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Engaging Farm Clientele Through Proactive Task Force Committees to Address Emerging Ag Issues

David Marrison and Lee Beers

Summary

"Stuff" happens in agriculture and Educators can help their communities react to the given circumstances in a proactive manner. This session will share how strategic task force committees can be utilized to address emerging agricultural issues. Recently, two issues have occurred in Ohio which have impacted agricultural producers; these being the increase in CAUV (Current Agricultural Use Valuation) taxes and the new fertilizer certification legislation due to the toxic algae blooms in Lake Erie due to phosphorus. Both of these issues have caused a lot of anxiety for Ohio farmers. Anxiety can lead to bitterness and dissension. To help local farmers be proactive in their response to these issues, OSU Extension, along with other community partners developed the "Northeast Ohio CAUV Task Force" in 2014 and the "Northeast Ohio Phosphorus Task Force" in 2015. The goal of these task forces were to provide landowners/farmers with education on these issues and to provide them a chance to develop productive and positive responses. In short, to work towards potential solutions not gripes! This session will share the mechanics of developing proactive task forces to address current issues. Details will be shared on how farmers were identified from across the region to ensure adequate representation of the region and how education was a key component of each meeting. Learn more about the research and impacts from the task forces.

Details

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