Connections Newsletter: Fall 2020

By Bradford Sherman
South Centers/CFAES

Dr. Hanping Wang’s latest book, Sex Control In Aquaculture, has been named one of the best aquaculture books of all time by the popular book recommendation and ranking website BookAuthority.com.

The 888-page, two-volume book is a comprehensive resource that covers all aspects of sex control in aquaculture, and was written by internationally-acclaimed scientists. Wang, who serves as the Principal Scientist and Director of the Aquaculture Research Center and Aquaculture Genetics and Breeding Laboratory at The Ohio State University South Centers, was the editor of the book alongside Francesc Piferrer and Song-Lin Chen. 

The book’s first edition was published in January 2019 by Wiley-Blackwell.

BookAuthority is one of the world’s leading websites for book recommendations by thought leaders, and aids people in finding the best books on any topic. The site serves millions of book recommendations every month and has been featured on CNN, Forbes, and Inc.

BookAuthority describes its ratings as “objective and unbiased,” as they are calculated based purely on data. A proprietary algorithm uses public mentions, recommendations, ratings, sentiment, and sales history to rate each book.

In addition to Wang, South Centers staff members Zhi-Gang Shen, Hong Yao, Dean Rapp, and Paul O’Bryant also contributed to authoring chapters in the book. Sarah Swanson provided chapter coordination and Bradford Sherman, Joy Bauman, and Jordan Bostic contributed to the book by providing English language editing.
Additionally, Sex Control in Aquaculture also recognized as one of the best new aquaculture eBooks of 2020. A hardcover copy of the book or downloadable Kindle digital version are both for sale from Amazon.

The Appalachian Export Development Program is an initiative for eligible businesses in the Appalachian region of Ohio that are looking to start or grow their exports of products and services.
The program will pair accepted companies with trained export advisors in their area to develop an export plan. Grant funds will be available to help implement the export plan.

Which companies are eligible to apply?
To be eligible, companies must:

• Be located in an Appalachian county as defined by the Appalachia Regional Commission.
• Not exceed size standards as established by the Small Business Administration.
• Not have been a recipient of the International Market Access Grant for Exporters (IMAGE).
• Have a product or service that can be exported.
• Be willing to be counseled by the Ohio Export Assistance Network.

How to apply?
Companies can apply by completing an application here. The program is seeking five to 10 companies. Companies that are selected will be contacted regarding next steps.
For more information, visit development.ohio.gov/bs/bs_aedp.htm.
 

Ryan Kline is the new Cooperative Development Specialist for the CFAES Center for Cooperatives. Born and raised on a fifth-generation family farm in Ross County, Appalachian agriculture deeply impacted his personal and professional life. In college, his passion for agriculture and history joined. In 2018, he received his BA in History at Ohio University, and this past spring, Kline received his Master’s degree in History at Auburn University, focusing on the history of agriculture, labor, and race. Kline’s previous experience working with county extension offices, private foundations, and museums, helped him to develop a passion for research, youth, and economic development. He hopes to utilize his research knowledge to explore the long history of cooperation in the region. Kline is excited to join a dynamic team that strives for the development and support of cooperatives.

By Ryan Kline
Cooperative Development Specialist

October is National Co-op Month, a celebration of cooperatives that started in 1964. The month is a time for allied organizations and co-ops to promote cooperative values and advantages. This year’s theme is “Co-ops Commit: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion,” which supports an important conversation about change and action in the cooperative community.
One step toward making diversity and racial equity not just an intention, but a reality, is forming an inclusive cooperative history. Including African American, Latinx, and Appalachian co-ops in U.S. cooperative history highlights the long tradition of cooperation among BIPOC and socioeconomically disadvantaged communities and creates an accurate understanding of the movement.
Highlighting the importance of including these histories, I selected three case studies from Appalachia, African American, and Latinx cooperatives, each of which show just the fraction of the communities’ cooperative impact.

Appalachian Cooperative Networks Before Rural Electrification
The growth of rural electric cooperatives in the 1930s and 40s brought electricity and technological advancements, such as water pumps and agricultural machines, to much of rural America. Though these coops created an electrical transformation, cooperation was familiar to many rural areas, including Appalachia. From community care to unions, Appalachians had utilized community networks to cooperate for generations.

