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Expanding Farm Management Education in Ohio

David Marrison

Summary

During the past decade, the number of state and regional farm management Extension specialists in Ohio has declined drastically until in 2008 there were none left. The farm management education void created by the loss of regional and state specialists has been embraced by the Ohio Ag Manager Team which is composed primarily of county based Extension Educators. There have been multiple strategies that have been adopted by the team to meet clientele education demand. One strategy was to develop an Electronic Newsletter where current farm management information written by team members is available to subscribers. This newsletter has been published for five years and the team is in the process of adding blogs and social media capabilities to enhance the newsletter. A second strategy was for each team member to select a farm management specialization. Each team member provides leadership to curriculum development, research, and publishing information in their area of specialization. Examples of specialization include transition planning, farm policy/farm bill, estate planning, grain marketing, Annie’s project and farm labor. Team members also teach at a variety of OSU Extension and industry meetings presenting on topics in their area of specialization. As a result of this approach, these county based educators are becoming recognized by their peer and industry leaders not only in Ohio, but across the country. This model of delivering farm management education can be replicated in other state Extension organizations facing reduced state and regional specialists.

Details

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