiving weekend not only brings a turkey feast, but also heralds the time to decorate for Christmas. In keeping with the tradition, Miller’s Christmas Trees in Adams County opened for its 20th season on Nov. 23. Offering fresh trees ready to cut and fresh home-made wreaths to order, the Miller tree farm has become a tradition in itself. Families return year after year to choose just the right tree, bring it in to be cleaned and wrapped by owner Bob Miller, then linger to enjoy hot chocolate and the warmth of Eileen Miller’s wreath workshop. “The trees look really good this year,” Eileen said. “The drought didn’t

hurt the mature trees, they look nice and fresh.” Members of the Miller’s family usually come in to help with the tree harvest and welcome guests. The family has grown to include five children, 19 grandchildren and 11 great grandchildren. This year son, Doug, and his wife, Betsy, from Ketchikan, Alaska have assisted the couple in preparing for the opening of the season. “When our guests arrive, we send the families out with a bow saw to find and cut their special tree,” she explains. “When they bring it in, we shake out any loose needles and branches on our machine, and then offer to wrap it for easy transport. Of course we always have hot chocolate and cookies ready when families come in to warm up when they are all done. The parents remember cutting their own tree for the family, but the kids remember the hot chocolate and cookies.” For those families uncomfortable with cutting down their own tree, the Millers have pre-cut trees available. Eileen also

takes orders for fresh, hand-made wreaths and swags for Christmas decorating. The Miller’s trees, predominately Scotch pines, are hand-sheared in June and July to help them form the desired shape for a Christmas tree. The trees in the four to eightfoot range await the families who harvest them for their home displays. According to Bob Miller, with annual planting of trees they typically have a supply of trees of the right dimensions for the harvest. It takes nine years to produce a six-foot Christmas tree. The trees have to be protected from disease, fungus, saw flies and bag worms. This Photo by Rachael Hamilton year’s drought was tough Miller’s Trees opens the Christmas season in Adams County for the 20th year this weekend. Owners Eileen and Bob Miller (right) are assisted in preparations this year by son, on the new seedlings, Doug Miller, and daughter-in-law, Betsy Miller, from Alaska. with only about six percent of the crop surviving. harvest, the tree branches trees with hand shears, main open throughout the Every year until the are cut back to encourage then whacking the rest of season from 10 a.m. to tree is the right size for a thick, even growth. The the tree branches with a 5:30 p.m. every day of first of June, the Millers machete. It takes about the week except Monbegin by trimming six weeks, working often days. Miller’s Christmas around the top of the in hot weather and Trees is located at 1600 swarms of deer flies, to Eckmansville Road near trim all of the growing West Union. Their phone Christmas trees. Trees number is (937)544that are used to make 2220, or they may be fresh Christmas wreaths reached by email at are left untrimmed the emme1600@frontier.com year before they’re cut, so (Carleta Weyrich is a the branches will be the staff writer for The Peoright length. ple’s Defender in West The Millers will reUnion.)

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ACRES of Southwest Ohio

December 2012

17A

New farm bill to affect area farmers By MARK FAHEY mfahey@recordherald.com

Changes may be in store for southern Ohio farmers with this year’s farm bill, the legislative bundle of agricultural and food policies rewritten by Congress every five years. The bill includes an array of policies that influence the price of agricultural commodities, ensure the availability of food, temper the cost of farming and provide for agricultural research and conservation. The 2008 farm bill expired on Sept. 30, but many of its provisions will retain funding or continue to pay out until the end of the harvesting season in 2013. For local farmers, there are several substantial changes that could result from this year’s farm bill debate. Since 1995, farms in Fayette County have received more than $160 million in federal agricultural subsidies, including $118 million in commodity payments and $28 million in insurance subsidies, according to data from the Environmental Working Group Farm Subsidy Database. Both the Senate’s Agricultural Reform, Food and Jobs Act of 2012, passed in June, and the House Agricultural Committee’s Federal Agriculture Reform and Risk Management Act of 2012, submitted in July, eliminate direct payments for production of agricultural commodities and enhance crop insurance programs. The two bills would make changes to more than 100 programs, said Seventh District Congressman Steve Austria.

“They’re likely to make some changes in how they do it, but I’m hoping they don’t drop the safety net in the direct payments,” said Eric Keltner, director of the Fayette County Farm Service Agency. “Farming’s a cyclical thing, there’s good years and bad years, and I hope they keep enough of those [safety nets] that if we have bad years we can keep farmers in business.” Both bills also make cuts of about $6 billion over 10 years to the Conservation Reserve Program, which pays farmers to convert environmentally vulnerable land into protective vegetative cover. The total acreage allowed in the program would drop by 20 percent over the next five years. Local farmland enrolled in the program could be removed as each 10 or 15year contract expires. In Fayette County, 550 contracts are ongoing, covering 6,000 acres, according to the Fayette County Farm Service Agency. Rather than engage in a election-time debate over controversial food stamp cuts included in that version, the House ignored the committee’s bill until well after the election, and has yet to hold a floor vote. Several members of Congress have noted that the bill will likely play a role in the end-of-the-year debate about the upcoming fiscal cliff, the automatic spending cuts and tax increases set to occur Jan. 1. Austria said that the main hold-up on the bill is not the agricultural policy sections, but the debate over domestic nutritional programs. “The big issue here is not the agriculture side so

Debates crop up over farm bill COLUMBUS – With the election of 2012 over, it may be a good thing that the forthcoming debate over the so-called fiscal cliff of automatic budget cuts and tax increases coincides with the ongoing debate over the farm bill, an Ohio State University farm policy expert said. The debate over the 2012 Farm Bill involves many aspects of the broader policy discussions currently occurring in the U.S., said Carl Zulauf, who is also a professor in Ohio State’s Department of Agricultural, Environmental and Development Economics. In a paper written the day after the election, Zulauf said that while it is risky to simplify the policy environment in any country as large and diverse as the U.S., “many issues confronting the U.S. at present can be viewed as a debate over the components, administration, and funding of a U.S. safety net modernized for the 21st century,” he said, noting health care. “Debate is occurring

over both the form and cost of the farm safety net, as well as whether the safety net should be delivered through private agents, (for example via) crop insurance, or via government agencies, (such as) the Farm Service Agency,” Zulauf said. “While entirely speculative, it is possible that history may reveal that the 2012 Farm Bill ultimately served to inform the resolution of the policy issues surrounding the broader U.S. safety net for the 21st century.” Movement on the 2012 Farm Bill stalled when the Republican controlled House and Democratic-led Senate disagreed on key farm bill provisions including the amount of cuts to the food stamp program and the shape of Title 1 farm safety net programs. Zulauf said that while numerous paths exist for the farm bill debate, the two most prominently discussed are a short term extension of the 2008 Farm Bill that could range from several months to a year in length and passage of a compromise version of the existing House and Senate drafts of the 2012 Farm

much, and I believe that House and Senate could come to an agreement on that,” Austria said. “The hold up right now is the spending side, and most of that spending is coming from SNAP [the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program].” If continued, the pro-

grams in the 2008 farm bill would have cost almost $1 trillion over the next decade, with 78 percent going to domestic nutritional programs like food stamps, according to the Congressional Budget Office. The Senate bill would reduce that spending by $23.1 billion and

