REYNOLDSBURG, Ohio — Ohio Agriculture Director David T. Daniels honored three Ohio wines as Director’s Choice recipients at an Ohio Wine Month event held at the Statehouse for retailers, distributors, restaurateurs and winery owners.

More than 20 wines were evaluated by a panel of judges, on behalf of Daniels, for the award.

The envelope, please

The 2013 award recipients are:

• White Wine: 2012 Ferrante Signature Series Golden Bunches Dry Riesling, Ferrante Winery & Ristorante, Geneva.
• Red Wine: Terra Cotta Chambourcin, Terra Cotta Vineyards, New Concord.
• Specialty Wine: 2011 Debonne Vidal Blanc Ice Wine, Debonne Vineyards, Madison.

Ohio Quality Wines

All of the Director’s Choice award recipients have already received the Ohio Quality Wine designation. It was created in 2007 by the Ohio Grape Industries Committee and is assigned to wines made from at least 90 percent Ohio-grown grapes.

These wines must also achieve at least 15 of 20 points on a sensory evaluation and pass a chemical analysis before receiving the quality seal.

The Ohio Grape Industries Committee is housed at the Ohio Department of Agriculture and provides wineries a means to market their top-quality wines against well-known California and European wines.

To learn more about the program or for a complete list of Ohio Quality Wines, visit www.tasteohiowines.com.

Ohio’s grape and wine production contributes nearly a half billion dollars to Ohio’s economy and accounts for more than 4,100 full-time jobs.

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The counter lawsuit filed seeks to obtain easements on 89 parcels of land through eminent domain.

In December 2012, Paul Wilson and his wife, Judy, owners of 151 acres; Charles D. and Carleen Wilson, 70 acres; Shawn P. Wilson and Katherine Wilson, 13,9 acres; and Geopetro LLC., 2,600 acres filed a class action lawsuit against Columbia Gas Transmission, LLC, in the U.S. District Court, Southern District, on behalf of all landowners in Ohio whose land is being used by Columbia Gas Transmission as part of an underground storage facility, or storage field.

Counter lawsuit filed

According to court records, a counter lawsuit was filed May 17. The counter lawsuit includes landowners from 11 counties in the Weaver Storage Field, the Benton Storage Field, Brinker Storage Field, Crawford Storage Field, Guernsey Storage Field, Holmes Storage Field, Lorain Storage Field, Lucas Storage Field, Medina Storage Field, Pavonia Storage Field, Wayne Storage Field and the Wellington Storage Field.
89 parcels of land. The counter lawsuit filed by Columbia Gas is seeking permanent easements across, over, under and through the 89 parcels listed in the lawsuit.

In the lawsuit, Columbia Gas Transmission claims that it was unable to agree with the landowners on the amount of compensation to be paid for the value of the interests in the property.
The lawsuit also claims the landowners will retain the property and be able to use it as they wish, but Columbia Gas Transmissions will retain the easement.

Leasing

The court records also show that landowners will also retain the right to lease the land to oil and natural gas producers any strata under the surface not already encumbered other than the formations used for storage by Columbia Gas Transmissions (according to the certificates issued by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission).

Negotiations failed

Columbia Gas Transmissions claims in the counter lawsuit it has attempted to negotiate with the landowners involved, but have not been to obtain the easements they are seeking.

Court?

Gail Wilson, with the firm, Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease, LLP. one of the attorneys who filed the original lawsuit for the properties in Butler and Worthington, Ohio, said many of the landowners in the countersuit may not have been served yet. She said many of them may not have even known they would be part of this lawsuit.
She said it is too early in the litigation to know if and what type of a settlement can be reached in the case. A conference call is set for the week of May 27 and the attorneys involved will decide what the next steps are and where the case proceeds.

Columbia Gas Transmission was contacted by the Farm and Dairy for comment, but said it does not discuss ongoing litigation.

