By DOUG GRAVES Ohio Correspondent COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio Farm Bureau’s (OFB) Young Agricultural Professionals (YAP) program has awarded $500 grants to eight local YAP groups and two collegiate Farm Bureau groups. The grants fund YAP-focused educational programming or events. YAP members are singles and married couples ages 18-35 who are interested in improving the business of agriculture, learning new ideas and developing leadership skills. The winning groups were acknowledged at the Young Agricultural Professionals Winter Leadership Experience. The Kent State Tuscarawas County Campus has started an agribusiness program. Tuscarawas County YAP members will support it by creating programming and activities that focus on careers in agriculture, monthly meetings and field trips. A Careers in Ag Info Night will be offered for various FFA chapters in Ashland County, with students rotating among breakout sessions of various YAPs describing their careers. YAPs from the counties of Hardin, Hancock, Seneca and Wyandot will join forces with the Blanchard River Demonstration Farms Network to host a daylong FFA Career Day at that farm. There students will learn about the conservation practices being used and participate in an interactive career fair. The Holmes County YAP will reach out to FFA and 4-H members in their last year of high school and get them involved with Farm Bureau when an additional seat will be created on the county board, with the new member receiving a $500 scholarship. The Jackson-Vinton County YAP group will host a dinner prepared by a chef using all food grown by local Farm Bureau members, FFA chapters in their greenhouses and the local Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center’s farm. All proceeds will go to the local Youth Scholarship Fund and a local food charity. With its scholarship, the Jefferson County Farm Bureau is establishing a YAP group that will focus on a wide variety of programming that includes ag careers, financial resources for young entrepreneurs, niche agriculture, legal issues and ag’s image in the community. Montgomery County YAP members will show the movie “Farmland” and hold a panel discussion as a way to connect students with Farm Bureau’s mission and highlight careers available in the ag industry. Ross County YAP intends to invite FFA students to learn about ag-related career opportunities through a series of Q&A sessions with a panel of local agriculture professionals. Wilmington College Collegiate Farm Bureau and Wright State University Lake Campus were recipients of scholarships as well. The Wilmington scholarship will help pay for collegiate Farm Bureau members to attend American Farm Bureau’s Young Farmers and Ranchers Conference, while the Wright State one will help fund its fourth annual Emerging Ag Conference. The latter even is geared toward young ag professionals who want to learn about diverse areas of agriculture. In addition, the OFB Foundation awarded $17,000 in grants to six organizations to aid in their efforts to promote and improve Ohio’s agricultural industry as well as make a difference in their communities. Those recipients are: •Acres of Adventure for its Ag Career Exploration Area, which will highlight career opportunities in many agricultural fields •Bowling Green State University for its Kids’ Tech University program, which sparks students’ interest in STEM •Muskingum Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) to help it build upon its farm-to-school project with Zanesville City Schools •Ohio Energy Project to help fund two professional development workshops that give teachers behind-the-scenes access to the energy industry •Ohio State University Foundation to support its efforts to promote and provide resources for state food processors •Seneca SWCD for mobile video technology that will reinforce agriculture and conservation lessons for those who visit its conservation farms |
