WOOSTER, Ohio – Land prices, supply chain issues and input prices were among the topics discussed by a group of business owners with Dorothy Pelanda, director of the Ohio Department of Agriculture. Pelanda met with the business owners during a visit to the Buckeye Ag Museum, following a speech to an area service organization recently.

Leading off the discussion was Joe Wengerd, part of the family-owned Pioneer Equipment, a manufacturer of horse-drawn equipment. Wengerd said declining milk prices have had an impact on their customer base. But they are seeing an increase in the number of sheep producers and organic cash crop production. On the downside, he said Greenfield Farms sold their local milk processing plant, removing a market for local organic dairy producers. Instead, Greenfield Farms will concentrate on its produce and fertilizer programs. Wengerd said they have added an equipment dealership in Mt. Hope to sell equipment from other manufacturers to meet the needs of small farmers in the area.

Joel Gant, a local realtor, said he is seeing land prices skyrocket and out of reach for small and beginning farmers, reaching as much as $30,000 per acre in some areas. Gant said another challenge is that many farms are being chopped up into smaller parcels.

Pelanda said Ohio legislators have passed legislation that has programs designed to help beginning farmers, including incentives for existing farmers to sell their land to young, beginning farmers.

Dave Colvin, sales manager for Lowe & Young, Inc. a local equipment dealership, concurred with Wengerd that as milk prices go, so does their business.

“Dairy is important to our market,” Colvin said. “We would like to see more milk sourced from this area.”

Colvin added that despite inflation pushing interest rates up to somewhere between 13-20 percent, machinery sales are still strong with no signs of slowing down. He added that they hadn’t had a lot of supply chain issues and they have been able to source the parts they need to repair equipment.

David Benavides, market president, agribusiness and community banking, with Farmers National Bank, said land prices and supply chain issues are making challenges for their customers in many segments of the industry. Benavides said with farms being parceled into smaller lots instead of selling as a whole farm, the face of agriculture is shifting in the area, as is their role as a community bank.

Tom White told the group that as the former owner of a business, one of the challenges he saw during his time as a business owner is the challenge of finding affordable housing for his team members.

Matt Martin, secretary of the Wayne County Agricultural Society, told Pelanda that the Wayne County Fair is one of the jewels of the county and has always had a strong relationship with the community. He said the past few years have been challenging, especially with COVID and declining attendance, and rising costs.

“We are trying to do more with less,” Martin said.

Bruce Keener, owner of Commodity Blenders, a feed processing plant, said he is seeing changes happening in the dairy industry. “Our core business isn’t in Wayne County anymore,” Keener said. “We feed about 150,000 cows in Ohio, but most of the expansion in the dairy industry is happening in Michigan and Indiana.”

Keener said that so far, they have been able to work through supply chain issues by adding warehouse space so they can buy feed ingredients ahead and keep them on hand so they can keep farmers in business.

“Our business has changed so much over the past 10 to 20 years,” Keener said. “But how do we keep your farm in business and how do we keep small farms in business. We have to keep farms sustainable and small farms have to have a niche.”