Background

According to court records, the landowners who filed the class action lawsuit do not have a lease signed with Columbia Gas.
However, the landowners’ properties are being used by Columbia Gas Transmission as part of underground storage facilities.

The original lawsuit filed is asking for fair compensation for the landowners.
The case is not about challenging the need for underground storage facilities, but instead asking for fair compensation. The lawsuit claims the landowners are not being compensated for the use of the storage space under their property, and that the land is being used without their permission.

Violating the constitution?

The lawsuit also claims that by Columbia Gas Transmission storing gas under their properties, they are violating the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, the “takings clause,” by not compensating the landowners for the use of the land.
The landowners also claim that they have the lost the right to develop and produce the gas and minerals that exist under the property.

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According to Nicole Ward Gauthier, assistant professor in the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture’s Department of Plant Pathology, the viruses, strawberry mottle virus and strawberry mild yellow edge virus, were found on plants that originated in a nursery in the Great Valley area of Nova Scotia.

Three known Kentucky growers received a shipment of plants from this nursery, but only one of them has reported symptoms of the viruses.

“These are not new viruses, but the outbreak is so severe because plants from this area of Nova Scotia were distributed throughout the U.S.,” Gauthier said.

These viruses work together to reduce or eliminate yields. If the viruses are found, growers should plan for at least a 25 percent reduction in yields. While the viruses infect the plants, the fruit is still edible, and consumers should not notice a difference in taste or appearance.

Not known in Ohio

Brad Bergefurd, extension horticulture specialist with Ohio State University South Centers in Piketon, said he’s not yet heard of Ohio growers finding the virus. But if they do, they should try to control its spread, by reducing insect activity.

Same plants

Many Ohio growers purchase strawberry plants from the same region, he said, and the virus could easily show up. But so far, he said the Ohio strawberry crop looks good, and growers in the Piketon region are already in their third-fourth week of harvest.

“There’s a lot of strawberries out there,” he said. “They’re (growers) picking like crazy.”

Symptoms

Symptoms of the viruses include poor plant growth in spots or in entire fields, older leaves turning bright red, yellowing along plant edges or on emerging leaves and dead plant tissue along leaf margins.

Bergefurd said testing samples for the virus can be expensive, and there’s really no treatment, aside from controlling insects.

“Once you have the virus, you can’t do anything anyway,” he said.

Insect control

Common aphids can transmit these viruses to healthy plants. Lambsquarter, a common weed, is also a host for the strawberry mottle virus. This alternate host can allow the virus to survive in fields from season to season.

Lambsquarter infected with strawberry mottle virus may not show symptoms.If growers suspect their plants are infected by either of these viruses, they should contact their county extension office for confirmation.

Gauthier encourages growers to destroy all symptomatic plants as soon as possible. If growers cannot destroy infected plants, they should carefully manage aphid vectors and implement a strict weed management program. Infected perennial strawberries should be removed at season’s end.

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The final rule issued by the USDA requires the origin designations of muscle cut meats to include information about where each of the production steps (i.e., born, raised, slaughtered) occurred.

It took effect May 23, and is mandatory as of that date, although older, less-specific labels may be used until already-printed supplies are used up.

New labels

For muscle cuts that previously were designated as “Product of the U.S.” the new label would read, “Born, Raised, and Slaughtered in the United States.”

For animals, like some feeder cattle, born in another country and then raised and slaughtered in the United States, the label would read “Born in Country X, Raised and Slaughtered in the United States.”

For animals that spend a more extended time being raised in another country and imported just for slaughter, the label would read “Born and Raised in Country X, Slaughtered in the United States.”

The labeling mandate also covers goat meat, wild and farm-raised fish and shellfish, and perishable agricultural commodities.

Trade issue

The World Trade Organization in June 2012 determined that COOL was being implemented in a way that was a disadvantage for imported livestock from Canada and Mexico. It ordered USDA to take another look into the COOL rule and issued a deadline of May 23.

The COOL rule was modified just in time to meet the deadline imposed by the WTO.

