Center for Farmland Policy Innovation

NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY: County and township leaders in Ohio frequently call farmland policy researchers, educators and advocates with requests for help in dealing with the forces of land use change. They are feeling the pressures of competition for farmland and know there are a few techniques that can help, but are uncertain on how to proceed. They want development and viable farming but are unsure how to balance the two. They want to know more about the approaches already available - do they work, how much do they cost, etc. - but also are shopping for better options. Our mission is to enable communities to achieve farmland protection policy priorities by partnering on innovative projects and providing needed programming. We work to spread local seeds of invention. Further, we work at the state and federal levels to further viable local agricultural environments. To achieve our mission, the Center works directly with communities on innovative policy demonstrations/models, writes policy briefs that are timely and locally relevant, maintains a communication network, and hosts an annual state-wide farmland policy meeting (the largest of in the country, according to the American Farmland Trust). The objectives of the Ohio Center for Farmland Policy Innovation the Center) are to: 1. Become an "action center" for farmland policy in Ohio, creating and delivering new information for communities who do not currently have the professional capacity to manage and balance growth and change. 2. Consider and test new policy instruments with communities seeking to retain farmland in Ohio through a Farmland Protection Partnership program. 3. Consider ways to strengthen the economic viability of Ohio farms as a necessary part of farmland protection. We achieve our mission by conducting research-based outreach and extension. The Center provides services to all interested communities - from those with low capacity who are just beginning to address farmland protection to those with high capacity who have longer histories and more experience. The following three programs are what we offer to achieve our mission. Each program area is followed by what is we propose to address in this proposal: Expected Outputs: 1. Two to four new policy experiments through our Farmland Protection Partnership program (http://cffpi.osu.edu/program.htm). 2. Plan and host annual Ohio Farmland Preservation Summit. 3. Provide state-level assistance to ensure the viability of local agriculture. 4. Conduct and disseminate applied research that furthers our mission and advises and assist state-level decisions makers. This includes two specific projects: 1. "Scaling-up Connections between Regional Ohio Specialty Crop Producers and Local Markets: Distribution as the Missing Link and "Food Equity and Opportunities." Methods: 1. Education 2. Applied research 3. Technical assistance Expected Outcomes/Benefits: Expected outcomes are in three areas, changes in knowledge, action and resulting conditions. Benefits includes a more supportive farming environment. The benefits will be accrued both individually (with farmers), at the community-level (as a result of policy change) and the state-level.

<P>
APPROACH: <BR>1. The Center conducts policy experiments with communities that are leaders in farmland protection. This local policy laboratory will aid local policymakers achieve what their citizens want through on the ground demonstrations of completed experiments. These experiments become tangible models for the rest of the state. The Center supports successful applicants through funding, technical assistance, and the knowledge and experience of the Center staff and existing national networks of farmland protection experts. This proposal includes conducting a new round of this partnership program projects focused on local food systems and local agricultural economic development policy. <BR><BR>2. The Center hosts and plans the annual Ohio Farmland Preservation Summit. This summit (largest in the country) is the one opportunity of the year for farmland protection interests to gather and learn from each other and invited speakers. We propose to offer Farmland Preservation Summits in the autumn of both 2009 and 2010. These are excellent opportunities to not only provide outreach on our partnership projects (#1 above), but a time to bring in outside experts that we can access through the national network of farmland preservation. <BR><BR>3. State-level Assistance - Staff of the Center are often called-on to provide advice and expertise to state-level efforts. These efforts have a direct impact on Ohio communities and their opportunities and options for farmland preservation. A few of the roles that staff play are on the Food Policy Council, Food Systems Assessment task force, Office of Farmland Preservation advisory board, Specialty Crop Block Grant Review. The Center proposes to conduct the following three types of projects to further advise and assist state-level decisions makers. <BR>3A. Distribution - Developing a local food system is complex. Many advocates focus heavily on direct marketing. While direct marketing is one part of the solution, it is limited by the low number of Ohio consumers that can conveniently reach farmers. Recognizing an absence of understanding the distribution structure, this project will begin by cataloguing the types of products distributed, product sourcing, service area, trip logistics, food safety requirements, product point of entry and marketing strategies. Recommendations for current growers and distributors, potential new growers and distributors and policy-makers to enable local provision of specialty crops to be scaled up to meet demand will be provided. <BR>3B. Food Equity and Opportunities - The Center will work with the Ohio Food Policy Council to identify and quantify rural food deserts in Ohio. Further, this methodology will be shared with food policy councils across the country as a model for policy development. <BR>3C. Local Farmland Protection Program Development - The Ohio Agricultural Easement Purchase Program was considered a pilot when instituted in 2000. The Center director headed an effort to provide a new policy framework that could make this state program more locally-relevant. The Center director will work with the ODA to implement the new policy framework to help the program grow from 3.2 to 9.5 million/yr.