August 12, 2025 • 7 mins
Ty Higgins of the Ohio Farm Bureau gives the latest growing conditions and discusses how the BBB is helping farmers
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Let's go over to the Legacy Retirement Group dot com
phone line and check in with our friend Ty Higgins
from the Ohio Farm Bureau.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
It's been a while, Ti, how's your summer going.
Speaker 3 (00:09):
Yeah, Mike, so far, so good. It's been awful hot,
and that has caused some consternation among the egg community
as we have the growing season continue, but we can
talk about that here in a bit.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Yeah, we'll get to that in a second. So the
dust is settled on the State Fair. I'm sure you
spent some time on the fairgrounds. How'd everything go for.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
You, guys? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (00:26):
Dust literally right. There's a lot of work going on
there too. One of the construction projects is for a
new AGG building in twenty twenty six, so we're really
excited about that. To really showcase everything that Ohio agriculture
has to offer, and you and I have talked about
this before. The State Fair is the place for those
not involved in farming or food production to really learn
(00:47):
about the process and what goes into getting three meals
a day in front of us on the kitchen table,
and so to really be able to highlight that in
a new way next year is really exciting. But to
recap twenty twenty five. I think you know, we had
a fantastic fair. A lot of great kids brought their
animals and were able to show them off, not just
(01:07):
to the judges but to the general public. And again,
just a great way to showcase Ohio's number one, number
one industry. But it was hot, it was steamy, and
it was the State Fair.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Indeed it was, and a good time was had by all.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
So you mentioned the heat tie and how it's affecting
farmers and crops right now, as I would imagine you're
starting to think about harvesting some things. But you know,
I think about the weather and it's been hot. July
was hot, but we did get a lot of rain
during those days of extreme heat until about, I don't know,
ten days ago. I felt like we turned the corner
into August and we had the heat continued, but the
(01:40):
rain kind of disappeared on us.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
So talk about the crop conditions.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
Yeah, I've been in all four corners of the state
and all points in between over the last couple of weeks,
and almost every farmer to a person has said the
word variability about this year's crop. We are seeing a
little bit of everything and really it was because of
the challenging planting season. We were able to get in
pretty early on at the end of April to start planting,
but then we had about three or four weeks where
(02:04):
mother Nature just did not give us a break with
rain and we weren't able to get back into the
fields until late May and maybe a couple of weeks
into June, which is really late for planting corn and soybeans.
So the early Planet stuff is looking really good right now.
The later Planet stuff got into that heat during a
really important part of the growing season. So I would
say the crop is average right now. According to USDA,
(02:27):
corn is fifty eight percent good to excellent, soybeans are
fifty five percent good to excellent, So there's a good
crop out there. I think the beans are going to
be better than the corn. But this hot and steamy
weather in some places Mike that had no rain last
year has too much rain this year. It was gone
from one extreme to another, and I guess that's just
called farming. So it is. You know, challenging is a
(02:50):
word you'll hear an awful lot from farmers, and variabilities
certainly one of the top things you're going to hear
as well.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
But as compared to last year, we were talking a
lot last year, Ty Higgins from the Farm Bureau about
the lack of water just all all throughout the state.
I mean, we were in severe drought situations and feel
like it rained once in June and it didn't rain
again until late August.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
Not quite the case. We do have more water this year.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
Though, Yeah, but too much of a good thing sometimes
isn't a good thing. And some farmers were feeling that,
especially in south central Ohio where the rain just was
relentless and then continued on through the summer. And we're
not talking about an inch or or two here or there.
We're talking about four or five six inches of rain
in one storm, and that does no good for young
(03:33):
crops out there in the field. So we are going
to have a better crop than last year, There's no
doubt about it across the state. But you know, that
extreme from one to the other certainly has some farmers
scratching their heads this year.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
Well, just keep that sweet corn coming my way, because
I've I've had a couple of good years so far,
and keep the vine ripen tomatoes coming my way. I
love going down to my local farmers market and grabbing
some stuff and eating like a king on the weekend.