Mixed reactions

“USDA’s final rule is right on the mark,” said R-CALF USA COOL Committee Chair Mike Schultz. “We are pleased that USDA did not weaken COOL in response to the WTO’s attack on our domestic food labeling program.”
The NCBA does not share the same feelings, calling the action “short-sighted.”

“Our largest trading partners have already said that these provisions will not bring the United States into compliance with our WTO obligations and will result in increased discrimination against imported products and in turn retaliatory tariffs or other authorized trade sanctions,” the cattlemen’s association said in a prepared statement.
“While trying to make an untenable mandate fit with our international trade obligations, USDA chose to set up U.S. cattle producers for financial losses. Moreover, this rule will place a greater record-keeping burden on producers, feeders and processors through the born, raised and harvested label,” said National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) President Scott George, a Cody, Wyo. dairy and cattle producer.

USDA

According to the USDA, the WTO felt the existing COOL regulations required more information from cattle suppliers than what was actually being transmitted to consumers through the labels on beef. The WTO alleged that COOL was providing too many disadvantages for foreign livestock.

Under the final COOL rule, all origin labels for muscle cuts of meat slaughtered in the U.S. must now specify the production steps of birth, raising, and slaughter of the animal from which the meat is derived that took place in each country listed on the label.

The USDA estimates the label change could cost the industry between $17 million and $47.3 million to implement.

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Taking antibiotics orally exposes the microflora in the digestive system to those medicines, and this exposure in itself could be a significant cause of the increase in antibiotic-resistant bacteria seen, according to a new study by Hua Wang, associate professor of food science and technology with the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences, and postdoctoral research associate Lu Zhang.

“We have known for a long time that use of antibiotics leads to antibiotic resistance, and many have called for reducing the use of antibiotics, in both human medicine and in agriculture, as a solution,” Wang said.

Now, her research offers another possible answer.

Transferring resistance

In previous work, Wang and her team identified large quantities of pervasive antibiotic-resistant genes in commensal (harmless or even beneficial) bacteria in conventional foods, and realized it would be relatively easy for these bacteria to transfer their drug-resistant properties to pathogenic (disease-causing) bacteria.

Then the researchers found resistant bacteria rapidly developed in human infants’ gut microflora that had not yet been exposed to antibiotics, suggesting the involvement of other risk factors.

Taken together, these findings triggered a new hypothesis, Wang said.

What’s changed?

“Before the 1980s, a drug could last (without most pathogens developing resistance to it) for 30 or 40 years,” Wang said. “Why did penicillin last so long? Why do pathogens develop resistance to new drugs so quickly now?

“Is it only because we overuse them, or that we’ve been using them in food-producing animals? Or is it possible that it’s also related to how we have changed our ways of giving antibiotics?”

Delivery method suspect

It’s been only in recent decades that antibiotics have been prescribed primarily as pills to be taken orally rather than given as injections, Wang said.

In addition, antibiotics are often mixed in livestock feed or water, thus entering animals’ digestive systems as well.

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria and resistance gene pools, which can further spread resistance, significantly increase when antibiotic residues and bacteria encounter each other in the digestive system.

Through human and animal waste, those gene pools, as well as the resistant bacteria, become even more pervasive throughout the environment, and affect humans again through food chain and environmental contact, Wang said.

Her research

To test the theory that oral administration of antibiotics could make a difference in antibiotic resistance, Wang and Zhang studied colonies of lab mice, some of which were inoculated with antibiotic-resistant Enterococcus or Escherichia coli. The mice were then given an antibiotic — either tetracycline hydrochloride or ampicillin — at different dosage levels in either their feed or by injection.

The researchers found that antibiotic-resistant bacteria developed sooner or were up to 100 times higher in mice given antibiotics orally compared with mice given the same dosage by injection.

In a group of mice that were not exposed to drug-resistant bacteria, neither the oral nor injected antibiotics caused antibiotic-resistant genes to develop in the gut microflora during the study, Wang said.

