CFFPI - Planning on Farming Ohio

A Model for Understanding the Opportunities for Innovation

Project Summary:
The work presented here is the summary of a model developed by Heide Martin and Jill Clark that examines county-level support for agriculture across Ohio. The model looks at the differences in farmland preservation efforts in the 88 Ohio counties, taking into account both the level of need for preservation in each county (based on: development pressure, agricultural value of soils, and market value of farmland/acre), and the level of current activity in each county (based on: applications for the ODA AEPP program, presence of an agriculturally focused task force and presence of an agricultural task force). The determination of each county's need for preservation and current activity are determined relative to all other counties in Ohio. The levels of need and activity were then mapped and weighted against each other to determine a final “Need for Action”, and 15 Ohio counties were identified as having a relatively high need for policies and practices to preserve farmland compared to current activity.

Of the 15 counties identified, four are highly urbanized counties, including Summit, Franklin, Cuyahoga, and Hamilton Counties. Urbanized counties with relatively little land base devoted to agriculture have been traditionally overlooked by agricultural preservationists, and are underserved by state and national farmland policies and funding programs. However, these counties represent the majority of Ohio’s fruit, vegetable and nursery production – high dollar value crops which are in demand by Ohio consumers who are interested in purchasing fresh, locally grown foods. Protection and enhancement of these agricultural resources may need to increase in the future. In particular, new tools and techniques may need to be developed or current tools and techniques may need to be refashioned to address unmet needs in these areas.

Poster - Planning on Farming Ohio:
This poster contains study maps analysis the local levels of need and action in counties across Ohio. It also contains a listing of the priority counties identified by the model, along with agricultural summaries of each priority county. Download Entire Poster (*.jpg)

The following are the individual maps that for download:

1. Level of Need = Development Pressure + Prime Soils + Market Value of Ag Products

2. Level of Activity = AEPP Applications + County-level Planning + Active Land Trusts

3. Need for Action = (1) Level of Need - (2) Level of Activity

Paper - Planning on Farming Ohio:
This paper contains detailed information on the methodology used to build and analyze the model, as well as a series of appendixes that present study data on a county-by-county level.
Download Paper (*.pdf)

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e: cffpi@osu.edu; p: 614.247.6479; f: 614.292.0078
m: Center for Farmland Policy Innovation, Dept. of Agricultural, Environmental, & Development Econ.
103 Agricultural Administration Bldg., 2120 Fyffe Rd., Columbus, Ohio 43210 USA