Day 1 - Ryan

 

Today started very early. We had to be at the airport by 4:30, which meant waking up around 3:00. Mind you, I had gotten back from Spain the day prior, and they are six hours ahead of us. Thankfully, I beat the jet lag.

Once in Ohio, we went to “THE Ohio State University”. Place emphasis on the word, the, as they tend to place heavy emphasis on it here. First, we went to a talk with Brad Collins, who works at OBIC, which deals with alternatives to petroleum products, bioplastics, and different products and projects that can help our environment in the long run. He passed around different bioplastic products, and products made with plant based materials instead of petroleum products. It was a very informative talk about all of the work that OBIC is doing, like community outreach and education, development of new products, and research.

Next, we went upstairs to learn briefly about OSU and its admissions process. Amy Jo Baughman talked to us about the different agricultural programs, the different campuses, and the admissions process and deadlines for applying. After her spiel, she turned it over to Cody Myers, who showed us around the different agriculture campuses at the main campus. We toured the college of food science, animal science, we saw a classroom that had an arena to bring animals into, a rooftop garden, and my favorite part, seeing all of the massive tractors the student use and train on as part of their class. There was a harvester, a huge sprayer, a rear tracked cab tractor, and three, yes three Case IH Quadtracs. If you didn’t know, the Quadtrac is my favorite tractor. Admittedly, it is very hard to drive in Farming Simulator ‘19.

After the tour we packed up and went to the Delaware CountyFairgrounds, which is home to The Little Brown Jug, a Standardbred horse race. They have a track, stables, and turnout pens for all of their Standardbred horses. I work with horses, so this was the highlight of the day. Standardbred racing is very different from Hunters and Jumpers, which I work with. Also, I had only known about saddle races like the Kentucky Derby, so this was very informative. The people there talked about the horses and the race of course, but also about the county fair, the different events they have, and the upgrades they’re doing with the money collected from the bed tax in Delaware County. Essentially, if you stay in a hotel in the county. 3-4% of your sale goes to the Delaware County Fairgrounds for upgrades and maintenance. They expect to get about $9 million in the initial five years of the tax. I can’t lie, seeing the horses was the best part, even if I could only see them in their stalls. They provided us with supper, as well as had a panel of board members talk to us about what they do at the fair. This was followed by a question and answer session. We went to the hotel after that, and once there we wrote all seven thank you cards for everyone we met today. Overall, a great first day. I hope my blog was informative and somewhat interesting,

 

Day 1 by Nick

Our first stop was at The Ohio State University where we heard Brad Collins speak to us about one of the colleges in the university. He is part of OBIC, the Ohio Bioproducts Innovation Center. He talked about how the plastics we used to use are different than the plastics we can find today. Instead of using fossil fuels they are using soybeans, corn and other plant materials. They call this new plastic a bioplastic. 

He showed us the different types of products that contain the bioplastics. For example, he showed us dish soap, 2-cycle motor oil, a kitchen cutting board and a foam ball that is an example of the inside of car seats. I also found it very interesting the things he shared about Henry Ford and the things he introduced to the society.

Amy Jo Baughman talked to us about the College of Agriculture. We had the opportunity to introduce ourselves to her. She also shared with us what it takes to become a college student. She introduced Cody Myers to us who showed us around the campus. He shared lots of good information with us. For example, the older arena has an underground tunnel so that cattle could be brought in to the classroom. Then we got to see some of the big equipment that students can learn about and use on the university’s land.

 

From OSU we went to the Delaware CountyFair and the Little Brown Jug. Mrs. Sandy Kuhn, the Delaware County Fair Director, spoke to us about the history of the fair. She introduced Brian and Jennifer Brown who talked about how they work together to train horses for Standardbred racing. He was able to share with us the details of the care of the hooves of the horse and how important this is. Having an understanding about the type of track affects how the horses hooves are cared for. So if the track is sandy the horse does not need shoes. Most European horses are not shod. We also got to go outside to visit the very energetic horses. We were able to meet some of the members of the fair board and learn about what they do. I thought Mr. Howard was the coolest, showing us a little auctioneer action!

  

They were very gracious to provide us with pizza. It was a great first day of the Summer Ag Tour.

The Anticipation, The Excitement, and The PLANNING by Allison Barber

I didn’t have any part in planning the 2019 Summer Ag Tour, but the Hamiltons and several of the high school students on the trip worked tirelessly to plan our route, email, call, and communicate with many different farmers, research labs, agricultural offices, and many other exciting people and places we will visit over the next 10 days.  I’m one of the lucky chaperones that gets to reap the benefits of all the planning and hard work done by Dane and Karen Hamilton (Agriculture Teachers at Riverview High School, Riverview, FL). I believe planning for this trip began during last summer’s trip.  My favorite day was in early March when we received a very rough itinerary of possible places we will visit.  I am Allison Barber, a media specialist at Brooker Elementary School in Hillsborough County.  I enjoy reading children’s library books about each state we will visit.  The picture below is the list and several books I was able to check out.

When learning we were going to Ohio, my first thought was, “What exactly is a buckeye and why do Ohioans love them so much!  I found out that buckeye trees were made famous by our 9^th US President, William Henry Harrison. Ohio even has a “Famous 17” where there are Buckeye trees planted in the shape of the number 17 in remembrance of Ohio as the 17^th state to enter the Union.  It would be amazing if we could see them in bloom because I’ve read that the blooms are very “showy!”

Another interesting fact I learned is that New York state is second in apple production behind Washington State, who knew?  My fun reading allowed me to learn many things about each state but it pales in comparison to the many things we stand to learn during this amazing trip. 

We are going to visit research labs at Ohio State and Cornell University.  We will listen to people associated with agricultural media, apple farmers, buffalo farmers, mushroom farms, border patrol, lavender fields, salmon farms, and so much more. We will visit Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, & Ontario, Canada.

In the first day we learned about bio products innovations, had a guided tour through the agricultural buildings and programs at Ohio State. We toured the Little Brown Jug where we learned about standard-racing and had a round table discussion with several board members of the Delaware County, Ohio Fair.

The students attending this trip will see things that many other students and adults have never been exposed to.  They are learning by listening, seeing, and doing.  I have heard many adults say, If I knew then what I know now, I might have chosen a different profession.  I’m certain some students on our trip will be influenced to enter a certain career path because of professionals we will meet during our travels.  Today, a representative from Ohio State spoke with our students about their future. She spoke about the how to get into college, encouraging students to seek and find scholarships She also spoke of technical schools and other options beyond the typical four year college degree. Some students already have their path in mind but they are all being exposed to a wide variety of professions and they are able to ask professionals questions about their specific job and the path they took to get there.

This trip is jammed packed. We will have early mornings, much travel, and late nights. It is a great trip to experience. I look forward to getting to know our students and watching them grow & open their minds to endless possibilities.