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Ohio Secretary of State Features Ag Businesses

In honor of Ohio’s largest industry, Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted is recognizing agribusinesses as part of the Ohio Business Profile initiative, which highlights great businesses across the state. Ohio is home to 1,100 farms registered as century or bicentennial operations, 73 of which have been in the same family for more than 200 years.

“If you like food, you should thank a farmer,” Secretary Husted said. “Agriculture is our state’s number-one industry and the businesses profiled this month are doing great work to provide safe nutrition and stable employment to our communities as well as be good stewards of our natural resources.”

One in every seven Ohioans is employed in an agriculture-related field and the industry contributes approximately $105 billion to the state’s economy each year. With more than 14 million acres of farmland, the state ranks 13th nationally for agriculture exports.

Companies profiled this month include:

  • Michael Farms (Urbana, Ohio) provides nutritious, quality fresh vegetables throughout Ohio and surrounding areas, employing 25 full time workers and as many as 100 seasonal workers during the harvest season. Over its 50 year history, they have grown to be one of the largest vegetable farms in the state with 2,500 acres.

  • The Farm on Kenyon Road (Mount Vernon, Ohio) was founded as just a small family farm, but now offers an on-farm market, fresh produce, herbs, eggs and jams to the surrounding community. They also now feature a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program and work with nearby Kenyon College to give hands-on experiences to area students.

  • Stacy Family Farm (Marietta, Ohio) is a fifth-generation Ohio Century Farm that hosts approximately 2,000 young children for agriculture-related educational field trips. They recently expanded their operations to allow u-pick blueberries and blackberries in addition to their self-picking strawberry fields.

  • Carriage House Farm (North Bend, Ohio) has been a single-family owned Ohio Century Farm since 1855. They supply a number wide range of regional buyers from Whole Foods to small mom and pop shops, butchers, and groceries.

  • The Blueberry Patch (Mansfield, Ohio) is a 27,000 plant, 80-acre, family-friendly farm with u-pick blueberries, a greenhouse, winery, and café.

  • Luckey Farmers (Woodville, Ohio) serves approximately 2,000 members with grain marketing, plant food, seed, feed, and other supplies. Established in 1919, the farm was named for the small town of Luckey.

  • Bluescreek Farm Meats (Columbus, Ohio) is a family farm and butcher shop that raises 90 percent of everything they sell in downtown Columbus, Ohio. They raise hormone and antibiotic-free animals and offer a number of educational opportunities including butchery and cooking classes as well as having created a mobile phone app with cooking advice.

  • The Spicy Lamb Farm (Peninsula, Ohio) raises sheep and ducks and offers organic apples, pears, and plums while focusing their efforts on agritourism opportunities and environmental stewardship. They also sell wool blankets, yarns, and fiber crafts both on site and at the Yellow Creek Trading Company, also in Peninsula.

  • Green City Growers Cooperative (Cleveland, Ohio) is an innovative enterprise designed to hire from urban Cleveland neighborhoods, provide employment, and build long-term financial assets for their team members. The greenhouse also donates one percent of all the leafy greens produced to the Cleveland Foodbank.

Launched in June 2011, Ohio Business Profile  has helped raise awareness about companies registered and doing business in Ohio that are creating interesting products, offering outstanding service, contributing to their local communities and employing Ohioans in the process. Each month, a handful of diverse businesses linked together by a common theme are featured on the Secretary of State’s website, where Ohioans are encouraged to go to submit companies they feel are deserving of recognition in future months.

The Secretary of State’s office also releases a monthly report of new business filings in Ohio and recent data has shown that Ohio experienced another record year for the number of newly-registered businesses. In fact, over the course of the past five years, the number of new business filings has grown by 24 percent. One reason for the growth has been the launch of online services. In October 2013, Secretary Husted launched Ohio Business Central allowing businesses to file some of the most commonly used forms online and services continue to be expanded. Since January 2011, more than 340,000 filings have been submitted and half of all new companies are now started online in Ohio.

 

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