Washington County Commissioner Charlie Schilling (from left), County Commissioner James Booth, County Engineer Roger Wright, Ohio State University Extension Educator Marcus McCartney and Washington County Fiscal Manager Ben Cowdery discuss extension service updates on Thursday morning. (Photo By Michelle Dillon)

Washington County Commissioners received an update on Ohio State University Extension’s Washington County Office after the commission meeting Thursday morning.

OSU Extension Educator Marcus McCartney spoke with commissioners about events at the Washington County Office.

McCartney said that the office held its second annual row crop update on Tuesday. It was a three hour program that was held at Napoli’s, with 26 farmers attending. According to McCartney, the row crop update is a multi-county effort between Washginton, Morgan, Meigs and Athens counties.

“We have a lot of good programs coming up, a lot of online programs,” McCartney said about the extension office.

The office will be giving farmers updates on weeds, insects, and nematodes this year too, he said.

McCartney said the office will have recertifications for Beef Quality Assurance in February. The program is industry-driven. American beef is the gold standard around the world and he wants to make sure to keep it that way.

McCartney discussed the importance of farmers having a Beef Quality Assurance certification.

“From a business standpoint it only makes sense for our farmers to get that because if they do, if they don’t have it they could lose out on a potential bid,” he said.

The Washington County office also has pesticide recertification coming up, he said.

According to the OSU Extension Service Washington County Office’s website, the recertification is for people who apply pesticides and fertilizer.

McCartney said that in March he will be going around southeast Ohio and giving presentations at schools on soil and composting.

McCartney discussed the Extension’s Farmer’s Market as well.

He said there have been a lot of changes for the Farmer’s Market in the last four years. These changes include things like making sure vendors follow Ohio Department of Agriculture and health department rules.

He also talked about a change in requiring licensing of vendors.

“We’re very strict on everyone having their, if you’re gonna sell this you need a commercial license,” McCartney said.

McCartney announced that the Farmer’s Market hours are changing. Beginning in March the hours will be 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. instead of 8 a.m. to 12 p.m., he said. According to McCartney, the change to the times the Farmer’s Market is open is due to the office asking vendors what they wanted to do.

McCartney announced a big research project that will be starting in Washington County.

The OSU Extension Washington County Office will be doing deer damage research of deer damage on farms. They will study three farms and are partnering with the Farm Bureau for this study, McCartney said.

McCartney said during the meeting that the office has an Ag Night coming up.

According to the OSU Extension Service Washington County Office’s website, Ag Night is Feb. 22 from 6-9 p.m. at the Washington County Career Center. The keynote speaker will be Rachel Wagner, Editor of Farm and Dairy, a newspaper. There will be breakout sessions on Beef Quality Assurance, improving the value of standing timber, dealing with family dysfunctionality in farm succession and estate planning and soil 101.

To learn more about ag night and other OSU Extension events through the Washington County Office visit https://washington.osu.edu/.