By TRACY TURNER OSU Extension

Bill. “Which path is taken will depend upon the debate over the broader policy direction,” he said. “The willingness to compromise on differences in the existing farm bill drafts, and assessments of the impacts of potential changes in the budget baseline and how changes in the membership of the House and Senate with the seating of a new Congress might impact the process of passing a farm bill next year.” Zulauf also speculates that the drought of 2012, which devastated growers and producers across the country, particularly in the Midwest including Ohio, will lead to ad hoc disaster assistance for livestock producers, given much higher feed prices. “It is likely that cuts in spending on farm programs are likely in any so-called grand agreement to address the fiscal cliff,” he said. “These cuts might exceed those agreed to in the farm bill, or the farm bill might be written to accommodate the size of these cuts. “In short, the debate over the farm bill is intertwined with the debate over the fiscal cliff.”

the House version would reduce it by $35.1 billion, with most of the difference between the two due to cuts in nutritional programs. “Both the house and the senate were looking for ways to work more cost efficiently within the farm bill,” Austria said. “We

need to be able to help [farmers[ with their needs, but at the same time be able to work in a more cost-efficient manner, with many programs that were either overlapping or no longer needed.” The elimination of direct payments, which account for the majority of commodity spending, will save $50 billion over ten years. Instead of giving landowners and producers money each year for historical commodity production, the bills reroute that money with $5 billion to $10 billion in additional funding for crop insurance programs. Most of the $7.36 billion in farm bill subsidies used by Ohio farmers were for growing corn and soybeans. Much of that money in Ohio and Fayette County would be rerouted into revenue-based insurance programs. “All these programs would be very different from direct payments in that they would only pay out if something bad happened,” said Patrick Westhoff, director of the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute at the University of Missouri. The specific impact of each bill depends on the types of crops a farmer is growing, said Westhoff. “With the Senate bill, if you’re growing rice and peanuts, you’re not going to be very happy, because you’ll be getting less that you would with direct payments,” said Westhoff. “We estimate that the net benefits for the Senate bill may be slightly more than the House bill.” But neither bill is very close to being made into Continued on page 18A

DiscoverHistoric DisiscoverH Dis sscccoov sco oover veerH ve ver errHisto Histo Hi isisstto ist tooric ori ricic

HIGHLAND H IGHLA HLAND ND COUNTY COUNTY OUNTY

Only an hour from the city but a step back to the simpler days of small town life.... On a recent stop in Hillsboro, the heart of Highland County, a visitor noted “this looks like the America I always read about”. From the 1842 court-house that is still in use to the locally owned shops and restaurants the city has retained the flavor of small town life while being firmly established in the 21st century. Within the borders of Highland County can be found a thriving Amish and Mennonite population as well as high tech companies that service the aircraft and auto industry. A high volume, automated candle works co-exists with locally made natural soy candles that are manufactured at their uptown store. Modern grocery merchants compliment the many local produce markets and butchers. Residents enjoy the best of modern life but in a peaceful, beautiful setting in the foot hills of Appalachia. From the city it is just a short, scenic drive out Route 50 into the center of the county or from Route 32 it’s a short drive up Route 62 to Hillsboro. At the intersection of Routes 50, 73, 124, 62 and 138 the journey is a pleasant one that avoids traffic and congestion while enjoying the sights of southern Ohio’s countryside. The communities of Greenfield, Leesburg and Lynchburg are minutes away from the main city of Hillsboro and each offer unique attractions for a day or weekend trip. Starting the day early could include a real country breakfast at one of the locally owned diners or a quick stop at the Amish bakery for donuts and coffee. A day might include visits to the numerous shops in the county or a day on one of the two lakes in the county. Nightlife is relaxed and friendly with a downtown theater offering local talent and a rural barn makes a great setting for nationally known blues and rock bands. Several locally owned hotels and bed and breakfast homes offer low cost accommodations as well as cabins and camping at the state parks. Your weekend trip to Highland County might be the best value around. More information can be found at www.highlandcounty.com

~ Calendar of Events ~ December 7th • Uptown Christmas First Friday Event, shopping, carolers, food and fun to start the season. Nativity display and petting zoo.

December 15th • Heritage Music Series held on 3rd Saturday of each month at Highland County Historical Society, 151 E Main St. Hillsboro, Ohio 45133, 937-393-3392 2337276

18A

December 2012

ACRES of Southwest Ohio

‘FARM TO SCHOOL’ CONFERENCE PLANNED March event will focus on teaming farmers with local schools By TRACY TURNER OSU Extension

OLUMBUS – More than 250 farmers, producers, educators, school food service professionals, business leaders and Ohio State University Extension experts are expected to attend a statewide conference on the Farm to School program, with a goal to continue to get more fresh, locally grown and produced foods into more school cafeterias. OSU Extension will host the Farm to School conference March 13, as part of an effort to continue to expand the successful program, which works to increase students’ access to healthy foods and to help them learn more about food, health, nutrition and agriculture. Farm to School is a national program, which in Ohio is led by OSU Extension and is supported by numerous agencies,

foundations and industry organizations. OSU Extension is the outreach arm of Ohio State University’s College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences. “The dynamic part of this conference is that it brings together all types of leaders involved in making pre-K through college Farm to School programs work across the state,” said Julie Fox, director of Ohio State’s Farm to School program. The conference theme is “Let’s Grow Farm to School,” and will feature keynote presentations, 10 breakout sessions, a curriculum showcase and other displays designed to showcase opportunities farmers, schools and community leaders have to work together to increase students’ access to healthy foods. In addition, there will also be plenty of networking opportunities, she said.

written in the 1940s that have little relation to today’s market. The reversion to permanent law would require the government to buy commodities to maintain commodity prices well above modern market prices. Diary provisions stop applying at the end of December, so milk would be the first commodity affected and could double in price. “Diary is the first crisis if

FARM BILL, From page 17A

law, and Congress may need to employ a stopgap extension of the 2008 farm bill to push the debate into 2013. If no replacement or extension is passed before the end of December, some policies will revert back to “permanent law,” a collection of farm policies

