Growmark and Legacy Farmers Cooperative are forming a joint venture to buy and operate a grain facility west of Defiance, Ohio. Together, they will form a new retail grain unit called Apex Grain Marketing LLC, which will purchase the facility from Consolidated Grain and Barge Co. 

The facility is a fully automated 2.5-million-bushel upright storage capacity grain elevator and 1.3-million-bushel pile capacity that loads 90 car CSX trains. Inbound dumping capacity is 40,000 bushels per hour, and load-out speed is 60,000 bushels per hour. The facility was built in 2013, and it sits on just under 120 acres, providing room for expansion.

Legacy Farmers Cooperative and Growmark will both have investment in Apex Grain Marketing LLC, and Legacy Farmers Cooperative will provide management services to Apex. Apex will be governed by a board of directors consisting of both Growmark and Legacy Farmers Cooperative representatives.

The acquisition is expected to be finalized Sept. 1.

Cultivating a Cure breaks fundraising record

The 11th annual Cultivating a Cure, an event created to support cancer treatment and prevention research, welcomed nearly 450 attendees and collected more than $130,000 for the OSUCCC James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute, an all-time record for the annual event.

Cultivating a Cure was started in 2011 by former Ohio Farm Bureau President Brent Porteus and his daughters to support their passion for breast cancer research, cancer prevention and to remember Debbie Porteus, beloved wife and mother, and all of those who have or who are battling cancer. Since its inception, Cultivating a Cure has raised almost $900,000.

The 12th annual Cultivating a Cure will be Sunday, Aug. 14, 2022, at Ohio State University.

Blanchard River Demo Farms Network launches new website

For five years, the three northwest Ohio farms involved in the Blanchard River Demonstration Farms Network have focused on getting nonfarmers on the demo farms to showcase research and the ways farmers are using best management practices for water quality and nutrient management.

Now, the network is unveiling a new website.

One of the biggest enhancements to the new website is a resource section, where farmers can click which topic they would like to learn more about, and the results will be aggregated based on their search. For example, a click on cover crops will bring up blogs, articles, podcasts and fact sheets on cover crops. The “resource” tab also includes materials on soil sampling, nutrient management plans, no-till, tile drainage, climate and weather, just to name a few.

Along with the new website comes a new approach to social media interaction to help keep farmers in the know about research at the demo farms.

“There is a growing group of farmers who are doing a really good job of interacting with each other on Twitter and Facebook, so we have made a concerted effort to have a bigger presence on those platforms,” says Aaron Heilers, Blanchard River Demonstration Farms project manager. “Peer-to-peer learning is something that has skyrocketed because they trust the results that their neighbors are getting with new equipment and practices.”

Find the new website at blancharddemofarms.org and follow the demo farms on facebook.com/OhioDemoFarms and Twitter (@OhioDemoFarms).

Apply now for OFB Youth Pathways grants

It is projected that 40% of jobs in agriculture could go unfulfilled within the next five years without efforts to attract young leaders to the industry.

The Ohio Farm Bureau Foundation’s Youth Pathways to Careers in Agriculture grant program supports projects that introduce and train students for high-demand jobs in food, agricultural and environmental sciences. The program is open to nonprofit organizations or those with a fiscal sponsor.