By CELESTE BAUMGARTNER
Ohio Correspondent

PLAIN CITY, Ohio — The public’s attitude toward agriculture and agriculture’s view of itself will be on the minds of members of the Ohio Livestock Coalition (OLC) during the group’s annual meeting scheduled for April 3.

The meeting will also give members an opportunity to meet OLC’s new executive director Sandra J. Kuhn.

The results of two surveys will be presented at the meeting. Ohio State University Researcher Bill Flinn will talk about the results of a state-wide survey done in 2006 looking at what Ohioans think about agriculture - animal agriculture in particular, Kuhn said.

The results of an Ohio Soybean Council producer survey will also be presented and Kuhn said it would be interesting to compare what people in agriculture think about agriculture as opposed to the general public.

“Probably the hottest topic in agriculture right now is biofuels,” Kuhn said. “We will have Dwayne Siekman executive director for Ohio Corn Growers reporting on that and he will lead a panel discussion.

“The most interesting thing is that there will be a lot more corn produced in Ohio this year due to the ethanol boom,” she said.

“The controversial part is that it highly affects the livestock industry because their major feed source is corn. As much as the farmer likes the high corn price the livestock producer does not like the high corn price.”

A facility like a big feed lot or swine operation that finishes hogs can sit empty whereas the dairy farmer, the cow/calf operator or swine facility that is a farrowing operation will have to adjust to lower profits this year due to the price of feed, Kuhn said.

Also, six Environmental Stewardship Awards will be presented at the meeting honoring family farmers for the work they do to protect the environment and maintain profitable operations.

The awards will be presented to:
•Cline Farms - Sheep
•Bridgewater Dairy, LLC - Dairy
•Stoll Select Farm - Beef
•Rob and Ellen Joslin - Soybean/Corn
•Bowman & Landes - Poultry
•Bell Farms Ag LLC - Swine

Crooked Creek Golf Course will be presented the Non-Farm Neighbor of the Year Award and Grammer Jersey Farm, the Farm Award Neighbor of the Year Award. The awards recognize the efforts neighbors have made in Ohio’s countryside to positively develop and enhance rural relationships.

The meeting will be held at the Der Dutchman Restaurant and Conference Center in Plain City. Registration will begin at 9 a.m. with the symposium starting at 9:30. The registration fee is $40 and that includes lunch.

To obtain a registration form or for more information call the OLC office at 614-246-8262 or e-mail ahurst@ofbf.org or visit www.ohiolivestock.org