If merged, JBS would become the largest U.S. beef packer, with price implications on the farm and at the grocery store.

CANFIELD, Ohio — Quinn Werner of Saegerstown, Pa., claimed his fifth championship at the Ohio Valley Giant Pumpkin Growers weigh-off with a 1,521.5-pound pumpkin. This was the third largest pumpkin grown in the world this year, missing the world championship by 15 pounds.

Werner claimed the Great Pumpkin Commonwealth’s Grower of the Year award with […]

Rural Ohio and ‘exurbia’ hit hardest by ‘energy tax.’

The Tom Cope family was honored with Columbiana SWCD’s annual Cooperator of the Year award.

SALEM, Ohio — Every year, hundreds of barns around the country go up in smoke. In many cases, hay, straw, machinery and livestock are also lost in these fiery tragedies. But the good news is that nearly all barn fires are preventable.

“The only fire you cannot prevent is arson,” said Laurie Loveman, an officer […]

SALEM, Ohio — The price of anhydrous ammonia is up 55 percent. Straight urea, up 67 percent. Potash isn’t cheap either, up 55 percent. And those are just the increases recorded in the last six months.
There have been astronomical increases across the board in fertilizer prices in the past months, and reason enough for farmers […]

SALEM, Ohio — Farmers probably will not have trouble securing operating loans and farm capital after the most recent financial crisis, but when they do, they’ll be paying more for them.
That’s according to Larry Davis, vice president of the KeyBank Food and Agribusiness Team, a $100-million lender in the Great Lakes region.
“The availability of credit […]

By ROGER A. HIGH
Ohio State University Extension
COLUMBUS — With increasing production costs, livestock producers really need to evaluate each animal and decide whether that animal is a productive creature or “just on the payroll.”

Marginal producing ewes and rams should not be maintained in the flock. Culling is one of the tools that should be […]

CANFIELD, Ohio — Duane Perry of North Lawrence, Ohio, set a new state record for the heaviest tomato ever grown in the Buckeye State.

The tomato was officially inspected and weighed Oct. 4 at the Ohio Valley Giant Pumpkin Growers annual weigh off in Canfield, Ohio. His massive tomato nearly covered the paper plate it […]

WALNUT CREEK, Ohio — The 2008 Holmes County 4-H Volunteer Recognition Banquet, Life is a highway: Make every mile a memory, marked the end of the 4-H year and miles of memories for members and volunteers alike.
Shaver
At the banquet, Eric Shaver received the 2008 Friend of 4-H award. Shaver owns the […]