Ohio Farm Bureau Podcast

Lawmakers are quickly coming up on their deadline for passing a new two year state budget. Virtually every Ohioan will be affected by the budget’s contents. Taxes, the environment, education and social issues are rolled up in the two year spending plan. Three folks who keep tabs on the budget and other state business are our guests - reporters who are members of the Ohio Legislative Correspondents...

The numbers are frightening. Every day, 115 Americans die from an overdose of opioids. In 2017, 5,000 of our fellow Ohioans died from the drug. In addition to the fatalities, thousands of others go to hospitals and treatment facilities. Today, we learn about the overall challenges, and in particular, about the prevention campaign called “Don’t live in Denial, Ohio,” which helps parents help their...

How many connections to the online world do you have? Phone, tablet, computer, smart TV, virtual assistant and on and on. All of these are very fun and very helpful… and potentially very dangerous. Hackers pose a risk to individuals, businesses and governments. While we know this, some of us still use the word “password” as our password. What are the risks, from whom, and most importantly, how do...

Animals are a part of most everyone’s daily life. We connect with some as companions, others for entertainment and still others for sustenance. Today, we’re going to explore those connections through the eyes of two folks who are part of the community we rely on to provide care to our animals. Dr. Carol McConnell of Nationwide and Dr. Rustin Moore of Ohio State University are members of the veteri...

As growth industries go, there’s nothing hotter in Ohio than craft brewing. Back in 2012, there were 47 Ohio craft brewers. Today, there are 299 with around 60 more in the planning stage. Not to miss out on the fun, late last year, Ohio Farm Bureau and North High Brewing introduced a craft beer to help celebrate Farm Bureau’s 100th Anniversary. A brewer, a blogger and Farm Bureau’s defacto beer gu...

Senator Sherrod Brown’s official biography lists a number of issues that he’s passionate about - social justice, economic justice, fair trade, veterans, American manufacturing, and American farmers. Today, Ohio’s senior senator serving since 2006, returns to Town Hall Ohio to talk to Ohio Farm Bureau's Executive Vice President Adam Sharp about these issues and others including Lake Erie, the Farm...

Every time OSU President Michael Drake or Provost Bruce McPheron are on the show, we squeeze in a little about Buckeye Football and athletics in general. Today, there’s no squeezing. Gene Smith is the director of athletics at the Ohio State University. Today, Farm Bureau’s Adam Sharp and I visit with Mr. Smith, not just about OSU sports, but on what it takes to develop and manage successful enterp...

Let me throw out a few familiar business names: J.M. Smucker, Nationwide, AEP, Marathon Petroleum, Procter and Gamble, BF Goodrich. All Ohio companies whose executives have helped lead the Ohio Business Roundtable. Its purpose: to improve the business climate for Ohio. About a year and a half ago, the roundtable brought on another familiar name. 17-year Congressman Pat Tiberi was named President a...

I’m always looking for new voices to join us on the show. In recent years, I’ve been reading a column that appears in the Columbus Dispatch by a gentleman named Jim Simon. Jim writes about big picture issues and the hot topics of the day. By my reading, his thoughts on what we need to pay attention to, and how we need to act, are worth thinking about. So, today, we’ll hear from communicator, marke...

Robert Sprague keeps an eye on your piece of Ohio’s twenty billion dollars in investments and 10 billion dollars in debt. About three months ago, he became the 49th Treasurer of the State of Ohio. He’s served in both city government and the statehouse is a native of next door to God's country, and has a picture of his last appearance on Town Hall Ohio on his Facebook page. Findlay native, Treasure...

A banner on the state attorney general’s website reads: “protecting the unprotected”. Dave Yost is Ohio’s Chief Law Officer and the department he runs touches the lives of families, communities, and governments across the state. On this episode of Town Hall Ohio, the 51st attorney general of the state of Ohio, Mr. Yost joins Ohio Farm Bureau Executive Vice President Adam Sharp to talk about rootin...

With an economic boom worth $1.4 Billion, horses are a big money maker for Ohio. On the latest Town Hall Ohio meet some of the organizations that have a hand in Ohio’s equine industry as Ty Higgins visits with Renee Mancino from the Ohio Harness Horsemen's Association, Dave Basler from the Ohio Horsemen's Benevolent and Protection Association and Karin Brennan from the upcoming Equine Affaire.

