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On November 3, Ohio voters will have the opportunity to support the state’s number-one economic industry – agriculture. By voting YES on Issue
Issue 2 provides for a constitutional amendment that would create a Livestock Care Standards Board consisting of 13 individuals expert in the fields of food safety, livestock handling, animal welfare, and consumer advocacy. This board will set standards to ensure that food produced in Ohio is safe, affordable, locally produced, and humanely raised.
The Ohio Livestock Care Standards Board has been endorsed by over 500 organizations and individuals, including the Ohio Veterinary Medical Association, Ohio Association of Second Harvest Foodbanks, Ohio Chamber of Commerce, Northwest Ohio Wind Energy, and Ohio State University’s College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences. Governor Ted Strickland and numerous other state and local leaders have stepped forward to support Issue 2.
Ohio’s agriculture is under threat from out-of-state interest groups, including powerful animal-rights lobby the Humane Society of the United States and Washington, D.C.-based Food & Water Watch. These organizations oppose the use of animals for food production and seek to end animal agriculture through legislation like California’s Proposition 2, which eliminated the use of conventional livestock housing methods necessary to produce safe, affordable food. Issue 2 seeks to keep regulation of Ohio’s livestock in Ohioans’ hands and prevent out-of-state lobbyists from implementing rigid, impractical practices based on sentimentality, not scientific fact or agricultural experience.
Issue 2 opponents have blasted the measure as a “big-ag power grab” and an attempt to “hijack” Ohio’s constitution. In reality, the Livestock Care Standards Board will support both family farmers and agribusiness in the state and assure consumers that the food they eat is wholesome. Like Ohio’s education system and tuition trust, the state’s largest economic contributor merits a governing body provided for in its constitution. This proactive move on the part of Ohio agriculture should be lauded as an effort to protect the future of Ohio’s farmers.
For more information on the Ohio Livestock Care Standards Board, the Issue 2 campaign, please visit http://www.safelocalohiofood.org.
A: [Appalachian Heirloom Plant Farm] A high tunnel (or low tunnel) is a solar heated, manually vented, plastic-covered cold frame that is used to lengthen the traditional growing season for many crops. High tunnels, often called hoophouses, can significantly increase the average daily temperature and protect the crop from wind, rain, snow and hail. High tunnels are not greenhouses, and thus require no electrical connections for ventilation and supplemental heat. The crop is grown directly in the soil using raised beds or by growing in large containers such as 5 gallon buckets or 10 gallon totes. Drip irrigation or manual watering is needed. Most high tunnels have roll-up sidewalls for temperature and humidity control. Not all field grown varieties will grow properly in high tunnels and many crops have been specifically developed for high tunnel and greenhouse environments.
A: [Burgefurd's] High tunnel tomatoes are what we grow on our farm. They are grown just like traditional field grown tomatoes however they can be planted 1 to 2 months earlier for the field is covered with a high tunnel or greenhouse type structure, metal bows covered, 10 to 12 feet high at the peak with a heavy sheet of plastic, and can drive a tractor in. This high tunnel can be heated to facilitate earlier plant growth and protect the plants from freezing temperatures. The earliest we have planted our high tunnel tomatoes has been march 28 traditionally we plant them april 1st to the 15, this is how we get an earlier tomato harvest.There are also low tunnels, a person cannot walk in these.
I also conduct research at the south centers at piketon on high tunnel strawberries and blackberries.
Here is a program i co organized on high tunnels that was taught all around the state in 2008
A: [Burgefurd's] It is black rot and you will need to spray a fungicide on a weekly basis beginning at bloom all the way through harvest. Best to purchase a multi purpose fruit spray available from garden centers. For now hand remove the infected fruit and lcusters and then you can begin the weekly fungicide spray program, yields will be reduced but you may save the crop.
Here is a osu fact sheet on the disease
http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/3000/pdf/hyg_3004_08.pdf
A: [Appalachian Heirloom Plant Farm] The universities have really good grape production and care bulletins available. Though they are geared towards commercial production of mostly wine grapes, these have great information for the home gardener. You can also contact your local ag extension agent for further information. Check out the following:
A: [Appalachian Heirloom Plant Farm] There are several bugs that really like bean plants. Mexican Bean Beetles are the biggest leaf destroyer in this area this time of year. In July, Japaneese Beetles are terrible for eating bean plants. Small holes in the leaves would be flea beetles. Traditional method of control would be with Seven dust which is quite safe. Organic control methods would be Rotenone or Pyrethrum. Be very careful when using Rotenone and follow directions. I have heard that using diatomaceous earth or lime as a dust is effective control but have not tried these methods. Diatomaceous earth and lime would work best with soft bodied insects. If leaf damage isn’t severe, I let nature take it’s course and the plants will recover and produce well.
A: [Can-Du] It sounds like flea beetles are having lunch on the bean leave. To help, use pyrethrin, or rotenone to contol adults
A: [Bergefurds] Bean Leaf beetle, watch the plants from the minute they emerge from the soil and pick off the spotted beetles but they often feed at night or else use an all purpose vegetable garden insecticide or else rotate a minimum of three years and at least 10 feet away from last years planting however they can overwinter in the soil and then walk to your new planting. As a commercial growers I rotate our bean fields a minimum of three years between beans and at least 1000 feet between fields each year.. Here is a OSU fact sheet that describes the insect and its life cycle: http://ohioline.osu.edu/icm-fact/fc-23.htm
A: [Appalachian Heirloom Plant Farm] Pickle cukes can be planted thru mid July and still have a good harvest though this is coming into the dry season and additional water will be required.
A: [Can-Du] We plant pickling cukes up until August 1st. If we get an early frost we lose the crop but if it’s a late frost we do OK.
A: [Bergefurds] Plants last week of July, direct seeded July 4 to 10