Sessions will include: School Food Procurement, Opportunities for Food Service Buyers and Ohio Farmers Forming Farm to School Partnerships Food Safety School Gardens Finding Farm to School Funding and Resources Why Farm to School Marketing Farm to School “The objective of the conference is to provide education for those interested in initiating or expanding a Farm to School program and to provide connections to build and strengthen program networks,” Fox said. “The conference is also designed to support par-

nothing passes,” Westhoff said. “It wouldn’t happen on Jan. 1, but eventually you would get to where that would be the case.” Although the federal intervention would help diary farmers in the short run, it would disrupt the marketing of milk and likely hurt them in the long run, said Westhoff. The negative impact on the commodities market and the exorbitant cost to the

ticipants as they make a difference in their communities and to provide opportunities to unite professionals and their perspectives on food, health or agriculture.” In addition to providing young people with fresh, local food, Farm to School also helps them understand where their food comes from and how food choices affect their health, environment and community. The Farm to School Advisory Group is finalizing conference details and accepting conference sponsors, Fox said. Registration information will be available on the conference website at http://go.osu.edu/FarmToSchool. For more information on Ohio’s Farm to School program, visit http://farmtoschool.osu.edu.

government will probably encourage lawmakers to find a solution by the end of the year. “Most people think that something will be figured out,” Westhoff said. Austria said that the Senate is pushing for a five-year extension and the House is working towards a one-year extension. “I’m going to be a strong advocate to move the agriculture

bill forward, which is very important for our farmers,” said Austria. “My hope is that we would take the savings from the farm bill and put it towards reducing our debt, which in turn will bring more certainty to our farmers and producers who are working in the agriculture business.” (Mark Fahey is a staff writer for The Record-Herald in Washington Court House.)

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19A

The Amish Cook CHOCOLATE CHIP CHEESE BALL

BY LOVINA EICHER

1-8 ounce package of cream cheese 1 /2 cup oleo, softened 3 /4 cup powdered sugar 2 tablespoons brown sugar 1 /4 teaspoon vanilla 3 /4 cup mini-chocolate chips Graham crackers or chocolate graham crackers Beat together cream cheese and oleo until smooth. Mix in powdered sugar, vanilla, and brown sugar. Stir in chocolate chips. Cover and chill for 2 hours. Shape into a ball and serve with graham crackers.

I hope everyone had a happy, healthy, and blessed Thanksgiving holiday. Hard to believe there's only a month left before 2012 is history. I thought I'd share a few favorite recipes from our family that you might enjoy during the upcoming Christmas season. Try these three! For more recipes, Amish stories, and videos visit amishcookonline.com and sign up for the free twice-weekly newsletter.

HOMEMADE HOLIDAY PEANUT BUTTER FUDGE

WHITE CHRISTMAS CUT-OUT COOKIES

4 cups granulated sugar 1/4 cup light corn syrup 1/2 teaspoon salt 3/4 cup evaporated milk

1 cup shortening 2 cups white sugar 2 eggs 1/2 cup cream or milk 1 teaspoon soda

3/4 cup water 1/3 cup chunk-style peanut butter 1 teaspoon vanilla

In a saucepan, combine the sugar, syrup, salt, milk, and water. Bring mixture to a boil, cover, and cook 2 minutes. Uncover and cook without stirring until a little of the mixture dropped in cold water forms a soft ball (232 degrees on a candy thermometer). Remove from heat. Cool to lukewarm (110 degrees). Add peanut butter and the vanilla. Beat until mixture thickens and loses its gloss. Pour into a buttered 8x8x2- inch pan. Cool.

1 teaspoon salt 1 tablespoon lemon extract 1 tablespoon vanilla 5 cups flour

Preheat oven to 350. In a large mixing bowl, cream shortening and sugar. Add eggs and beat well. Mix in cream, soda, salt, extract and flour. Roll very thin, almost paper thin. Cut out with cookie cutters of your own preference. Bake at 350 for 5 minutes or until the edges are golden, the cookie dough is very thin so they do not need to bake long. Cool and decorate with candies or frosting.

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20A

December 2012

ACRES of Southwest Ohio

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B Section

of Southwest Ohio Issue 10

December 2012

WOMEN ON THE FARM:

An Early Start, A Strong Finish

Amanda DeGroat, right, and her mother-in-law Rita DeGroat are vital partners in their family farm business. They are shown at right with the farm’s livestock trailer. Amanda poses below beside the chute entry for the farm’s cattle. Photos by Pat Lawrence

Amanda DeGroat’s family farm rises from ashes stronger than ever By PAT LAWRENCE patlawrence@cinci.rr.com

ike any successful stock broker, Amanda DeGroat lives by her phone, starts the day by studying the markets, contacts buyers and sellers and makes educated bets on commodity futures. However, Amanda is a cattle woman, not a Wall Street trader and the stock she trades is eating and sleeping not far from her back door. She says, “We always have about 350 head on the property and we feed about a thousand cattle here every year.” The DeGroat family owns and operates Hidden Acres Farm, a beef feedlot that contracts directly with packers to produce and purchase beef feeder-cattle until they are “finished,” ready to become high quality, well-marbled cuts of meat for the table. Amanda manages most of the financial side of their enterprise, buying and sell-

ing, and assists with a variety of the farm responsibilities, like vaccinations, tagging and transport. She says, “We have a 30’ stock trailer that I haul. It holds 15-18 head of 800 pound cattle. For a bigger load, we use a double decker with a semi.” Amanda grew up in Farmersville, where her parents still live, showing cattle and hogs. Back then, Jason’s family had dairy cattle. Amanda says, “He and I intended to get married after I graduated from high school, but I postponed the wedding until after the Fair just so I could show my cattle!” Although Amanda continued her education and worked for 15 years managing doctor’s offices, she remained an active partner in the family farm. “I milked until the day I delivered and was back milking three days afterward!” Continued on page 2B

Amanda DeGroat and her family operate Hidden Acres Farm in Germantown, shown above, a beef feedlot that contracts directly with packers to produce and purchase beef feeder-cattle until they are “finished,” ready to become high quality, well-marbled cuts of meat for the table.

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ACRES of Southwest Ohio

DeGROATS, From page 1B

She says, “When dairy prices began dropping, we started looking at business opportunities. We’d always had freezer beef, and when we realized how profitable our production of about 50 head had been, we began the transition to beef cattle. We decided on the feedlot because of the way our property is laid out.” Jason and Amanda have been married 18 years and have a 16 year old son and 13 year old daughter who still enjoy showing cattle competitively. Hidden Acres is one of about 450 beef cattle feedlots in Ohio, and like most, it’s also a family farm. Rita, Amanda’s mother-inlaw, lost her husband Clarence, three years ago, but she has been an integral part of the family enterprise for over 40 years. According to Amanda, “She used to do all the milking!” Rita has been

farming in partnership with Amanda and Jason for over twenty years. She still provides insight and advice, handles bookkeeping and receivables and makes a home-cooked lunch for everyone on the farm each workday. Amanda’s husband, Jason, manages the crops and farming operations with the assistance of Amanda’s brother Steven Ward, their full time Farm Manager. Dustin Barnes is the Feedyard Manager. Amanda says, “Every business decision, we make as a group.” According to the USDA, cattle and beef production represent the largest single segment of American agriculture. Of the 2.2 million farms in the US, 31 percent are classified as beef cattle operations, more than any other type of farm. The industry is roughly divided into two production sectors: cow-calf operations or cattle feeding, like Hidden Acres.