It’s all in the gut

“This tells us that if there are no antibiotic-resistant organisms in the gut in the first place, the development of antibiotic resistance won’t occur very fast,” Wang said.

The findings make perfect sense, she said.

“If you take an oral drug, only a certain percentage of the drug will be absorbed into the bloodstream, but all of the gut microflora will be unnecessarily exposed to it.” Wang said. “With the injection, all of the dosage will first go into the bloodstream, and the gut microflora is not directly exposed to the drug.

“The basic dosage is more effective against infection, and the gut microflora will have much less exposure to antibiotics, thus providing less chance to develop resistance.”

Could impact future

Wang hopes this and future research will help public health authorities develop more targeted and effective guidelines for the use of antibiotics and will encourage drug manufacturers to develop new methods of administering antibiotics to slow the proliferation of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

“Knowing where the problem came from is the first but critical step,” she said. “We can then look for targeted methods to control the problem. It is especially exciting when practical solutions may be available.”

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Thousand cankers disease damage. (Photo by Ned Tisserat, Colorado State University, Bugwood.org)

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The state of West Virginia has established an exterior quarantine, effective immediately, to help protect the West Virginia walnut resource from Thousand Cankers Disease (TCD).

“Simply put, the exterior quarantine means no plants and plant parts of walnut from the states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah and Washington and any portions or areas of states where TCD has been found can be brought into or through West Virginia,” said West Virginia Department of Agriculture Plant Industries Division Director Sherrie Hutchinson.

Exclusions to the quarantine include nuts, nut meats, hulls, processed lumber and finished wood products without bark such as furniture, instruments and gun stocks. Processed lumber must be 100% bark-free and kiln-dried with squared edges.

What is it?

This photo, taken in Olney Springs, Colo., shows black walnuts in the end stage of thousand cankers disease. (Photo courtesy: Whitney Cranshaw, Colorado State University, Bugwood.org)

TCD is a disease complex where the fungus is vectored by walnut twig beetles causing small cankers under the bark of walnut trees. The fungus is introduced when the beetles infest walnut trees.

Trees are killed when cankers become numerous enough to merge together — there is no cure once a tree is infected.

West Virginia Ag Commissioner Walt Helmick said black walnut is a valuable timber and nut resource in the state, and the quarantine is a step toward slowing its entrance into the state.

Thousand Cankers disease no longer occurs just west of the Mississippi River. It can be found in parts of North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. In Pennsylvania, On Aug. 9, 2011, the state department of agriculture in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Penn State Cooperative Extension confirmed the presence of Thousand Cankers Disease in black walnut trees in Bucks County.

The quarantine also includes the TCD fungus, the walnut twig beetle in any life stage and any hardwood firewood from TCD-infected areas.

For more information on TCD, visit www.thousandcankers.com or contact the WVDA Plant Industries Division at 304-558-2212.

About thousand cankers disease

Thousand cankers disease (TCD) is a disease complex native to the western United States and primarily affects black walnut, Juglans nigra. This disease is the result of the combined activity of a fungus (Geosmithia morbida) and the walnut twig beetle (Pityophthorus juglandis).

Thousand cankers disease currently threatens millions of black walnut trees in forests and urban areas, an important species with great economic and ecological value throughout its native range. Several quarantines have been established in an attempt to prevent the disease from spreading.

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With wheat nearing or reaching the flag leaf emergence and the boot stage, the crop is coming into the susceptible period where significant feeding on the flag leaf can cause a major reduction in yield, said Hammond, who also holds an appointment with the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center. OSU Extension and OARDC are the outreach and research arms, respectively, of the college.

“This is something that may be going on across the state and is something that we need to pay attention to now,” Hammond said. “We don’t yet know how widespread it is, but in past years it has shown up in several areas of the state.

“Growers need to be out in their fields scouting and, in some cases, may need to treat their grains with insecticides to stem the problem.”

