The Union County Commissioners read out the board’s annual proclamation earlier this week naming March 17-23 National Ag Week in Union County. Each year, the county celebrates the efforts of local farmers by declaring the week of recognition. Pictured from left to right are Commissioner Dave Burke, Organization Director Melinda Lee, Farm Bureau member Anne Scheiderer, Commissioner Steve Robinson, Farm Bureau member Ralph Stonerock and Commissioner Dave Lawrence.
(Journal-Tribune photo by Michael Williamson)
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Ahead of National Ag Week, the agriculture community in Union County is already at work organizing 4-H projects, holding meetings and having discussions about the fair.
Wayne Dellinger, with the Union County OSU Extension Office, told county officials earlier this week that, with the spring planting season just around the corner, his office is already busy.
“The 4-H educators, as well as myself, are already in fair-mode for the Union County Fair as well as the Richwood Fair,” he said. “As far as on the ag and natural resources side, I’ve wrapped up…the pesticide and fertilizer applicator recertification training.”
He said educators are also nearly three months into meetings of the Cloverbuds, the 4-H program for kindergarten through second graders that holds monthly meetings to “practice life skills while having fun.”
National Ag Week in Union County is March17-13 and the commissioners marked the occasion this week with a proclamation read by Commissioner Steve Robinson.
“March 17-23, 2024 has been recognized as National Agriculture Week in America,” he said. “Now, therefore, the Union County Board of Commissioners, hereby proclaims March 17-23, 2024 as Agriculture Week in all of Union County, and calls upon its residents, businesses and community members to acknowledge and celebrate the achievements of all those who, working together, produce an abundance of agricultural products that strengthen and enrich our community and our nation.”
The proclamation emphasized food, as the national and population will continue to grow.
“The world population is expected to reach over eight billion in 2024, and American agriculture is poised to reach the demands of feeding this growing population,” Robinson read in the proclamation. “The expectation is that the global population will increase by 2.2 billion by 2050, creating a need for 70% more food than what is now produced.”
The commissioners also approved an ag-related resolution dealing with the board’s support of land going into the Clean Ohio Local Agricultural Easement Purchase Program (LAEPP).
A 45-acre piece of property and a 50-acre piece of property, both in Washington Township near Route 739 and McPeck Road, will now be part of LAEPP.
“This is a good way the state helps improve water quality and other types of activities around ag,” said Commissioner Dave Burke. “I think it’s a good program that I think the state has probably under-utilized.”
According to the Ohio Department of Agriculture, the LAEPP “provides funding to farmland owners for placing an agricultural easement on their property. Monies are issued for up to 75% of the appraised value of a farm’s development rights. A payment cap has been set at $2,000 per acre, with a maximum of $500,000 per farm. All easement transactions are recorded on the property deed and transfer with the land to successive owners.”
The DOA also notes, “Funds from the purchase of these easements are invested in the local economy by the landowners who use them by expanding their farming operations, purchasing new equipment, reducing debt, adding conservation practices, planning for retirement, sending their children to college or for other purposes. When the state purchases a farmland easement, the proceeds are plowed into Ohio’s economy.”