Amanda says, “We feed twice a day. It can take 90 to 300 days, depending on the animal’s weight at placement, feeding conditions and desired finish. We try to raise the kind of beef that we would serve on our own table.” She says cattle owners choose custom feeding to maintain or expand their cattle production as well as other reasons. “If the market is high, people often send their cattle to the stock yard; when it’s low, they often contact us. Cattle can only be on a trailer 14-16 hours and an owner may not be near a stockyard or have the facilities or hauling capacity needed for finishing cattle. This year’s drought was problematic for many. We provide feed, facilities and labor while owners save the expense of custom feeding and take advantage of favorable market situations. We raise fresh, hormone and antibioticfree beef so when the homemakers purchase it

Amanda and Rita DeGroat, shown at their home, and the whole DeGroat family enjoy living under one roof.

UNION STOCK YARDS

DeGroats Tender Lovin’ Christmas Brisket 6-8 pound brisket 1 sliced onion 1 jar salsa ½ can cola ½ cup ketchup liquid smoke Rub brisket with cumin, brown sugar, salt and pepper. Place prepared meat covered with sliced onion on the roasting rack inside a large roasting pan. Cover. Bake 14 hours at 250 degrees. Remove brisket. Add cola, ketchup and a splash of liquid smoke for savory gravy sauce. May also be prepared in a crockpot, on low for 14 hours if brisket is cooked on slightly elevated rack in crockpot. from the grocery, they can see and taste the quality!” Amanda says they buy cattle in groups of 10 or more directly from farms they have visited in Ohio, Indiana, West Virginia and Kentucky. “Hauling is included in our bid price. And, I drive over to Union Stockyards in Hillsboro about once a week to fulfill our needs. The cattle in that area perform very well. We buy from sellers that operate with humane animal standards and promote health. We get cattle in at least three times a week. Every animal is kept under shelter, about 40 per building, with adequate ventilation and space so the cattle and their bedding stays dry. Each animal is tagged and recorded in a computer program for tracing them. If there’s ever a problem, we know where each animal came from and where it went.” Amanda spends the first part of every day on the computer, checking the markets, looking at cattle and feeder prices and grain trades. “I watch the agricultural market on Rural TV to see how prices ended yesterday and where they’re predicted to go. When we’re ready to sell, we’re looking at the future price. We guarantee the

price of our cattle a month, or even a year, ahead. For 800-pound animals, a penny per pound is a major change. It’s always a gamble but that’s what farmers do every day – gamble! Life is full of decisions.” Amanda seems to have handled them with a cool head. She has contracts for every month till October 2013, two loads for some months. Each load is 49,000 pounds or 40 head of finished cattle. She says, “You must be comfortable with what you can buy them at and what you can sell them at. You can’t be greedy.” The family also farms 1100 acres of corn, soybeans and wheat, kept well fertilized. “Waste is gathered with a bobcat. We have a manure storage facility, so when the weather is good in summer and fall, we have it ready to spread.” Without a breeze, the malodorous side effect of fresh waste is surprisingly localized to the buildings which actually hold cattle. Neatly placed grain bins, tractors and grain carts among the eight buildings make Hidden Acres look like any family farm. And, the animals themselves are so quiet as to be barely noticeable.

Amanda says, “Confined cattle are very different from range cattle. They’re accustomed to people, some, but their thought processes are different. They do require a special way of handling. You must always move slowly, quietly, calmly, not to rile them up.” The comfortably familiar pattern of the DeGroat’s life went up in flames three years ago. Amanda says, “We were showing cattle at the Fair when our home caught fire. We lost everything. The homestead was so old, it only took about 45 minutes for it to go. We were devastated.” The young family moved in with Rita to start rebuilding. Amanda says, “We realized living together worked very well for us, so we stayed and added space here, just across the road from the old house. There’s room for all of us - plus six dogs and four cats. It still works very well for us.” Rita works mostly out of the office in the center of the house, Amanda works by phone from wherever she needs to be that day. “I always keep an extra charger!” Amanda says the fire taught them that, “Stuff is just stuff. It’s not what matters. The hardest part for the kids was losing all their trophies. For me, it was losing our family pictures.” For fun, she says, “We show cattle in the winter and go boating in Tennessee in the summer. We don’t have problems, really. What we’ve done so far has been profitable and after eight years, things run pretty smoothly. We stay busy with the farm and the kids but everything we do, we do as a family.” (Pat Lawrence is a contributor to Acres of Southwest Ohio.)

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ACRES of Southwest Ohio

December 2012

Gift ideas for the gardener on your Christmas list By FAYE MAHAFFEY

Cold frames and hot beds are miniature greenhouses. Shown here is a diagram of a hot bed.

fhmgarden@gmail.com

The weather continues to amaze me. The mornings are frosty and down right cold and the afternoons are sunny and warm. But as soon as the sun goes down the coat and gloves are a must! We have been trying to take advantage of the comfortable working conditions in the afternoon to finish up some outdoor projects and split wood for the woodstove. I obsess over how much wood is split and how much “kindling” I have stored away. Last week I started combing through the catalogs trying to come up with my “wish list” for our son. My list (so far) includes: Mushroom Kit (Grow a variety of mushrooms right on your kitchen counter), “What Tree is That?” application for smart phones (leads you through the basic characteristics of the tree to help you identify it), a BirdSong Identiflyer (helps you identify birds and their songs), and Tree Tubes for my newest additions to our woods. I really enjoy looking through all the catalogs and have learned quickly that if I see something that interests me, I had better write the information down in a notebook or I’ll never find it again! Do you have a gardener on your gift list this year?

