By DOUG GRAVES Ohio Correspondent HAMILTON, Ohio — Looking to start your own farm in Ohio? If so, help is on the way. Landowners interested in beginning a farm can take an eight-week intensive course starting in January to help them realize their ambition. The New and Small Farm College is offered by Ohio State University extension and helps landowners explore options for land use, obtain basic information about farming enterprises and plan an agricultural or horticultural enterprise. “The New and Small Farm College is an opportunity for people interested in starting a farm to find out basic information about what crops to plant or livestock to raise,” said Tony Nye, extension agriculture and natural resources educator in Clinton County, and small farm coordinator for OSU extension. “The classes will discuss the resources, tools and management needed for beginning farm enterprises.” The course is one night a week for eight weeks. Classes are offered at two locations: Hamilton (Butler County) at extension’s Butler County office, 1802 Princeton Road; or Portsmouth (Scioto County) at Shawnee State University’s Massie Hall, 940 Second Street. Topics covered in the classes include getting started with goal-setting, resource inventory and business planning, appropriate land use and where to get assistance, such as identifying various agencies, organizations and groups. The eight-week classes also cover natural resource management, including soils, ponds, woodlands and wildlife. Legal issues will be addressed and will include talk about insurance, business structure, finances, recordkeeping and marketing alternatives. Always popular are discussions about crop and horticultural production options, as well as animal production choices. “We’re currently seeing a lot of specialty crop-type farms,” said Cindy Meyer, an extension educator with OSU’s Butler County extension office. “You can do a lot with small acreage.” Organizers of the New and Small Farm College agree that farms in southern and southwestern Ohio have been diversifying into vegetables and fruits, while others are expanding into operations that supply beef for people’s freezers, as well as other meat products. In other parts of the region, farmers have diversified into growing grapes and making wine, as well as raising shrimp in northern Kentucky. “I think for Butler County, specifically, we’re looking to more of vegetables and fruits as part of the diversification,” Meyer said. “In some cases, diversification can help a decades-long family business remain in the household. “On the other hand, we’ve got a lot of people coming at it from they’ve never farmed and they want to get into the farming business, and so they’re looking at ways they can get their small amount of acres into production, and they may want to go to a farmers’ market or have a farm market on-site.” The Butler County sessions will be on Thursdays beginning Jan. 18 and concluding March 8. Each session begins at 6 p.m. with a light dinner and will conclude at 9 p.m. A farm tour will be set for March 10, with March 15 as the inclement weather makeup date. The Scioto County sessions will be held on Mondays beginning Jan. 29 and concluding March 19. Each session also begins at 6 p.m. with a light dinner and will end at 9 p.m. Registration cost for the course is $150 per person and $100 for an additional family member, and includes the dinners, a New and Small Farm College notebook of information, resources for each family and additional materials. For more information, contact the Butler County office at 513-887-3722 or the Scioto County office at 740-354-7879. Registration is open online at www.go.osu.edu/ButlerCollege or www.go.osu.edu/SciotoCollege More details about the course and a registration form can be obtained from Tony Nye by calling 937-382-0901 or emailing nye.1@osu.edu |
