Read about the anticipated program changes here.
COLUMBUS — The 13th Ohio Farmland Preservation Summit will be held Jan. 17 at the Nationwide and Ohio Farm Bureau 4-H Center on the campus of Ohio State University.
The target audience is farmers, with a secondary focus on planners, advocates and other farmland preservation practitioners.
The summit was not held in 2012, when tight budgets put the Ohio Agricultural Easement Purchase Program on hold.
However, with the Clean Ohio Fund restored for 2013, AEPP will return in a new, localized form and allocate about $3 million toward farmland preservation.
Agenda topics. Speakers, including Ohio Director of Agriculture David Daniels, will discuss the changes in the program.
In general, the program will offer grants to local partners — land trusts, soil and water conservation districts and counties — which will use the money to purchase easements from local applicants based on local criteria.
Other topics will include preservation options for farmland owners, the Clean Ohio Fund, oil and gas language and easements, using agriculture as an economic development tool, farm business opportunities from natural resources, farm business succession planning, and more.
Registration costs $50 is due by Jan. 10. It includes a breakfast and lunch. Checks, payable to Ohio State University, can be sent to OSU Extension Fairfield County, 831 College Ave., Suite D., Lancaster, OH 43130. More information is available from the Fairfield County office at 740-653-5419.
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