You might consider a cold frame as a gift that keeps on giving. I love my cold frame, and am guilty of not using it as much as I could. My Juwell cold frame has opener arms that have cylinders filled with fluid that will expand and contract with changes in temperature. In my early gardening years I had built a cold frame using old windows. The problem? The windows were heavy to lift, and if I left them on during the day and we had a sunny day… I would literally cook my poor little seedlings! The opener arms are a great solution to that problem. OSUE Fact Sheet HYG-1013-88, “Cold Frame, Hot Bed Construction and Use” provides great information about choosing the right loca-

tion, size, and construction. Cold frames - or their heated versions, hotbeds, are miniature greenhouses. A cold frame is simply a bottomless box covered with a light-admitting lid. Sun enters the box during the day heating the soil and air inside. At night, the soil radiates the heat absorbed during the day back into the covered frame. Hot beds are similar to cold frames, except that in addition to the sun’s heat, they use an artificial means of heating the soilusually electric cable. Hotbeds can be maintained at minimum desired temperature. This makes them more useful during the coldest times of the year. Hot beds and cold frames are used by gardeners for propagating vegetables, flowers and

ornamentals. Hot beds are used for starting the plants and cold frames for tempering or hardening plants to outdoor conditions before transplanting. For most home gardeners the same frame can serve both purposes. You could actually buy the materials for the cold frame and include your help with the construction as your gift! Here is a plan for a basic wooden cold frame: Materials: • 1 piece 8 feet long 12x 1-inch pine board • 1 piece 4 feet long 10x 1-inch pine board • 1 24- x 48-inch sheet of Plexiglas (1/4-inch thick) • 3 pieces 4 feet long 2x2 boards • Jigsaw • 2 sets of hinges with

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screws • Handle • Electric drill • 16 #8 1-1/2-inch screws • #6 3/4-inch screws Instructions: 1. Cut the 8 foot boards in half. Take 1 of the 4foot pieces and cut it in half again. These two pieces will create the sides of the cold frame, while the remaining 4-foot piece will be the back of the frame. 2. Place one end of the side board against the edge of the back board and attach with screws. Repeat for other side. 3. Place front board against edges of the side boards and attach with screws. (Bottoms of the boards should be flush.) With a yardstick, draw a line on side board from top of the back board to top of the side board. The line will be diagonal. Cut board along the line using a jigsaw. Sides will slope, allowing for a sloped lid to

close properly. 4. To make the lid: Make a 2- by 4-foot frame using 2x2 boards. Take one 4-foot 2x2 board and cut in half for the sides of the frame. Top and back are made using remaining 4-foot boards. Attach ends together using an angle brace if necessary. Attach Plexiglas to frame using 3/4-inch #6 screws. 5. Attach lid to top of frame with hinges. Add handle to front portion of lid. 6. Be sure to include a copy of Fact Sheet HYG1013-88 (available on Ohioline) to complete your gift! Enjoy the sunny afternoons while you can! Keep attacking those weeds that show up in your landscape. Have you started your Christmas List? Better get started! Be sure to leave it out where it will be noticed! (Faye Mahaffey is a OSUE Brown County Master Gardener volunteer.)

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December 2012

ACRES of Southwest Ohio

BEFORE WINTER ARRIVES Late season tips for protecting home, garden By JERRY MAHAN mahan.2@att.net

There are several things we can do to make landscape plants around our home or farm more attractive now and increase the chances of them being alive next spring. The dry summer has left many of our perennial plants in poor health. Consider special treatment for those plants growing under roof overhangs. These plants may need additional watering as we go into winter. Try not to water when the ground is frozen. Check soil moisture by pulling the mulch away from plants before watering. I would not fertilize this late in the season as new plant growth will not harden off before winter. Between now and early December is the time to make your last and probably most important fertilization of your lawn. Fertilizer added now will go towards strengthening the grass root system and not spur a lot of top growth. It will also keep the grass plant greener longer into the winter. Again do not fertilize when the ground is frozen as rain or snow melt will transport the fertilizer into our rivers and streams. Normally this involves applying a product marketed as a winter fertilizer. For more details on lawn fertilization log on to the web site: “http://ohioline.osu.edu/hygfact/4000/4006.html.” http://ohioline.osu.edu/hygfact/4000/4006.html. Most fertilizers now do not have any phosphorus (the middle number in the fertilizer analysis: ex. 32-0-10) because this element is causing much of

our algae problems in lakes and streams. There are many invaders from the outside who want to make your home their home for the winter. These include spiders, flies, and other bugs. The warmth of your house is their “Florida.” To minimize the number of intruders check and repair bottom door seals. Caulk around areas where pipes or wiring enter your house to determine if these areas need sealed. Check/repair window seals as well. Do not forget to repair those attic or soffit vents. They are great places for squirrels, raccoons, bats and birds to enter your home. I have received several calls over the years dealing with squirrels, raccoons or birds that made it down the chimney and into the house. Screens on chimneys do work. Picture a squirrel or raccoon running around your home in a panic tearing drapes, furniture and tearing up the house in general. Farm cash rent Land owners and farmers are in the process of negotiating cash rent agreements for 2013. In addressing this topic a few months ago I suggested both parties consider a flexible cash rent agreement. This type of agreement protects both parties from wide swings in the market as well changing input prices like seed, fertilizer, weed control products and fuel to name a few. For example a bag of seed corn containing 80,000 seeds would be enough seed to plant roughly 2.5 acres could cost over $250. A flexible cash rent agreement usually will set a floor price of cash rent with possible upward increases depending on

market conditions, weather and the farmer’s ability. It gives both the land owner and farmer some protection from wide swings in crop prices as well as the cost of inputs like fertilizer, seed etc. as well as giving incentive to the farmer to do a good job of farming the ground to increase yields while adhering to the requirements set forth by the landowner. These requirements might include maintaining grass waterways, controlling noxious weeds and providing soil test and yield information as an example. The problem on the horizon is not if but when crop prices will drop and the agreement must be designed to reflect changes in the farming environment. It is best to look at a flexible cash rent agreement which includes flexing for both yield and crop price. Often we get crop price increases in bad weather years but yields are not good. Cash rent always goes up easier than it comes down. For more on this topic go to the website for the factsheet titled “Flexible Cash Rents for Farmland” at http://ohioline.osu.edu/frfact/0002.html. The following website allows you to plug in your information on five year average yields and historical crop prices in the 5 year period as well as base revenue as a help in determining base rent: http://aede.osu.edu/programs-and-research/osufarm-management/decision-to ols. You can then do some calculations on possible base rent calculations. In the OSU Ext. Crop Budgets for 2013 Agriculture Economist Barry Ward has cash rent figures showing an increase but keep in mind some areas of Ohio

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hit hardest by the drought may see little or no increase in cash rent. The website is: http://aede.osu.edu/programs/farmmanagement/budgets. These figures are based on several assumptions which are listed at the end of each budget and vary with regions of the state. The budgets allow you to plug in your own cost figures as well as the expected returns. To get a sample farm agreement (cash, flexible, crop share) log on to: www.mwps.org/. My closing comment on this topic is for both parties to sit down and be truthful with each other as they negotiate a new lease agreement. Such information as yield data and soil test information are on the table for sharing and including in the agreement. Only through common trust can good business collaboration be forged. Another suggestion is for farm operators to share what is happening with the crops and markets not just at the end of the year but during the growing season with the landowner. Crop yields As I write this column information on the harvest of corn and soybeans is coming in with figures all over the spectrum. I am hearing of corn yields in the 65 -220 bushel range with soybeans in the 20-70 bushel range. This is close to predictions made earlier in light of the wide variation in rainfall patters across Greene County the past few months. (Jerry Mahan is a retired OSU Extension Educator Agriculture and Natural Resources for Greene County.)

