Just a quick reminder of the Inversion & Drift Mitigation Workshop on Tuesday, April 10, from 10 a.m. to noon: You can attend in-person at the Ohio 4-H Center in Columbus or online at go.osu.edu/IPM. This workshop will focus on inversions—what causes them, how to recognize them, and how to avoid them. There is no cost to attend, but pre-registration is required for in-person attendees at go.osu.edu/IPM.

A Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs) class will be held in Hardin County on Wednesday, April 11. GAPS classes are training sessions for fruit and vegetable producers taught by personnel from Ohio State University’s Fruit and Vegetable Safety Program. The April 11 program will be from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. at the Scioto Valley Produce Auction on County Road 200, Mount Victory.

Good Agricultural Practices are a series of voluntary management guidelines that can help to reduce the risks of microbial contamination of fruits and vegetables. GAPs can be incorporated into any production system and targets pre-harvest and post-harvest practices. GAPs address four major routes of foodborne pathogen contamination of fresh produce: water, waste, wildlife and workers.

GAPs training programs through OSU provide growers with the knowledge and tools needed to implement on-farm best management practices to reduce fresh produce safety hazards and ensure that their product is safe. The class costs $25 which helps to cover the expense of training materials and instructors. This class is open to all fruit and vegetable producers, but this class does not equate to being ‘GAPs Certified’ through USDA.

For more information on GAPs programs, go to producesafety.osu.edu. Please contact Mark Badertscher, Hardin County OSU Extension Educator, at 419-674-2297 to register for the class.

OSU Extension and the OSU Eastern Agriculture Research Station (EARS) in Belle Valley will be offering a Beef Cattle Artificial Insemination (A.I.) School May 1, 2 and 3. Classes will run from 9 a.m. to approximately 2:30 p.m. each day at the Research Station. Producers will learn the basics of utilizing Expected Progeny Difference (EPD’s), techniques for artificial insemination, semen handling, reproductive anatomy and physiology, and estrous synchronization. On the third day the class will practice artificial insemination on beef cattle.

The cost of the class is $100 which covers all materials and lunch. Registration is required and the class size is limited to 20 participants, filled on a first-come/first-serve basis. For more information go to Guernsey.osu.edu and look under “events on the right-hand side of the page.

The Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA) has introduced a new sensitive crop registry to enhance communication between applicators and producers in Ohio. The Ohio Sensitive Crop Registry (OSCR), brought to you by FieldWatch, will allow beekeepers and commercial producers of specialty crops (such as tomatoes, fruit trees, grapes and organic crops) to register and map their sites online with an easy-to-use mapping tool and provide contact information about their operation. Pesticide applicators can access the site to help determine the scope and location of specialty crops and beehives in their areas. Registered applicators can sign up to receive email notifications when new specialty crop fields or beehives are added to their designated state, county or areas.

This registry is free and voluntary to use. Both commercial and hobby beekeepers can use the system; however, only managers and owners of specialty crop fields that are used for commercial production and are at least a half-acre in size will have fields approved by the state data steward. OSCR is not intended for homeowners or those with small gardens. All users (applicators, producers, and beekeepers) need to go to www.fieldwatch.com to create an account to get started.