Growing Green 2021: Investing in Conservation and Local Food Virtual Series

Cosponsored by Tecumseh Land Trust and the Arthur Morgan Institute for Community Solutions, as a part of the Jacoby Partnership, a Regional Conservation Partnership Program through the USDA.

The purpose of this series is for participants to gain an increased sense of practices they could adapt to improve soil and water quality and to make more of their agricultural products, including a better understanding of:

- The diversity of products they could grow and means for marketing them

- The support available to implement conservation practices on local lands.

- The actions to take to implement conservation practices and grow a stronger local food network.

Climate Change in Ohio Agriculture

FEBRUARY 27TH 2020

1:00p -1:35p Dr. Aaron Wilson – “Climate Change, Agriculture and Adaptation in Ohio”

Dr. Aaron Wilson will be addressing the following questions:

- How does climate change affect agriculture in Ohio?

- What is OSU doing to adapt to and mitigate climate change in Ohio?

- What do farmers need to grow to cope with climate change and to make more money?

- What could USDA do to assist their (farmers, educators, folks in ag) response to climate change?

1:35-1:40 Short Break

1:40p -2:40p Panel – “How We are Experiencing and Coping with Climate Change”

Panel: Aaron Wilson, Doug Christen, Bryan Thompson, Roger Wright

Each panelist will be addressing the following questions:

- What kinds of farming do you do?

- How are you experiencing climate change?

- Have you had to make any changes due to climate change and how has COVID impacted your farm and sales?

- What could USDA do to assist their (farmers, educators, folks in ag) response to climate change?

2:40p - 3:00p Q & A

3:00p - 3:30pThank you & Wrap Up

Speaker Bios:

Aaron Wilson is an Atmospheric Research Scientist at The Ohio State University, holding a joint appointment with the Byrd Polar & Climate Research Center and OSU Extension. He is also with the State Climate Office of Ohio. All of this is to say, Aaron LOVES Weather and Climate. Aaron grew up in Miamisburg, so his commitment to SW Ohio and the Miami Valley runs deep. He lives to engage the community on topics where weather and climate intersect our personal lives. What better topic is there than Agriculture?! Aaron says farmers are his favorite community because no one else tells him their local temperature to a tenth of degree and precipitation to the hundredth of inch like farmers! Indeed, we are all meteorologists!

Doug Christen grew up on a dairy farm and earned his MS from Ohio University. He operates Smaller Footprint Farm, a small ecologically based farm just outside of Yellow Springs. The farm started in 2006 and grows more than 30 different varieties of vegetables which he sells at the Yellow Springs Farmers Market.

Bryan Thompson and his wife, based in Greene County, farm 5100 acres in several counties. Bryan practices a farming method called strip-till and uses three different varieties of cover crops. Bryan is working with a company called Indigo Ag, this company helps offset the cost of cover crops, supports data collection, and sells carbon credits.

Roger Wright has been farming for twelve years and implementing cover crops for ten years. Roger diversified his operation four years ago from a two-crop rotation of corn and beans, to a three-crop rotation adding small grains. Soil health and sustainability are the main drivers of his management practices.