The 2nd annual Ohio State Organic Grains Conference was held January 4-5, 2024 at the Maumee Bay Lodge and Conference Center in Oregon, Ohio. This event was managed by Ohio State University Extension and the OFFER program.
Registration exceeded 240 this year, and included farmers, suppliers, researchers, and educators from Ohio, Indiana, New York, Illinois, Michigan, and beyond. Thank you to everyone who participated or supported this year's event!
Several conference presentation slidedecks, conference session recordings, and handouts are available.
See available speaker slidedecks, session recordings, and handouts.
2024 Programming
Featured presenters for this year included Klaas Martens of Lakeview Organic Grain in New York, Steve Culman from Washington State University (formerly with Ohio State), Léa Vereecke from Rodale Institute, and Eugene Law from Ohio State (formerly with USDA-Agricultural Research Services). We again featured a trade show with venders who offer relevent goods and services; a farmer roundtable lunch; and farmer panels on topics like weed control strategies, technology, and biological products. Our 2024 line-up included Ohio State educators and researchers with an interest in organic production, including manure nutrient management field specialist Glen Arnold, assistant professor of weed science Alyssa Essman; associate professor in soils and agronomy Ryan Haden; extension specialist Matt Kleinhenz; corn and emerging crop specialist Osler Ortez; and farm management field specialist Eric Richer, plus research updates on perennial wheat and crop-livestock integration.
Attendees could also come a day early and be part of the Organic Farmer Researcher Network dinner and brainstorming session. We invited farmers, researchers, and educators to gather together on the evening of January 3 for a meal and small group work to develop specific research projects. They used this opportunity to gather feedback and ideas for individual trials on their own farm, gather partners for possible multi-farm projects, or inform university research proposals. A limited number of $100 travel stipends were offered to defray additional travel costs for this pre-conference event. If you applied for one of these, they will be processed in the coming weeks.
Sponsors
Please let us know if you would like to be added to our sponsor contact list to learn about future opportunities by emailing conference director Eric Richer.
Special thanks to our networking sponsors: Treffler-Man@Machine, KG Agri Products Inc., Hirzel Farms, and Next Gen Organic Farms LLC...
...to our Exhibitor Sponsors...
....additional Advertising Sponsors: Albert Lea Seed House, Kalmbach Feeds, Inc., Mennel Milling, Organic Farmers Agency for Relationship Marketing (OFARM), OnMark Certification Services LLC, Global Organic Alliance, Iroquois Valley Farmland REIT, Sunrise Foods International, Zeeland Farm Services, Inc., and Nutrien Ag Solutions...
...and to North Central SARE for additional financial assistance.
Venue and Hotel Information
Maumee Bay Lodge and Conference Center
1750 State Park Road #2 | Oregon, OH
maumeebaylodge.com.
See what you missed in 2023
Point your browser at https://fulton.osu.edu/program-areas/agriculture-and-natural-resources/2023-organic-grains-conference to see information about the 2023 Organic Grains Conference, including recordings or slide decks from many of the presentations. In its first year, this even drew more than 180 participants.