Upcoming Events

D EC E M B E R • Guided Bird Walk — Dec. 8: 911 a.m., Secrest Arboretum, Seaman Orientation Plaza, Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center, 1680 Madison Ave., Wooster. Free. Information: cochran.7@osu.edu or 330464-2148. • Marion Popcorn Pop-n-Drop — Dec. 31 – Jan. 1, A night to remember as you bring in the New Year. Everyone gather at the park at 11:30 p.m. to party and watch the popcorn ball drop at the stroke of midnight. Location: Busby Park Downtown Marion, corner Center St., & Prospect St. Contact: (740) 382-2181; www.mariondowntown.com

F E B R U A RY • Groundhog Day - Buckeye Chuck — Feb. 2; Chuck, Ohio’s official weather-predicting groundhog, will check for his shadow. Come early before the sun comes up, if any, to see Chuck. Always hot drinks and, of course, the spam burger that is served every year. Hours: 7 to 8 a.m. Location: Clear Channel Marion, 1330 N. Main St., Marion; Contact: (740) 3878173; www.wmrn.com • 2013 Agronomy Workshop — Feb 19 and 20, 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. each day. Mark your calendars; the 2013 OARDC Agronomy Workshop/In-service is scheduled for next February in the Fisher Auditorium, on the Wooster Campus of OSU. This 2-day program will feature presentations and hands-on activities on a range of important crop production, pathology, entomology, and weed science issues facing the field crops industry. Topics ranging from Disease, Insect and Weed Resistance in Population to Interpretation of Statistics in Field Research will be covered, as well as updates on disease, insect, weed, and mycotoxin detection and management. The content of this program will meet the needs of both our new county Extension Educators as well as more seasoned Educators, Field Specialists, and Crop Consultants, and will be team-taught by Drs. Anne Dorrance, Ron Hammond, Andy Michel, Laura Lindsey, and Pierce Paul. Save the dates. Registration details will be available later in December.

ACRES of Southwest Ohio

December 2012

Photo by Mike Ullery Acres of trees await “adoption” as a family Christmas Tree for the 2012 Christmas season at Fulton Farms.

On the hunt for the perfect tree shartley@dailycall.com

In search of the perfect Christmas tree this year? Grab your family and head on out to one of many local Christmas tree farms. Cutting your own tree makes for fun holiday memories and a tree that will stay fresh throughout the entire holiday season. One Miami County farm is becoming widely known throughout the Miami Valley for its “choose and cut” fir trees. Fulton Farms, located at 2393 State Route 202, east of Troy and Tipp City, is becoming known for more than their pick-your-own strawberries and other summer veggies. For the past 25 years, the family-owned farm has offered 20-acres of Christmas trees. Opening the Friday after Thanksgiving, the farm also offers weekend (except Dec. 22-23) horse-drawn hayrides out to the tree field. “We have a lot of people coming from Dayton and as far north as Coldwater and Celina,” said Jim Fulton. “We sold 1.300 trees last year.” The Fultons plant new trees every other year, he said. The past summer’s dry weather didn’t affect the Fulton Farms Christmas trees. “We’re an irrigation farm,” Fulton said, so workers spent the summer irrigating the trees to avoid damage. Fulton’s barn store also will be open through the holidays, with gift items and hot chocolate and coffees for sale. The farm has trees ranging in height from 4-12 feet — all priced at $40. The tradition of celebrating Christmas with a decorated tree was recorded in a travel diary from 1605, which describes a fir tree in Strasbourg,

Germany, hung with paper roses, apples, wafers, and candies, according to a fact sheet on Christmas trees by The Ohio State University Extension office in Columbus. The fact sheet also reports that in the United States, the first reported Christmas tree was found in a German Moravian church in Bethlehem, Pa., in 1747. So once you find and cut that perfect tree, what’s next? Follow these steps outlined by the OSU extension and your family should be able to enjoy your freshly cut tree through New Years Day — and beyond if you choose to recycle on your property. Christmas Tree Facts • How do I select a clean, fresh tree? Clean trees are trees that, in addition to being free from any extraneous plant material such as vines and grass, have been shaken to remove the dead needles that are lodged in the foliage and branches. Christmas tree needles do not live forever. Each year a new batch of needles develops and the oldest needles on the tree die. Some species, such as the spruces, may have fouror five-years’ growth of needles on the tree at any one time; other species, such as many of the pines, may have only one- or, at most, two-years’ growth of needles on the tree at any one time. A freshly cut, unshaken Christmas tree may have literally thousands of needles hanging in its crown. These needles should be shaken from the tree with a tree shaker or they will end up in the carpet, the heating ducts, and practically everywhere else in the house. A cut Christmas tree will last the entire holiday season without becoming excessively dry or dropping an excessive amount of needles provided it is fresh

when purchased and it is given the proper care. Obviously, the most effective way to ensure a fresh tree is to visit a choose-and-cut plantation and cut the tree yourself. For many families this has become a holiday tradition, with the family devoting most or all of a day to choosing the “perfect” tree while enjoying the scenery and other activities provided by the grower. When evaluating freshness, do not be concerned if excessive amounts of brown needles fall. Remember, these are the needles that the tree sheds each year. Just make sure the tree is shaken before it is taken into your home. Other methods of assessing the freshness of a Christmas tree, including needle flexibility, tree color, aroma, and the relative dryness of the bottom of the trunk, are far more difficult to evaluate and can many times be very misleading. • Caring for the tree before it goes in the house If possible, cover the tree with some type of tarp during transport to prevent it from drying out, particularly if it’s going to be on top of your car. A plastic tree disposal bag, available from many growers and lots, works well for protecting bailed trees during the trip home. If the tree is to be kept for several days before being set up in the house, place it out of the direct sun and wind, perhaps on the north or east side of the house, behind some shrubbery, under an overhang, or in an unheated enclosed porch or garage. If the tree is to be stored more than a couple of days, it is advisable to place its trunk in water. If the tree has been cut within the last six to eight hours, it will not need to be recut; longer than that and it should be recut. Cut straight across the trunk (not at an angle) removing an inch or more from the bottom of the trunk. Be sure the container holds

