Ohio holding contest to show that “Ag is Cool!”

Apr 15, 2015

Entries will be accepted until Friday, June 5th, 2015

How cool is agriculture?

That’s the question hoping to be answered by the creative minds of elementary and high school students in Ohio with the “Ag is Cool!” contest.

Students will have until Friday, June 5^th to create a piece that describes why they think Ohio agriculture is cool. Prizes for winning entries include tickets to the Ohio State Fair.

There will be four categories of entrants and one winner will be chosen from each:

Students from kindergarten to grade 2 can submit a photo, drawing or painting. Students in grades 3-5, 6-8 and 9-12 can submit a video, photo, drawing or painting.

Students in the fourth grade attend the Ohio State Fair for free by simply showing their report card and are eligible to win a $500 scholarship if they write an essay about what they learned about Ohio agriculture.

The winners will be recognized by the office of Governor John R. Kasich and other state officials on Wednesday, July 29^th, 2015 at the Ohio State Fair.

The entries will be judged based on some of the following criteria:

Does it represent the “Ag is Cool!” theme?
Does it accurately reflect agriculture in the 21^st century?
How are images of Ohio used creatively?

There are also a variety of rules that must be followed when applying for the contest:

Students must be enrolled during the 2014-2015 academic year.
Videos can’t exceed three minutes in length including introductions and other credits.
Use of PowerPoint is not allowed and the content must be original.
Photos can’t be larger than 11x14 inches.
Drawings and paintings cannot be bigger than 24x30 inches.

Join the conversation and tell us if Ohio’s “Ag is Cool!” contest is something that interests you. If you were to submit an entry, what would it be?

Taking pictures is one of the ways students can win the "Ag is Cool!" contest.
Balaza Kovacs
Shutterstock.com

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.