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BY GAIL C. KECK
A S a corn and soybean grower, John Buck has plenty of farm work to do
in mid-October, but for the last several years he’s interrupted harvest to coordinate farm tours and agriculture programs for community and business leaders from across the state.
“People think I’m nuts some-times because I shut down the combine to come and do this,” he says, “but this is important.”
Buck, who farms with his wife, Emily, in Marion County, got involved seven years ago when he was participating in Leadership Ohio, an eight-month program that helps rising leaders develop leadership skills and network with others.
That year, whoever was co-ordinating the weekend session on agriculture canceled, but Buck thought the subject was
too important to skip. Since then, he’s been working
with the Leadership Ohio orga-nization to introduce program participants to Ohio agriculture, focusing on farms, agencies and ag businesses in his home county.
Marion County has a diverse mix of farms and agribusinesses, and it’s conveniently located in central Ohio, but similar programs could be organized almost anywhere, Buck points out. “I could replicate this any-where in the state.”
For more about Leadership
Ohio, turn to Pages 4-5.
Time for ag
Key
Po
ints
■ John and Emily Buck farm in Marion County.
■ They introduce ag topics to leadership group.
■ Leadership Ohio helps develop rising leaders.
AG FOCUS: John and Emily Buck have made it a priority to educate others about Ohio agriculture. They help organize agricultural sessions for Leadership Ohio participants and bring them to their Marion County farm for an up-close look at modern farm life.
+7.5Bu./A.
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S E R V I N G O H I O A G R I C U L T U R E S I N C E 1 8 4 8
December 2015 • www.FarmProgress.com
®
Ohiois still cattle country Pages 62-63
Start the conversation: Speak up about ag Page 10
BY GAIL C. KECK
F OR Leadership Ohio participants, one of eight weekend educational sessions is devoted to agriculture.
This year, 17 Leadership Ohio participants joined with 27 Leadership Marion partici-pants to explore Ohio agriculture by fo-cusing on a wide range of ag businesses and organizations in Marion County.
The group got a look at modern farm equipment at JD Equipment in Marion, learned about ethanol processing at Poet Biorefining, toured local food-processing company Wyandot Snacks, tasted pheasant and wine at Ravenhurst Champagne Cellars, pet reindeer at Pine Acres Reindeer Farm and saw how cattle are cared for at De Vries Dairy.
They also spent an evening at the Buck farm learning about John and Emily Buck’s crops, petting Emily’s sheep, sitting around a bonfi re and taking a hayride. “For us, it’s
fun to share what we do,” says Emily.In addition to the tours, the program
included speakers from the local Farm Service Agency, Ag Credit, Pheasants Forever, soil and water conservation district and Central Ohio Farmers Co-op. Emily, who works off-farm as an associate professor of ag communications at Ohio State University, also discussed the chal-lenges farmers face in explaining complex agricultural topics to consumers.
For the Leadership Ohio participants, the ag sessions are always a highlight of the program, says Kathy Rednour-Esser, Leadership Ohio executive director.
Leaders reaching leaders
tant, she adds. “Agriculture is one of the biggest job-producing areas in the state.”
Doris Dunn, project manager at the Marion Area Chamber of Commerce, says the ag sessions help participants under-stand what makes the community work. “It
gets them out of their box.” Tracie Campbell, a
Leadership Ohio partici-pant who works as market coordinator for AEP Ohio’s energy effi ciency program, grew up on a farm in West Virginia, but the ag sessions still gave her a new view of
Ohio agriculture. She was also impressed by the oppor-
tunities for women in ag today. She works with a mentoring program for young women through the American Association of Blacks in Energy. The program helps guide young women through college to gainful employment, and she says she’ll now be sug-gesting agriculture as a
promising career option. Another participant, Horace Highland,
who works in legislative and community outreach for Gateway Health, says he had never paid much attention to the issues
Key
Po
ints
■ Leadership Ohio participants get a crash course in agriculture.
■ Program helps build connections with rising leaders outside of ag.
■ Marion County farmers and ag businesses provide perspective.
Runaway reindeer
DAN Downs didn’t intend to go into business as a reindeer
wrangler when he first bought a pair of reindeer in 2003. He and his wife, Linda, en-joyed putting up a huge Christmas display at their farm near LaRue, and they had a friendly decorating competition
going with a friend. “I wanted to one-up my buddy,”
Downs explained during a recent tour of his Pine Acres Reindeer Farm for Leadership Ohio participants.
Once word got out that he had reindeer, people began asking if he could bring the animals to busi-nesses and events. Because of that demand, Downs expanded his herd and plans to maintain it at about 12 head. During the Christmas season, he’s kept busy taking reindeer to two or three appearances a day. Reindeer sell for $5,000 to $6,500 a head, and he has been breeding his reindeer to fill that demand, as well. “My phone rings off the hook with people wanting to buy reindeer.”
Reindeer can be difficult animals to manage, partly because of a lack of information on proper care, Downs said. “We don’t have anybody to pave the way for us.”
Their health has to be monitored closely so illnesses can be treated immediately, he added. “You can’t just watch them like cattle or horses,” he said. “They’ll be dead.”