enough water and replenish it often enough that the water does not fall below the level of the trunk bottom. If it does, the trunk will begin to seal, and water absorption will be reduced or cease. When this occurs, a fresh cut must be made to remove the sap seal. Cut Christmas trees will absorb a surprising amount of water, particularly during the first week. A tree with a two-inch diameter trunk may initially use two quarts of water per day; one with a four-inch diameter trunk may use more than four quarts per day. • Setting up and caring for the tree The lower the temperature and the higher the humidity, the longer a cut Christmas tree will last. If possible, turn down the temperature or close (at least partially) the heat vents in the room where the tree is located. If you have a humidifier, set it as high as feasible without causing condensation throughout the house. Some individuals who do not have wholehouse humidifiers place a small portable humidifier in the room with the tree. Do not locate the tree near sources of heat such as a fireplace, an open heat duct, or a radiator, or in front of a window that receives the direct rays of the sun. If the trunk has not been recut, recut it as described previously. Place the tree in a stand that is large enough and strong enough to hold a tree of its size. Be sure that the tree stand will hold an adequate amount of water (most would suggest a onegallon minimum; more for large trees) and that it is replenished on a daily basis. Water is important because it prevents the needles from drying out, becoming brittle, and dropping off; the branches from drooping and then becoming brittle; and it keeps the tree fragrant. Again, remember that the tree will absorb a large quantity of water, particularly during the first

week, and it is essential that the water level in the stand never go below the cut end of the trunk or a seal of dried sap will form (in as little as four to six hours), preventing the tree from absorbing water. If this happens, a fresh cut will need to be made to remove the sap seal, a cut that is often not feasible with a fully decorated tree. Use only approved and carefully inspected electrical lights and extension cords when decorating a Christmas tree. Do not leave a lighted Christmas tree unattended. • Taking down the tree Take the tree down at the end of the season or when it has become too dry. A well-cared-for Christmas tree should normally remain fresh for the entire holiday season. Research has shown that fresh-cut Christmas trees of the species commonly sold in Ohio should last at least four weeks before drying to an unacceptable level. Some trees will last longer; others will dry out sooner. We have evaluated trees that were still acceptable after six weeks, and a few trees that took up very little water and began drying out immediately. Certainly a little judgment must be used in evaluating when to remove the tree. • Disposing of the tree After the holiday season, a Christmas tree can be disposed of in a variety of ways. Many communities have curbside pick-up or drop-off locations for recycling or disposing of Christmas trees. Christmas trees can be chipped and used for mulch or composted. Christmas trees can be set up in your yard or garden as a shelter or feeder for birds or other wildlife. This is most commonly done by simply securing the tree in a standing position and hanging suet or other food in the foliage. Christmas trees can be used as cover in fish ponds. (Susan Hartley is the executive editor of the Piqua Daily Call.)

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WARREN COUNTY ❆ Berninger Trees and Wreaths, Lebanon ❆ Big Tree Plantation, Morrow ❆ Ever Green Acres, Lebanon ❆ Evergreen Acres, Beavercreek ❆ Evergreen Nursery, Rootstown ❆ Rossmann’s Christmas Tree Farm, Blanchester ❆ Wertz Family Tree Farm, Franklin ❆ Caesar’s Creek Nursery, Waynesville ❆ Timberwind Tree Farm, Lebanon GREENE COUNTY ❆ Carl and Dorothy Young’s Christmas Trees, Yellow Springs ❆ Harmony Tree Farm, Springfield ❆ Millstone Christmas Tree Farm, Jamestown ❆ Raymond Bowermaster, Springfield ❆ Spring Valley Tree Farm, Spring Valley ❆ Adventure Acres, Bellbrook ROSS COUNTY ❆ Crosley Tree Farm, Chillicothe CLERMONT COUNTY ❆ Dirr Nurseries, Goshen ❆ Nana & Pap’s Christmas Trees, Felicity ❆ Simmons Farm, Bethel ❆ Spring Grove Farm, New Richmond PICKAWAY COUNTY ❆ Lands Christmas Trees, Stoutsville ❆ Rhoads Farm Inc., Circleville HIGHLAND COUNTY Sugar Tree Farms, Cincinnati MADISON COUNTY ❆ Waters Tree Farm, South Solon ❆ Foxwater Farms, London BROWN COUNTY ❆ Pinefield Farm, Fayetteville ❆ Corsi Tree Farm, Hamersville ❆ Memory Lane Tree Farm, Sardinia ADAMS COUNTY ❆ Miller’s Christmas Trees, West Union ❆ Sugar Tree Farms, Seaman

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December 2012

ACRES of Southwest Ohio

BUG INVASION Brown marmorated stink bug is new to Ohio By DAVE DUGAN dugan.46@osu.edu

We have a new bug. Well it is not completely new to Ohio, but it is becoming more of an issue. In last week’s CORN newsletter, OSU Extension Specialist provided information about this invasive insect and a way to report it if you find it. The following is part of the article that can be found in the CORN newsletter. If you would like to be added to the mailing list for this weekly newsletter during the growing season and every other week during the winter, send me an email request to dugan.46@osu.edu. The Brown Marmorated Stink Bug is being found in field crops, fruit and vegetable fields. These

stink bugs are also known to invade homes, apartments, businesses, barns, and other man-made structures in the fall. To see an updated map of where BMSB has been detected in Ohio crops, follow this link: www.oardc.ohiostate.edu/BMS/viewdata.as p. Because detections in buildings often precedes invasion in nearby crop fields, it is important to collect reports of stink bugs inside buildings. While finding these bugs in homes may be unsettling to residents, reporting the finds does allow us to get a clearer picture of their distribution in Ohio. If you see BMSB this winter or spring in your home or other structure, use this OSUE site to report it: www.surveymonkey.com/s /bmsb. The report form has

11 questions regarding location, number of insects, time of invasion, and contact information. BMSB can be identified by alternating black and white bands on the antennae, and black and white bands along the edge of the abdomen that shows under the wings, as well as faint black and white banding on the legs (images can be found at our Ag Crops Insects page under the soybean tab, http://entomology.osu.edu/ ag/). To confirm the presence of BMSB, please send your contact information along with a few dead specimens in a tissue padded pill box or other small container to: BMSB ID Program, OSU Extension, 1512 S. US Highway 68, Suite B100, Urbana, OH 43078.

