COLUMBUS, Ohio – Miranda Miser, of Cumberland, has been named organization director for Ohio Farm Bureau and will serve members in Belmont, Monroe, Noble and Washington counties. In her role, she will work with the county farm bureaus to address issues important to members and their communities.

Miser, along with her family, owns M&M Feed and Supply and M&M Delivery, providing support and services for farmers in southeastern Ohio. They also own a small cow/calf operation.

After graduating from Ohio State University with a degree in agricultural communication, agribusiness, and applied economics, Miser returned to the family business and participated in several agriculture-related activities. “I was very involved with farm bureau, FFA alumni, and I was a 4-H adviser,” she said.

Before joining the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation staff, Miser was the Guernsey County Farm Bureau president the past four years, where she worked to advance agriculture and strengthen the community.

“We did some different programming when I was president,” she said. “We started a farm-to-table fundraiser and did some more things with our local legislative legislators trying to increase membership and the visibility of farm bureau at the local level.”

The transition from Guernsey County Farm Bureau president, a volunteer position, to organization director brings added responsibility.

“The big difference is I’m an employee of the Ohio Farm Bureau,” Miser said. “I oversee four counties and assist their boards with programming, making connections, ensuring that the farm bureau is present in what they’re doing and that the county goals are aligned with the state goals.”

Her time as a county president gave her the training and knowledge to take on the challenges of her new position.

“It’s been very helpful as far as learning the lingo and understanding some of the state programming that’s already in place because I’m familiar with it,” she said. “The Washington, D.C., trip for presidents, the annual meeting, those sorts of things. I’m familiar with that from a volunteer perspective. Now, it’s a little bit different as an organizational director, but it just gives me that helpful knowledge going forward.”

The four counties Miser represents primarily focus on animal agriculture without as much crop farming as in other parts of the state. “We’re in the Appalachian region, we have more hills and rough terrain to deal with, so you don’t see a lot of crop farming besides hay and silage,” she said.

Despite the lack of crop farms, the region still suffered a significant impact from the recent drought. “That’s been a hardship on a lot of farmers,” Miser said. “Having to haul water and sell cattle because they don’t have hay. It’s an ongoing problem that will continue into the beginning of 2025 and thereafter.”

In addition to the struggles with the climate, there are other issues farmers in southeast Ohio continue to face. “We have a lot of oil and gas drilling coming back into the area, so we are making sure our farmers know what’s going on as far as when they sign the dotted line with oil and gas leases,” she said.

Succession planning is another area Miser wants to help with, particularly generational farms. “A big obstacle we’re seeing is land values increasing and not being able to afford to pay your taxes on the family farm,” Miser said. “I have a lot of farmers that are trying to figure out if it’s worth it to continue farming or sell-off of these high land values and take the profit.”

Because livestock is such a large part of the agriculture economy in Belmont, Monroe, Noble and Washington counties, the number of direct-to-consumer meat sales has increased. “We have a lot of farmers who will sell their beef, poultry, and other market animals directly to consumers because it’s a good way to get the product out there,” she said.

Direct-to-consumer sales are happening on and off the farm. “I have seen more farms popping up, saying, ‘If you want half a beef or a 1/4th of the beef, here’s our option,’” Miser said. “So, it’s not necessarily farmers markets, but a lot more social media advertising trying to connect with the consumer.”

For most of the farmers in Miser’s organizational area, farming is not their full source of income. “They have a full-time job where they have benefits and farming is an addition to what they’re doing in their daily lives,” she said. “That’s very regular in our four counties.”

She is seeing an increase in agriculture producers who may not be considered farmers in the traditional sense. “I’ve seen a lot more homesteaders,” she said. “People who want to take control of their food sources as far as growing their gardens and having some poultry. I see an increase in that because it’s more of a rural way of life as far as knowing where your food comes from, but as far as the 100-acre farms, I don’t see an increase in that.”