Before the rural electrification efforts, community members and farmers in the South and Appalachia, according to the Southern Oral History Program, kept telephone networks up and running for rural areas, which was only possible through cooperation. Dema Lyall, a native Appalachian from North Carolina, born in 1918, said, “I don’t remember when we just didn’t have a telephone.” Farmers and residents worked together to provide telephones to local communities, typically working in networks of 8-10.

In some cases, telephone lines were widely available to areas that would not see any electrification efforts until the early 1940s. The community networks that supported these local telephone lines may have supported cooperatives’ growth over corporations during the Rural Electric Administration’s campaign the 30s and 40s. The cooperative networks established before rural electric coops highlight a much longer history of cooperation in the Appalachia.

The Freedom Quilting Bee, Alabama 1960s
By 1967, generations of Black men and women struggled under the sharecropping economic system, where white plantation owners often bonded people to the land through debt and labor. With the Civil Rights Movement, a group of Black craftswomen in Alabama sought to leave sharecropping and generate independent income with an increasingly popular commodity: quilts.

Started by a group of Black women near Selma, Alabama, the Freedom Quilting Bee collectively quilted cloth scraps into usable blankets. They hoped to generate individual income for their sharecropper spouses, families, and themselves. However, as Dr. Jessica Gordon Nembhard found, these women not only supported their families, but also promoted community economic stability. The Freedom Quilting Bee bought 23 acres of land, provided housing for evicted farmers, formed childcare cooperatives, and supported community solidarity, fostering growing support from within the cooperative and the community.

The Freedom Quilting Bee Coop highlights how Black women regained economic control through cooperation. When the traditional socioeconomic parameters oppressed these craftswomen, they mobilized collective power for themselves and the community. By including the quilting bee cooperative in the American cooperative movement’s history, the real economic advantage and community stability that cooperation offers to members becomes clearer.

Exploring Latinx Cooperatives
In a recent study, the University of Wisconsin Center for Cooperatives explored the growing cooperative movement in Latinx communities. In Latinx Co-op Power in the U.S., Dr. Jessica Gordon Nembhard and Esther West reveal a rich and expansive network of 180 Latinx cooperatives. Though Latinx cooperative history has not been studied in the American movement, Latin American communities across North America have a strong tradition of cooperation. 

In their sample survey, Nembhard and West uncovered that most Latinx coops are urban and suburban, with nearly 89% located in urban areas. From credit unions to agriculture and food co-ops, there were Latinx cooperatives in every sector. The results also revealed that most coops were younger businesses, with only two Latinx co-ops formed before 2000. Between 2004 and 2020, Latinx cooperative numbers skyrocketed, with 14 developing within the last five years. Though the 180 cooperatives surveyed does not depict the entire Latinx co-op community, the study makes important strides in Latinx co-op development and efforts to integrate them into the national cooperative movement history.

The diversity of cooperatives in the United States has expanded tenfold with recent studies; however, these cooperators are often overlooked in history. Though many are familiar with the Rochdale pioneers, perhaps a more inclusive history of American cooperation should begin with indigenous networks of cooperation, such as John Curl’s For All The People. With the addition of BIPOC and underserved communities, the history of the U.S. cooperative movement becomes both more inclusive and accurate.
 

By Dr. Gary Gao
Professor and Extension Specialist

This year has been quite challenging in many ways; COVID-19, obviously, is one of those. As you read this article, I hope it finds you healthy and that conditions are improving where you live. COVID-19 is an invisible enemy and we need to work together to defeat it. 

Another challenge in 2020 was the crazy weather. Fruit production can be quite dependent on weather conditions and spring frost and freezes did hurt some of the fruit crops. Fortunately, some crops came through well, considering what has happened this year. As we try to put the 2020 in rearview mirror, here are some things we have learned and done.