Dates to Remember: Small Farm College — The program starts in January with two locations to choose from. The Wednesday night program will be held in Pickaway County at the Circleville Fire Department and the Thursday night program will be in the Clermont County Extension Office in Owensville. Classes begin on Jan. 9 and 10. Private Applicator Re-cert — Pesticide re-certification will be offered at Southern State Community College’s South Campus in Fincastle on Monday, Feb. 4, at 5:30 p.m. and again on Wednesday, Feb. 13, at noon. Both programs will offer a light meal and materials. Pre-registration is required. Details about registration will be avail-

able soon. Space may be limited this year. Pesticide License Testing — Private and commercial testing for applicator license will be offered on Feb. 11, March 11 and April 8 at the Old Y Restaurant. You are required to pre-register by calling the Ohio Department of Agriculture at 800-282-1955 or online at http://pested.osu.edu. Space is limited so register soon. Study materials are also available at this address or phone number. Ohio River Valley Agronomy Day — Mason County Extension Office in Maysville, Ky., on Feb. 6 at 9 a.m. Call to register at (606) 564-6808. Annual Tobacco Grower Meeting

— North Adams High School in Seaman on Wednesday, Feb. 6, in the evening. Details about registration for this free program will be available soon. Master Gardener Class — Class begins on Feb. 20 at the Brown County Extension Office. Contact the Adams County Extension Office to register at 544-2339. Small Farm Conference — Wilmington College on March 8 and 9. Go to http://adams.osu.edu, http://brown.osu.edu or http://highland.osu.edu for the printable flyer or call for details. Farm and Family Night — Maysville Community and Technical College on Tuesday, March 12.

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ACRES of Southwest Ohio

December 2012

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1 1-800-835-2531 -800-835-2 2531 (TTY/TDD: (T T Y/TDD: 711) 711) 1 JJoe oe W Walker alker Ins Insurance urance Services Ser vices authorized licensed licensed agent agent ffor or Anthem Anthem Blue Blue Cr oss and and An authorized Cross Blue Shield att Blue Shi S eld in Ohio. Ohio. Call Call Anthem Anthem Customer Customer Service Ser vice a 1-877-814-1397, a.m. days 1-877-814-1397, TTY/TDD T T Y/TDD 711, 711, 8 a .m. to to 8 p.m., p.m., seven seven d ays a week week (except Christmas) October through (except TThanksgiving hanksgiving and C hrisstmas) from from Oc tober 1 th rough February Friday holidays) Febr b uary 14, 14, 4 and d Monday Mond day tto oF riday (except ((except h olidays)) from from February September February 15 15 through through S eptembe er 30.

Y0071_13_15172_U_013 CMS Accepted ed 10/01/2012 10/01/20 1 12

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Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield iss a M Medicare Advantage contract. edicar c eA dvantage organization organizati t on with a Medicare nttract. A standstandMedicare co alone prescription drug plan with a Medicare contract. provided Medicare co ntract. The The benefit benefit information infformation pr ovided is a brief b ief summary, br summary, not a complete description of benefits. more contact plan. copayments, ts. For For m ore information information co ntact th tthe e pl an. Limitations, Limitations, co p yments, and pa restrictions may apply. Benefits, formulary, pharmacy network, premium, copayments/coinsurance mulary, ph p armacy n et work, pr emium, and/or and/or co paymentss/coinsurance may change on January 1 of each year. r. Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield is the name Community Independent licensee the trade trade n ame of of C ommunit y Insurance Insu urance Company. Company. Ind epend n ent li censee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. Insurance Association. ® ANTHEM is a registered registered trademark trademark of of Anthem Anthem Insur ance Companies, Inc. The Blue Cross and Blue names are marks Blue Cross Blue Shield Shield n ames and symbols symbols ar a e rregistered egistered m arks of of tthe he Blu e Cr os s and Blue Shield Association.

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Farming of the future:

OSU researchers testing new bio-organic fertilizer By OSU Extension

WOOSTER — A new organic-based fertilizer for commercial hydroponic production can boost lettuce growth by about 13 percent, according to preliminary trials conducted by Ohio State University’s Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center (OARDC) in Wooster. The fertilizer, BiOWiSH-Hydroponic, is produced by BiOWiSH Technologies, a Chicagobased manufacturer of natural food production and environmental remediation technologies. Available in the U.S. market for a little over a year and for two years internationally, the fertilizer is a unique blend of bacteria and biocatalysts that, according to company claims, helps speed up the breakdown of organic matter and potentially impacts plant processes, making nutrients more readily available or usable. BiOWiSH Technologies sought out OARDC — the research arm of Ohio State’s College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences — to carry out independent, third-party testing of its product for the U.S. Also involved in the trials is CropKing Inc., an Ohiobased company that serves the hydroponic produce industry and is a local distributor of BiOWiSH-Hydroponic. “We had previously tested this technology at CropKing’s research greenhouse and experienced positive results of over 10 percent in the speed of lettuce growth,

Photo courtesy OSU Extension BiOWiSH's Bill Diederich, OARDC's Robert Hansen and CropKing's Natalie Bumgarner survey recently transplanted lettuce at an OARDC greenhouse.

meaning a grower using our product could get one to two additional crops per year,” said Bill Diederich, senior executive vice president for agri-business at BiOWiSH Technologies. “After that, our company began looking for a third party or university partner to test the results and refine some aspects of the product. That led us to Ohio State. Wooster is a good location, close to CropKing and also to BiOWiSH.” Another link between the partners in this project is Natalie Bumgarner, a CropKing horticulturist

and recent Ph.D. graduate from Ohio State’s Department of Horticulture and Crop Science. She works closely with Robert Hansen, an OARDC expert in hydroponic lettuce production who is running the trials for BiOWiSH Technologies. “Our first round of experiments has verified what the company claims,” said Hansen, a research scientist in the Department of Food, Agricultural and Biological Engineering. “We have seen a 13.4 percent advantage of one biocatalyst compared to a control without the biocat-

alyst. We used three different lettuce cultivars (varieties) and found almost identical results.” Funded by BiOWiSH Technologies, the project — which began in the summer — will continue for three years, involving some 15 different experiments. Some of the trials will look at the effect of various concentrations of the fertilizer, while others will focus on various flow rates — the rates at which the fertilizer is fed to the plants. The goal, Diederich said, is to find the best possible combination of

BiOWiSH-Hydroponic and grower management practices to increase production. “During our collaboration, we will also conduct quality evaluations designed to quantify the numerous anecdotal claims that BiOWiSH-Hydroponic has a positive effect on the taste of lettuce,” he said. For Paul Brentlinger, president of CropKing, this type of research is important for the development of the hydroponic industry in Ohio and elsewhere. “Hydroponic is getting

a lot of press these days as an emerging field,” he said. “Here we have three impressive organizations, which are leaders in their fields, putting energy, money and time to improve this industry.” Hansen agrees. “The ultimate goal of this project is to make Ohio more competitive so that the hydroponic industry can grow lettuce more efficiently and we don’t have to import it from Mexico or other places,” he said. “This also fits into the push for local foods and fresher, higher-quality produce.”

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