Measuring loss

While in previous years the threshold for economic loss was two larvae per stem or flag leaf, that number is now down to one larva per stem or flag leaf, he said.

This is because the larvae feed heavily on the flag leaf at a time when it is critical to the growth of the wheat head and can cause losses.

“And with the value and pricing of wheat as high as it is now, we want to make sure that we’re not letting the cereal leaf beetle problem go above one larva per stem or leaf,” Hammond said. “We need to get farmers out there scouting in at least 10 locations in their fields and counting larvae per stem to ensure that one-per-stem threshold hasn’t been met.”

Native to Europe and Asia, cereal leaf beetle is a grain pest that was first identified in Michigan in the 1960s, and was effectively controlled by parasitoids such as parasitic wasps for over three decades, he said.

But in recent years, entomologists have noticed that the beetle is re-establishing itself, with some speculation that overall warming may be a cause.

“The most destructive life stage of the cereal leaf beetle is the larva, which causes the most damage to the wheat crop, attacking the plant’s flag leaf soon after emerging in the spring,” Hammond said. “Just one larva per flag leaf stem can be devastating, since the flag leaf is the center of grain fill and ultimately controls yield.”

The problem is significant for Ohio, considering that the state is the No. 1 producer of soft red winter wheat in the United States., having produced more than 49 million bushels in 2011, according to the Columbus-based Ohio Corn and Wheat Growers Association.

The total value of wheat production in the state is $353 million, according to the industry trade group. Adult cereal leaf beetles lay eggs in the spring on grasses, such as wheat and oats. The emerging larvae, one-quarter to three-quarters of an inch in size, appear as small black slugs, due to their feces adhering to their bodies.

Spotting infestation

An infested field can take on a frosted appearance if injury is severe, Hammond said. Growers who spot an average of one larva per stem should treat their fields with insecticides, he said. More information on cereal leaf beetle and a list of labeled insecticides can be found at http://entomology.osu.edu/ag/images/Small_Grains_2013_CLB.pdf.

Organic cereal grain fields are also at risk from cereal leaf beetle damage, Hammond said.

“Organic growers with cereal leaf beetle on wheat and other cereal grain crops can use Entrust, which is an organically approved product,” he said. “Entrust contains spinosad, which is produced through the fermentation of living organisms.”

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Corn planting moved to 71 percent for the U.S. as of Sunday, May 19, and that was up from a measly 28 percent last week. Last year at this time we were at 95 percent in an early season. The five-year average is 79 percent planted.

Ohio farmers were a large part of that, with our planting now actually well ahead of the 58 percent average pace. Ohio is estimated to be 74 percent planted for corn, up from 46 last week. Last year we were at 93 percent at this time.

Other major states made big progress to bring the average up, Led by the “I” states. Iowa went from 15 percent to 71 percent in a week. (How many 32-row planters are there in that state?) Illinois went from 17 percent to 74. Indiana added 34 percent onto the slow 30 of last week.

Soybeans little slower

The emphasis was on corn, and the soybean acres show it. There we lag badly, with the U.S. at 24 percent planted versus the 42-percent average. Last week we were only at 6 percent, but last year we had in 71 percent by now.

Ohio is actually a leader in the bean race, however. Even as we were getting ahead of average in the corn race, we got to 45 percent of our beans planted. The average for now is just 33 percent. Last week, we only had in 16 percent, although we were at 71 percent this time last year.

Late or not late?

How serious is the late planting? Depends upon the source of the opinion.

The trade has not been all that concerned, if you go by the charts. Corn has been mostly sideways, with large ranges on knee-jerk days. Soybeans have seen the significant gains.

Meanwhile, ag economists talk that we could see the corn acreage down 2 to 4 million acres, and yields reduced by 6 to 8 percent.

Hold your britches

Philosophically, I have to agree with the trade on corn production right now. What we know is that two of the last five years we have planted corn late, for little penalty.

Two years ago, much of northeastern Ohio was planted the first week of June, and we had record yields.

