Some important deadlines are looming for farmers wanting to join the nearly 2,000 already signed up for the H2Ohio water quality program. To date, over 1 million acres have Voluntary Nutrient Management Plans, a key component of H2Ohio. This week, we visit with the Director of the Ohio Department of Agriculture, Dorothy Pelanda, to find out more about the initiative, and other important items, like food security and their work with county fairs, that fall under the purview of ODA.

00:00 - Ohio Department of Agriculture Director Dorothy Pelanda discusses the success of H2Ohio in northwest Ohio and how her agency has helped farmers through the recent challenges in Ohio’s food supply chain.

16:50 - The Ohio Dairy Action Group is taking what are have learned from industry experts and created policy to help dairy farmers across the state remain viable. Ohio Farm Bureau’s Brandon Kern has the details.

23:50 - In a new series of “To the Beat of Agriculture” segments, we highlight Ohio Farm Bureau state trustees.

32:20 - The Ohio State University is the lead university partner of a multimillion-dollar NASA-funded effort to develop a new generation of commercially based, human-occupied space stations. OSU’s John M. Horack, Neil Armstrong Chair in Aerospace Policy and lead researcher for the Starlab collaboration and Scott Shearer, Professor and Chair, Department of Food, Agricultural and Biological Engineering explain the project’s mission and how their university got involved.