10th Annual Ohio Farmland Preservation Summit

Registration is now open for the 10th Annual Ohio Farmland Preservation Summit. Greater Ohio’s Co-Director Gene Krebs will be in attendance at this event which will take place on November 5, 2009. For this landmark anniversary, there is an exciting and information-packed agenda.  To celebrate a decade of gatherings, The Ohio State University President, Gordon Gee, will give a welcome and USDA Deputy Secretary, Kathleen Merrigan, will provide an address via video.  There will also be exhibition space and a fresh produce market with live music in the afternoon.

You often hear that farmland provides services beyond food and fiber production. The morning panel will begin by addressing the question: How can we begin to value these services, such as carbon sequestration and nutrient management and what selling and trading of these services mean for farmland protection? The afternoon session focuses on the role of farmland protection in balancing growth and restoring prosperity to Ohio.

Breakout sessions are available on a variety of topics ranging from the basics of preserving the farm business, adapting to climate change through soil management, using surveys to gauge support for farmland protection, results from the latest census, to food policy and Ohio farmland.

For more information about session and speakers, please visit the following page:  http://cffpi.osu.edu/summit09_speakers.htm

The planning committee for this conference includes: Office of Farmland Preservation, Ohio Department of Agriculture; Center for Farmland Policy Innovation, Ohio State University; Otterbein College; American Farmland Trust; Western Reserve Land Conservancy; Ohio Farm Bureau Federation; Ohio Federation of Soil and Water Conservation Districts; Denison University; Ohio Township Trustees Association; Ohio Environmental Council; Ohio Farmers Union; County Commissioners Association of Ohio; Countryside Conservancy; Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission; and Tecumseh Land Trust.