The weather from here on out is more important than the weather the last two weeks of April.

Besides, we are now not really late. Maybe we are a week off the ideal, but that may not matter, depending on weather patterns in June.

We have become obsessed lately about April planting, when that really only helps yields by making sure we are done by May 10 or so. Seems like it always rains the second week of May, so if we are not early, we end up being late.

Market mum

The market has reacted from day to day about planting and rain, but the trend has been sideways while the farmers thought it should go up.

That should scare us, especially with new crop corn being so cheap compared to the old. July ’13 to July ’14 futures is about a buck discount right now.

Monday we had good gains during the day, with the July contract over 6.60. The recent high was the end of April at 6.69. The closer we got to the end of the day, the more the trade seemed to anticipate good planting progress. We ended the session at 6.49 1/2.

Tuesday morning we are down over 14 cents.

The soybean market, however, has used the planting non-progress as one reason to rally. We have gained $1.25 since the third week of April on the old-crop soybeans. The 24th we were at 13.41.

The high Monday was 14.66, although the early Tuesday market has us down a couple at 14.63 1/4.

I am of mixed minds about the soybean planting. We used to think that beans could be planted in June, but the trend has been to planting as early as the corn for the big yields. I have to think that the late planting now really matters.

It is confusing that analysts are talking about 2 to 4 million corn acres being switched to beans, but the bean market is still strong. I fear that the change this week will be that we will start to worry about bean acres.

We are near the old highs on soybeans, and are ready and ripe to drop prices.

So, farmers should be cleaning up old corn on the reality that late planting did not rally corn and now the news is negative to prices in the absence of bad weather.

Also, the rally in beans mean those should be cleaned up, also. Of course, I am a cash grain trader and want to buy grain!

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Thanks to a study conducted by Oregon State University (OSU) and the Linus Pauling Institute, the California Cling Peach industry now has science to stand on. The multi-year-long study concludes that California canned peaches are nutritionally equivalent to their fresh counterparts, and that some nutrients increase thanks to the canning process.

Antioxidants increase

Just as lycopene levels increase when tomatoes are cooked/canned, so too do key nutrients found in fresh cling peaches. The OSU study found that antioxidants, vitamin A, and vitamin C all increased and that folate levels in canned peaches were up 10 times compared to their fresh counterparts.

“We always knew that our canned peaches are nutritious,” said second-generation peach grower and California Cling Peach Board Chairman Sarb Johl. “Now we have the science to back up our claims.”

Oregon study

The objective of the OSU study was to assess whether canned peaches could deliver nutrient levels comparable to fresh peaches.

Fresh freestone peaches, fresh cling peaches and canned cling peaches were analyzed for vitamins A, C and E, folate, antioxidants, total phenolics and total carotenoids to assess how these nutrients were affected by the canning process and whether storage further changed these components.

“Several of the vitamins and phytochemicals measured in this study were found to be present in canned cling peaches versus fresh freestone at statistically significantly higher levels,” said Bob Durst of OSU and the Linus Pauling Institute, who led the research on this project.

“Additionally we found that there were no statistically significant changes in nutrient content during storage for three months. It appears that the canning process elevates and activates some of these key nutrients and that the actual package — the can — seals in these higher levels, which is a very good thing for lovers of canned peaches.”

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The Ohio Agricultural Council (OAC) will induct Shirley Dunlap Bowser of Williamsport, Louis M. “Mick” Colvin of West Salem, Bernard J. Scott of Tontogeny, and Doug White of Manchester, into the Ohio Agricultural Hall of Fame during a special breakfast ceremony held in the Rhodes Youth Center at the Ohio Expo Center.

The 48th annual event will attract approximately 500 guests to honor these four professionals for their lifetime of service and dedication to Ohio agriculture.

“OAC is privileged to honor these four individuals who have made significant contributions to Ohio’s number-one industry,” said David Barrett, OAC president. “We are proud to recognize this deserving class of hard-working professionals for their unwavering commitment to protecting and advancing Ohio’s food and agriculture community, promoting agricultural education, and serving others in their local communities and beyond.”

