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Greene County Farm Bureau meets

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Greene County News

CEDARVILLE — The combined annual meeting for both Greene County Farm Bureau and Greene Soil and Water Conservation District on Aug. 16 highlighted several noteworthy items. The meeting was held at Cedar Land Event Center and started with Dalton Dodd of Precision Partners of Jamestown sharing his experiences with the use of drones. Special recognition in the form of Friend of Agriculture for their support of agriculture legislation was given on behalf of the Ohio Farm Bureau and county Farm Bureaus to State Representatives Rick Perales, and Barb Niemeyer as well as State Senator Bob Hackett.

Proposed policies adopted by the Greene County Farm Bureau membership included the encouragement of municipalities, townships, county and state highway maintenance to control the spread of noxious weeds in the right-of-way on public roads including but not limited to poison hemlock. Under wildlife nuisance control the organization encouraged the legalization of killing black vultures and designating it as an invasive species. Also passed was the continued support of state and local initiatives to control and reduce the use and spread of heroin. Under the Current Agriculture Use Valuation (CAUV) the group approved the recommendation of having CAUV adjustments done on an annual basis instead of every three years.

Elected as trustees for Greene County Farm Bureau for 2017 were Dan Jones, Doug Shannon and Jerry Mahan. The Board works under the guidance of the Ohio Farm bureau Organizational Director Melinda Lee.

Recognized for their efforts in agriculture and induction into the Greene County Agriculture Hall of Fame were Kent Campbell and Mark Guess.

Kent is a graduate of Clark State University in agri-business and has worked as member and president of Greene County Farm Bureau Board; is a township trustee, and served in several leadership capacities in his church. He is a former 4-H advisor and started Kent’s Feed Barn and has served on the Greene County Regional Planning Commission and Farm Service Agency Board. He has provided leadership to the Greene County Cattleman’s Assoc. including working on the cooking crew and in several leadership capacities on the board. He and his wife Charlene live and farm in Cedarville Township.

Mark Guess has farmed in Greene and surrounding counties for over 60 years and has been a leader in changing his operation to meet the challenges of changing economic times in agriculture. By the time he graduated high school he had a few head of cattle and hogs and branched out into dairy farming to become one of the largest dairies in Ohio at one point. He was and is always flexible to know when other income options are possible. When the dairy was not as profitable he switched to grain crops and when grain crops were struggling he started to grow popcorn and waxy corn. He also grew seed beans and seed corn for Pioneer Seeds. Once the grain markets started cycling down he switched his focus to processing tomatoes-which was a big gamble at the time. The tomatoes turned into 600 acres of fresh vegetables. Now he is back to growing grain crops.

Mark has worked with OSU College of Agriculture on several workshops and programs designed to help farmers transition their operation into a different direction or crop. He has been a lifelong member of Farm Bureau and held leadership positions in several agriculture commodity groups. He and his wife Connie and family members farm in Southeast Greene County.

When asked what some of the major changes in agriculture were in their lifetime Kent and Mark responded with these: Roundup Ready crops, technology, bigger equipment, seed genetics, and the introduction of soybeans to farming. As Mark said, “One can only wonder what will be the changes in agriculture in the next 60 years.”

Information for Greene County Farm Bureau members on the Test Your Well program slated for Sept. 14 was shared as well as a special coupon worth $20 for additional water testing. For more details and to download a coupon log on to the Greene County Farm Bureau website at: https://ofbf.org/counties/greene/.

Submitted photo Mark Guess and Kent Campbell were inducted into the Greene County Agriculture Hall of Fame on Tuesday, Aug. 16.
http://aimmedianetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/32/2016/08/web1_farmbureau1-1.jpgSubmitted photo Mark Guess and Kent Campbell were inducted into the Greene County Agriculture Hall of Fame on Tuesday, Aug. 16.

Submitted photo State Rep. Rick Perales, State Sen. Bob Hackett and State Rep. Barb Niemeyer attended the Greene County Farm Bureau/Greene Soil and Water Conservation District meeting this week.
http://aimmedianetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/32/2016/08/web1_farmbureau2-1.jpgSubmitted photo State Rep. Rick Perales, State Sen. Bob Hackett and State Rep. Barb Niemeyer attended the Greene County Farm Bureau/Greene Soil and Water Conservation District meeting this week.

Story courtesy of Greene County Farm Bureau.