COLUMBUS, Ohio -- For four decades, Ohio State University Extension has been providing Ohio farmers with everything they ever wanted to know about crop production and management with the Ohio Agronomy Guide.
Recommendations, practices and techniques may have changed over time, but the focus of the publication remains the same: to serve as the official go-to agronomic research and educational reference manual.
"The publication started in the late 1960s, and it was a way to get a lot of recommendations and information about crop production to producers in an all-in-one reference book," said Jim Beuerlein, an OSU Extension agronomist and Ohio Agronomy Guide contributor. "It focuses on slowly-changing production practices, so it gets revised about every five to 10 years."
The 14th edition, revised last fall, is now available. The 158 soft-cover manual addresses such topics as climate, soil and water management, soil fertility, corn, soybean, small grain and forage production, multiple cropping, pasture and grazing management, alternative crops, seed quality, weed management and variety evaluation. Tables, maps, graphs, charts, and photographs are also peppered throughout the publication. Ohio State scientists in fields of agronomy, entomology, plant pathology, weed science, nutrient management, forage, and soil fertility contributed information to the publication.
Aspects of information highlighted in the Ohio Agronomy Guide are also available online at Ohio State's Agronomic Crops Team Web site at http://agcrops.osu.edu.
In addition to being an invaluable resource tool for farmers, the Ohio Agronomy Guide is also a course requirement and training manual for a variety of OSU Extension workshops and conferences. "The publication is a good way to receive Certified Crop Advisor credits," said Beuerlein.
For a copy of the Ohio Agronomy Guide, contact any OSU Extension County office. The cost of the publication is $8.