American Farmland Trust is taking the Ohio Agricultural Landowners Guide [PDF] on the road. Since the publication of 2,000 copies of the guide in time for the Ohio Farmland Preservation Summit in November, AFT’s Ohio office has distributed nearly 500 copies at workshops, farm organization offices and through mailed requests. The 16-page full-color guide has been well-received by those making requests and by those who have attended the first of at least 10 Traveling Toolbox workshops.

A grant from the Ohio Environmental Education Fund of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, with support from the George Gund Foundation, financed the guide and the Traveling Toolbox land-use workshop series. The workshops began early this year with a short presentation in Tuscarawas County on Jan. 16, followed by an extensive presentation Jan. 27 in Mahoning County. Four other presentations are scheduled and others are tentatively set. There will be little trouble meeting our goal of at least 10 workshops before the spring planting season begins.

Workshops in March include the Washington County Extension office in Marietta on March 5; the Logan County Land Trust annual meeting in Bellefontaine on March 6; a meeting sponsored by Philander Chase Corp. and Owl Creek Conservancy in Mt. Vernon on March 7; and the Southern Ohio Farmland Preservation Association annual meeting in Georgetown on March 12.

The workshops are designed to do more than distribute and summarize the guides. The publication serves as reference material that will long be useful to landowners, but the presentations are aimed at what farmers and landowners can do next, and how they can make existing programs work more effectively in their communities. After a summary of the guide, the workshops present an overview of new and proposed state policies on farmland preservation and land use, and conclude with an outline of options that landowners can pursue to seek land-use policies at the local level.

One unanticipated benefit of the Traveling Toolbox may be education among people in agricultural and environmental organizations. In workshops that include multiple presenters, those speakers have the opportunity to share ideas and see each other’s presentations. American Farmland Trust has received favorable comments about the landowners guide and its presentations. AFT Ohio Director Brian Williams has appeared at forums with the Ohio Department of Agriculture, Ohio Farm Bureau Federation, extension agents and representatives of local land trusts and soil and water conservation districts.