Story by Tracy Turner / College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences / turner.490@osu.edu
Interested in learning how to use yellow perch to grow aquaponic produce sustainably?
Ohio State University’s Sustainable Agriculture Team will host 10 tours this spring, summer and fall on sustainable organic specialty crops, year-round gardening, cut flowers, raising livestock, aquaponic produce and yellow perch farming and urban agriculture, as part of the 2019 Ohio Sustainable Farm Tour and Workshop Series.
The series is an opportunity for growers and other interested people to both learn and experience what sustainable agriculture is all about from farmers and producers who are working in this field daily, said Mike Hogan, an Ohio State University Extension educator who is also the coordinator of Ohio State’s Sustainable Agriculture Team.
OSU Extension is the outreach arm of The Ohio State University's College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences (CFAES).
The tour is designed to share and update information among growers and those trying to promote sustainability throughout Ohio, he said.
“Ohio is an absolute cornucopia of possibilities when it comes to alternative enterprises, alternative production systems, and alternative marketing strategies and these tours display some of these alternatives already working for some Ohio farm families,” Hogan said. “Our goal is to help farmers and aspiring farmers ‘kick the tires’ on some alternatives which might help them improve the profitability and sustainability of their farm operation."
Ohio State’s Sustainable Agriculture Team works to get people to consider economic sustainability, the environment and social consciousness when farming, he said.
The Ohio State team’s tour dates and locations include:
- June 22, Large Acreage Conservation Demonstration and Education Site Tour
- June 26, Diversified Crop and Production Field Day
- July 13, Pioneering Urban Farm Tour
- July 25, Pasture-Raised Livestock and Pasture Consultant Farm Tour
- Aug 10, Vacant Lots Become Productive Urban Farm Tour
- Aug. 11, Sustainable Organic Specialty Crop Farm Tour
- Aug. 17, Year-Round Youth Garden to Address Food Insecurity Farm Tour
- Aug. 18, Cut Flower Farm Tour
- Aug. 24, Community Outreach and Education Farm Tour
- Oct. 19, Aquaponic Produce and Yellow Perch Farm Tour
The Ohio State tours are part of the 2019 Farm Tour and Workshop Series which features a total of 46 organic and ecological farms and businesses in Ohio, Michigan, and Indiana. The series is sponsored by Ohio State, the Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association, the Arthur Morgan Institute for Community Solutions, the Clintonville Farmers Market, and the Michigan Organic Food and Farm Alliance.
Complete details and a list of all tours and workshops in the series can be downloaded at franklin.osu.edu/news/2019-sustainable-farm-tour-and-workshop-series.