Male reindeer can also be ex-tremely aggressive and unpredictable when they are in rut, said Downs. “It’s like someone strung out on drugs.” The dangerous behavior can be moderated with Depo-Provera, but the animals still need to be handled carefully. “You’ve got to understand the temperament of these animals.”
Nutrition is another challenge for reindeer farmers. Downs relies on a nutritional manual issued by the University of Alaska and has feed specially mixed to meet his nutritional specifications. The reindeer ration includes corn, oats, beet pulp and minerals, along with hay. To make sure it is balanced, Downs has his feed independently analyzed twice a year. “If we run low on minerals, we end up with real health issues,” he explained.
AG SESSION: (From left) Leadership Ohio participants Daneka Hedges, Amber Ruby, Jeff Waltman and Kelly Harris-Bailey enjoy learning about agriculture during a series of ag-focused tours and sessions in Marion County.
“Historically, most of our leaders have been from suburbs and cities, so they’ve never been exposed to agriculture,” she points out. However, it’s critical for the state’s upcoming leaders to have some appreciation for ag because it is so impor-
CAMPBELL
HIGHLAND
4 www.FarmProgress.com ■ December 2015 Ohio Farmer
Ohio News Watch
CONTENTSOhio News Watch ......................... 1
Opinion & Mailbox ....................... 18
Crops....................................... 20
Machinery & Technology ............... 48
Conservation ............................. 54
Farm Management ...................... 60
Livestock .................................. 61
Marketplace/Classifi ed.................. 66
Buckeye Living ........................... 74
Marketing ................................. 75
CONTACT USEditor: Jennifer Kiel, [email protected], 710 W. Park St., St. Johns, MI 48879989-224-1235
Contributing Editors: Curt Arens, Tom J. Bechman, P.J. Griekspoor, Tyler Harris, Bryce Knorr, Fran O’Leary, John Vogel and Rod Swoboda
Contributing Writer: Gail C. Keck
Senior Editor: Holly Spangler,309-926-6082; [email protected]
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POSTMASTER: Please send address corrections to Ohio Farmer, 255 38th Ave., Suite P, St. Charles, IL 60174-5410.
Volume 311 | Number 12Ohio-grown champagne
OHIO generally isn’t the best place to grow grapes for champagne, but
Chuck Harris and his wife, Nina Busch, found an area near Mount Victory bet-ter-suited to grapes than row crops.
“The reason we’re here is Bellefontaine,” says Harris. The town to the west of their vineyard has the highest elevation in the state, and the hills affect weather patterns in the area. Usually there is little, if any, rain in the area between the fourth of July and the middle of August. “There’s a little strip here about 11 miles wide the farmers call Death Valley,” he explains.
While that lack of rain is a problem for most crops, it’s an advantage in raising high-quality grapes because there are fewer diseases, and grapes grow smaller and sweeter.
Harris and Busch run Ravenhurst Champagne Cellars, making world-
class champagne and wine. They shared their wines and their story with Leadership Ohio participants during the recent ag tour in the Marion County area. Harris, a chef, and Busch, a baker, began planting grapes in 1980 and gradually began making champagne and wine from them. They expanded their hobby by opening a tasting room in 1999. That year they also won a second place in the international Champagne of the Millennium competition.
Ravenhurst Champagne Cellars at-tracts customers who appreciate high quality. “We don’t have a gift shop or a guy with a guitar,” says Harris. The tasting room is open only on select weekends and for special events. Unlike many other wineries, it’s not meant to be an entertainment venue, he explains. “You come, you taste the wine, you buy the wine, and you go home.”
“I think everybody should try to make wine because then they’ll realize how difficult it is.”
Chuck Harris, Ravenhurst
Champagne Cellars
“We’re seeing a lot more pheasants than we have in the past, but it’s a slow process ... you need hab-itat. You need water, and you need food.”
Bill McCaulley, Marion County Pheasants Forever
“People are basing their opinion on a drive-by.”
John Buck, Marion County farmer
hosting Leadership Ohio agricultural sessions, on the importance of
maintaining an attractive farmstead
“We can replace 90% of the gas we use with ethanol.”
Cliff Brannon,manager of Poet
Biorefining in Marion, on the prospects for grain-
based and cellulosic ethanol
REAL REINDEER: Dan Down of Pine Acres Reindeer Farm explains reindeer husbandry to Leadership Ohio participant Daneka Hedges and Cassaundra Dietrich, a graduate research associate with Ohio State who helped organize the ag weekend for Leadership Ohio.
related to agriculture, but now he’s inter-ested to learn more about how his food is produced. He’d never had a chance to tour farms or ag businesses before taking part in the Leadership Ohio session. “I’m a city boy,” he says. “This gives me a better understanding of agriculture in general.”
Kajal Herman, a Leadership Ohio
participant who works at University Hospitals, notes that people tend to focus on their own industries. “This whole ex-perience has been eye-opening,” she says.
She was particularly impressed with the sophisticated machinery used in modern agriculture. “You don’t normally associate high technology with farming.”
THEY SAID IT
CHEERS: Nina Busch of Ravenhurst Champagne Cellars offers a taste to Leadership Ohio participants Daneka Hedges and Amber Ruby during Leadership Ohio’s ag weekend.
Ohio Farmer www.FarmProgress.com ■ December 2015 5