How do you know if your tax dollars are being well spent? Or if some unscrupulous elected official might have his hand in the cookie jar? Keeping tabs on those kinds of things, and many others, is the job of the Ohio Auditor of State. Just a few months ago, Keith Faber became our state’s 33rd auditor. Today we learn more about the office, and visit about some important issues in state government i...

For 73 years, Ohio Farm Bureau volunteer leaders have traveled to the nation’s capital to speak out on behalf of their fellow farmers. The 2019 version of the county president’s trip to Washington D.C. took more than 100 farmers, Farm Bureau staff and members of the media into the capital. They met with both senators, and most members of Ohio’s congressional delegation. Today we let you in on what...

On the latest Town Hall Ohio, meet some of the members of Ohio Farm Bureau’s Young Ag Professionals. Ty Higgins will introduce you to the best and brightest that Ohio agriculture has to offer.

If you ever wanted to see grassroots political action in action, you’d have been impressed by this past week’s Ohio Farm Bureau Ag Day at the Capital. Farmers from all corners of the state battled level two snow emergencies to come to Columbus to meet and inform their state lawmakers and to hear from the new governor of the state of Ohio. Governor Mike DeWine joins us as we look back at Ag Day at...

There is hardly a day that goes by that nearly every one of us is not touched, in some way, by The Ohio State University. Our jobs. Our families. Our food, and our communities. To some extent, Ohio State is an integral part of Ohio’s economy, environment and society. Since the middle of 2014, the caretaker of Ohio State’s mission has been Dr. Michael Drake. He’s back for his fourth visit with all...

Sadly, we’re in a time where far too many folks seem to be on their worst behavior when discussing important topics. Ranting and yelling and their online equivalents, seems to have become the ways to share an opinion. In Ohio Farm Bureau, we believe there’s a better way to solve problems. Thoughtful, courteous discussion. Farm bureau’s annual Discussion Meet competition is intended to develop youn...

At the Mid-American Restaurant Expo, held in Columbus two weeks ago, you would expect to see vendors selling pizza ovens, deep fryers and ice cream machines. For the first time this year, the exhibit space made room for farmers from Ohio looking for more places to market their home grown goods. Find out more about this developing relationship between food producers and the restaurant industry on t...

For the first time in eight years, Ohio has a new governor. We have a new republican house speaker, who largely can thank democrats for landing the job. We’ll soon begin the debate over Ohio’s next two year budget and the usual wrangling over dozens of policy issues. Today we look ahead to the year ahead in state government with three folks who pay attention to those things for a living. Our state...

What’s in store for 2019 as far as economic issues? Your family budget, the economies of Ohio, nation and the world? Conditions facing governments and industries? Today we engage in our annual early year visit with Dr. David Berson, Senior Vice President and Chief Economist for Nationwide. We’ll talk about jobs, interest rates, securities, commodities and a host of other financial and policy topic...

Today we continue the tradition of Town Hall Ohio's Greatest Hits. As we close out the year for 2018, we're going to go back an visit some of the highlights of this year's broadcasts: the election, farm and food issues, short and long term economic concerns and opportunities especially in rural areas. You're going to hear some pretty smart and interesting people who were in our studio over this pa...

It’s estimated that somewhere around the year 336, Christmas became an official holiday. Then, in 1621 it was the very first Thanksgiving. So one could argue between those two events, the official holiday season was essentially born. It’s interesting to consider how that celebration has evolved over the years. Certainly it can’t resemble now much of what it looked like back then. But how do we kee...

At the close of World War 1, Ohio farmers organized to preserve their livelihoods and lifestyles. In 1919, they gave birth to the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation. And since its origin, Farm Bureau has gone on to significantly shape the culture and economy of the Buckeye state. Today, we celebrate the centennial of the state’s largest and most influential farm and food organization. We’ll hear from and...

We live in a complicated world. We do what we can for ourselves, but so much of what affects our families, jobs and communities is seemingly outside of our control, or more to the point, under the control of politicians and bureaucrats. Today’s guest is uniquely qualified to talk about governance, the economy, national security and host of other big picture issues that we all should be better info...