FOSTORIA — AgCredit – one of northern Ohio’s largest lenders for farmers, rural homeowners and agribusiness – recently declared a record patronage refund of $26.7 million to eligible customer owners. This patronage payment provides a refund of 30 cents for every dollar of interest accrued on eligible loans for the past year.

Larry Lokai of Urbana was honored at the Third Annual Hardin County Poultry Awards Banquet on March 16. Each year the county committee selects one honoree for service and dedication that helped the junior fair poultry exhibitors of Hardin County.

Students from the Department of Agricultural Communication, Education, and Leadership (ACEL) competed in undergraduate research forums at The Ohio State University. The University’s Richard J. and Martha D. Denman Undergraduate Research Forum on Feb. 20 and the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences (CFAES) Undergraduate Research Forum on March 6.

COLUMBUS — Corn prices are on the rise, while soybean prices are projected to continue to dip this year before recovering a bit in 2020, according to government projections. And this year, national net farm income, which takes into account many commodities not grown in Ohio, is projected to increase 10 percent over last year’s total, forecasts from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) show.

Hardin and Wyandot Soil and Water Conservation Districts have partnered with American Farmland Trust to secure funding for the purchase of cover crop seed. Funding for this program is made available through a Western Lake Erie Basin Grant obtained in partnership by Hardin and Wyandot SWCDs and American Farmland Trust.

BELLEFONTAINE – Farm Credit Mid-America is returning $146 million to eligible customers as part of its patronage program, and under this year’s plan, customers in Ohio will share in more than $40 million of that payout.

LOUISVILLE, Ohio —In this rural Ohio town, a short drive from Canton, Mark Thomas had been running a 400-cow dairy farm for years. That, plus row-cropping 2,000 acres, kept him outside, where he wanted to be most days.

The second annual Hardin County Goat Banquet will be held on Saturday, March 30 at the Family Center of the Christian Missionary Alliance Church, 15436 Ohio 309, east of Kenton. Registration and seating will open at 5 p.m. with the public invited. Supper and the speaker will begin at 5:30 pm.

Hardin Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) supervisors and staff recently participated in the annual “Conservation Partnership Meeting” held in downtown Columbus. Attending were more than 500 conservation leaders representing Ohio’s 88 SWCDs and partners from the Ohio Department of Agriculture, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) and Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.

There has been increased interest in people raising chickens to produce eggs locally. While backyard poultry operations are usually smaller in size, they create a list of new problems that must be addressed to successfully complete this type of agricultural enterprise.