The following four inductees will join the more than 200 prior recipients named since 1966 when the program was incepted.

Bowser

Bowser, a seventh-generation farmer, has spent her entire life advocating for and promoting the advancement of Ohio food and agriculture.

Bowser served nine years on the board of trustees of The Ohio State University, including a term as chairperson and has been awarded the Distinguished Service Award by the university.

For 22 years, Bowser served on the W. K. Kellogg Foundation Board of Trustees, one of the world’s largest private philanthropic organizations dedicated to improving health, agriculture and education.

She also was appointed to the non-partisan National Agricultural Research, Extension, Education and Economics Advisory Board by the Secretary of Agriculture, serving two terms in this capacity.

Bowser’s leadership experiences and passion for philanthropy were a driving force in the creation of the Pickaway County Community Foundation, which currently holds assets near $5 million dollars, holds over 60 endowed funds, of which three have a specific agricultural focus.

Colvin

Colvin has made significant contributions to the agricultural industry as a herdsman, farm manager, fieldman, brand creator and beef marketer.

During his four decades of service to Ohio agriculture, he has shown great vision and integrity in the creation of the Certified Angus Beef® (CAB) brand. Serving as CAB’s first executive director, Colvin led Ohio to become home of the nation’s No. 1 branded beef marketing program.

During his tenure, sales grew to nearly 500 million pounds per year. Today, more than 811 million pounds are marketed through the world. Colvin has been a leader in the beef industry serving as past president and chairman of the Board for the Ohio Angus Association, on several boards for the Ohio and National Cattlemen’s Associations, and as a consultant to organizations including Veal USA. Colvin’s leadership and dedication to agriculture has been widely recognized over the years.

In 2009, Colvin was inducted into the Saddle and Sirloin Portrait Gallery, and he was awarded the Outstanding Alumni Award from Penn State, College of Agricultural Sciences in 2010.

Scott

Scott has dedicated more than 37 years to the advancement of agriculture by teaching hundreds of students through agricultural education at Otsego High School.
He was instrumental in the building of the Penta Career Center, the largest high school building ever built in Ohio with 522,000 square feet.

He also helped convert the agriscience curriculum into semester courses that were taught by subject matter. Always looking to the future, Scott and his FFA chapter constructed the FFA Time Capsule that was opened at the 75th FFA Convention.

He also advised his students in the design and construction of the first “grain rescue tube” that was available for the public to use.

After retiring from teaching, he helped establish the Agricultural Incubator Foundation to facilitate research and educational activities for the advancement of the industry. Since the creation of this foundation, numerous opportunities have been made available to residents with entrepreneurial ideas for food and agriculture.

White

A third-generation farmer, White continues to manage a livestock and crop operation with his family. His career as a public servant has included 15 years as county commissioner, a member of the Ohio House of Representatives for five years, and a member of the Ohio Senate for eight years.

During his time in the Ohio Senate, White served as the Chair of the Agriculture Committee and Finance Committee, as well as senate president. He also served as the director of the Ohio Department of Commerce for Gov. Bob Taft.

As an elected official, White used his agricultural background to guide him through the decision making process. In his many years of public service, White consistently worked to make a positive impact on policy changes and supported the adequate funding necessary to ensure Ohio agriculture remained strong.

He also supported conservation programs and practices carried out by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources and the state’s Soil and Water Conservation Districts.
White currently serves on the Ohio Expositions Commission Board and works to promote the Ohio 4-H program, strengthen the presence of commodity groups, and continually advocate for agricultural education at the Ohio State Fair.

For further information about sponsorship in honor of the inductees, or to obtain tickets to the Agricultural Hall of Fame induction ceremony, contact the Ohio Agricultural Council at 614-794-8970. For more information about the Ohio Agricultural Council, visit www.ohioagcouncil.org.

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