Agriculture

The Ohio Department of Agriculture recently unveiled the 2017 edition of Growing Ohio, a magazine and web program that promotes and educates how the food and agriculture community contributes to Ohio’s economic well-being. Stories highlight Ohio’s food producers, the local community and farm families. Articles focus on the state’s thriving and diverse agritourism; how women are growing their influence in the traditionally male-dominated agriculture industry; innovative agriculture education efforts through virtual field trips; and Ohio’s booming greenhouse industry. [node:read-more:link]

Damon Helton had one problem when he bought a 160-acre farm in Lonsdale four years ago - he didn’t know the first thing about farming. Three years out of the military, the retired Army Ranger was still transitioning back to civilian life. He had a well-paying sales job, but it took him away from his wife and children too often. So he bought the Farm at Barefoot Bend in Garland County. “Then, it was like ‘Holy crap, what did we just do?’” he said. Fortunately for Helton, he discovered resources that catered to someone like him - a veteran looking to start a farm. [node:read-more:link]

In a towering forest of centuries-old eastern hemlocks, it's easy to miss one of the tree's nemeses. No larger than a speck of pepper, the Hemlock woolly adelgid spends its life on the underside of needles sucking sap, eventually killing the tree. The bug is one in an expanding army of insects draining the life out of forests from New England to the West Coast. Aided by global trade, a warming climate and drought-weakened trees, the invaders have become one of the greatest threats to biodiversity in the United States. [node:read-more:link]

John Redfield watches with pride as his son moves a laser-guided precision saw the size of a semi-truck wheel into place over a massive panel of wood.  Redfield's fingers are scarred from a lifetime of cutting wood and now, after decades of decline in the logging business, he has new hope that his son, too, can make a career shaping the timber felled in southern Oregon's forests. That's because Redfield and his son work at D.R. Johnson Lumber Co., one of two U.S. timber mills making a new wood product that's the buzz of the construction industry. [node:read-more:link]

U.S. officials are urgently seeking an agreement with South Korea that would allow imports of American eggs so farmers can cash in on a shortage caused by the Asian country's worst-ever outbreak of bird flu. The two sides are negotiating over terms of potential shipments after South Korea lifted a ban on imports of U.S. table eggs that it imposed when the United States grappled with its own bout of bird flu last year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. If an agreement is reached, U.S. [node:read-more:link]

Scientific research has always been more of an individual endeavor.  But during the past decade, research aimed at tackling real-world problems has become a team sport that pulls players from a spectrum of lab benches. At Ohio State University, one such interdisciplinary collaboration has spent five years trying to find a solution for the harmful algae blooms that annually plague lakes and rivers in the state’s western water basin. By uniting biologists with ecologists, political scientists and economists, the team did more than test a single hypothesis. [node:read-more:link]

Gov. Jerry Brown’s plan to build two giant tunnels to send Northern California water southward moved a step closer Thursday to final state and federal decisions, with the state’s release of a 90,000-page environmental review supporting the $15.7 billion project.  Brown’s administration is pushing for final federal and state approval of the 35-mile-long, 40-foot-wide tunnels, touted to ensure more reliable water deliveries to city and farm water agencies in Central and Southern California. [node:read-more:link]

Despite earning 44 percent of the doctorates in agricultural sciences, women hold just 23 percent of the tenure-track faculty positions at U.S. land-grant institutions, according to a new study led by a research team at the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences.  Although the 23 percent is nearly double the 12 percent reported in 2005, females hold very few administrative positions in agricultural academia, the study shows. [node:read-more:link]

As farmers, you can become a resource for your friends and relatives. People are more likely to trust those they know, and in particular, those who are involved in an area that they want to learn something about. Your cousins and friends may look to you as part of their tribe and a resource for facts about food production. There are a number of reasons why individuals may have concerns or questions about food production. [node:read-more:link]

The Washington State Department of Ecology says it's fining a Whatcom County berry grower more than $100,000 for years of illegal water use. Officials say that since 2011, Ecology staff have tried to work with Gurjant "George" Sandhu to bring him into compliance with water laws. [node:read-more:link]