• Remote Learning can be quite effective. Admittedly, I was not that excited about using this tool known as Zoom initially, but quickly realized that remote learning would be around for a while. With some serious training, I learned how to use it effectively. We hosted a Fruit Research Update with Live Q&A. More than 90 people had registered for the class. A few of them attended the program live while others watched at their leisure as an “on-demand” option. Overall, it was a success. We will keep tweaking our programs to make our future programs more engaging. Our upcoming programs will include the annual Fruit Pruning Workshop, as well as a Blueberry School and Bramble School.
• OSU’s Farm Science Review went virtual this year as well. I gave a presentation on blackberry production that went very well. I heard the entire program was quite successful. I, like all of you, do miss the interactions with growers, gardeners, colleagues, and friends.
• OSU Master Gardener State Conference was offered online too. I gave a presentation on raspberry production in the home gardens. Master Gardener volunteers have a special place in my heart; they are very eager to learn and help.

On a more personal front, I have been serving as a University Senator for about two years now. It has been very interesting to attend the senate meetings to learn about the operation of The Ohio State University. As a part of my university senator duties, I served on the Committee for Evaluation of Central Administration. We evaluated Kris Devine and her office last year. Ms. Devine is the Vice President of Operations and Deputy Chief Financial Officer. Here is her website: busfin.osu.edu/people/kristine-devine.

I was quite impressed by their achievements and all of the work that went into what they do. Our committee also made a few suggestions in a committee report on behalf of the faculty council and the university senate. For the year 2020-2021, we will be evaluating Ms. Stacy Rastauskas, Vice President for Government Affairs. Here is her website: oaa.osu.edu/rastauskas-stacy. I am chairing this panel and looking forward to this important task.
If you need to reach me, e-mail is the best way, as I check it regularly. My address is gao.2@osu.edu. With questions through e-mail, I can give you a more detailed and educated answer. Cell phone works well too. I can always give you a call the conventional way. Another way to connect is to schedule a virtual farm visit using Zoom. I have done quite a few of these already, and they have been fun and informative. Call or email me if you would like to schedule one.

In the meantime, stay healthy and safe!

By Christie Welch
Direct Marketing Program Manager

While 2020 has been a challenge for us all, the Ohio State University Direct Food and Agricultural Marketing Program has continued to help Ohio’s direct marketers continue to serve their customers and run their businesses. Ohio’s farmers are still farming, and Ohio’s consumers are still accessing the locally produced foods they have come to love and expect, but how they go about that, in many ways, has changed.  

The team was awarded funding from North Central Region Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program to help producers evaluate and adopt online sales platforms.  This project allowed Ohio producers to learn from their peers about online sales platforms that have been successfully adopted by these producers. In addition, while some producers had adopted online sales platforms prior to the pandemic, the change brought about by COVID-19 has accelerated the need for many more to do so. If you are interested in these online platforms you can view the recorded presentations here: go.osu.edu/sareonlinesales.

During the busy fall season, as people were looking for safe activities and events in which to take part, our team worked with other Extension experts to develop a bulletin to assist these operators develop a plan to offer on-farm activities to Ohioans in a safe manner.  Many agritourism operations put plans in place to limit the number of persons on the farm at a single time to allow for social distancing.  In addition, they modified some of their activities to ensure safety.  While things continue to be impacted by the pandemic, Ohio’s farmers are still offering the opportunity to take part in family traditions that many have come to love, such as sunflower picking, apple picking, pumpkin picking, and shopping at farms and farmers markets.

The team also collaborated with the OSU Farm to School program to create a video about how Ohio apples are grown, picked, packed, and distributed to consumers to enjoy.  The video was part of the Midwest Apple Crunch, which encourages people to eat apples as part of a healthy diet. You can view the video by visiting farmtoschool.osu.edu/2020/09/28/apple-crunch-virtual-event-2020/.

And as we continue to adjust to life amid the pandemic, we continue to work with our producers to adapt their businesses.  The Direct Marketing Program is collaborating with the Farmers Market Coalition and the Ohio Farmers Market Network to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of Ohio farmers markets’ work in data collection, and training managers and Extension educators on the suite of available tools and appropriate methodologies to help create a culture of shared data collection and use to increase the sustainability and success of farmers markets. The first phase of the project is to create a database of farmers markets that collect data, and understand how they use that data for decision-making. This three-year project is funded by USDA’s Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program. Over the course of the project, the hope is to help create a culture of data collection and use among Ohio farmers markets in an effort to help them with decision-making and planning to increase this important market channel for Ohio’s direct marketing farmers and food producers.

If you would like to learn more, contact Christie Welch via email to welch.183@osu.edu.