So how important are these I mean farmers markets that
really in the last five or ten years just exploded
(04:06):
and you have more access I feel like now more
than ever, to fresh, quality grown produce in the state
of Ohio.
Speaker 3 (04:13):
Yeah, and we're seeing more of those types of farmers
around the state. We've seen growth in that small farm,
that niche farm category over the last ten years across Ohio,
and that means more small farmers able to take their
produce to the community and again build that relationship with
someone that may not know where their food comes from
and have some really important conversations about what goes into
(04:33):
food production. And I say it every day, if it
were easy, we would all be doing it. It is
not for the faint of heart, but for those that
do get into it and get to be pretty good
at it, we're very thankful that they're able to learn
that craft and feed the rest of us. One farmer
feeds about one hundred and seventy people across the country.
So it's a daunting process, but a lot of those
(04:56):
small farmers are getting into production agriculture and helping all
their communities across the state.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
That's a great stat Ty Higgins, Ohio Farm Bureau.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
A lot of what you do TAI is navigate the
waters in legislation, in politics, you do spend time in Washington,
d c. On behalf of the farmers in the state
of Ohio. What are you looking at now? I see
the governor signed the Farm Bureau Health Plans Bill into
law last month. That's a good thing, So talk about legislatively.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
Where are you Yeah, so you mentioned health plans here
in the Buckeye state. That's going to give Ohio Farm
Bureau members another option for health care. Many farmers work
off the farm just for health care for their family
because they can't afford it if they were just one
hundred percent on their farm. This is going to give
them an option to take a look and see, can
I go back to the farm full time and have
(05:44):
health plan through Ohio Farm Bureau and be able to
do what I love one hundred percent of the time
and not have to worry about the cost of health
care through other programs, whether it be government or not.
So that's a big win for Ohio Farm Bureau. Another
big win for farm not just here in Ohio, but
across the US was the One Big Beautiful Bill. As
(06:05):
much as we've talked about other things in that agriculture
had a big stake with a lot of Farm Bill
provisions that were put into that bill. Because if you
and I have talked for the past couple of years
about the Farm Bill expiring once, expiring twice, getting ready
to expire again. Well, now, a lot of the things
we are pushing for, as far as safety net programs
for our commodities, crop insurance, those two things have been
(06:25):
beefed up through the One Big Beautiful Bill. Conservation programs
will continue. But really one thing that I've really kept
an eye on is trade promotion. For the first time
in a long time, if ever, over the past two years,
we have seen a trade deficit for agriculture products. We
are bringing in more ag products than we're shipping out
to other countries. So to have some funding in this
(06:46):
One Big Beautiful Bill to look across the country, and
not not across country, across the world to find out
where our products could be better utilized and be able
to sell them for better market value here at home
is something that is very important and something that we
need to really folksocus on as we lose more market
share to our major trading partners like China
Let's go over to the Legacy Retirement Group dot com
phone line and check in with our friend Ty Higgins
from the Ohio Farm Bureau.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
It's been a while, Ti, how's your summer going.
Speaker 3 (00:09):
Yeah, Mike, so far, so good. It's been awful hot,
and that has caused some consternation among the egg community
as we have the growing season continue, but we can
talk about that here in a bit.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Yeah, we'll get to that in a second. So the
dust is settled on the State Fair. I'm sure you
spent some time on the fairgrounds. How'd everything go for.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
You, guys? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (00:26):
Dust literally right. There's a lot of work going on
there too. One of the construction projects is for a
new AGG building in twenty twenty six, so we're really
excited about that. To really showcase everything that Ohio agriculture
has to offer, and you and I have talked about
this before. The State Fair is the place for those
not involved in farming or food production to really learn
(00:47):
about the process and what goes into getting three meals
a day in front of us on the kitchen table,
and so to really be able to highlight that in
a new way next year is really exciting. But to
recap twenty twenty five. I think you know, we had
a fantastic fair. A lot of great kids brought their
animals and were able to show them off, not just
(01:07):
to the judges but to the general public. And again,
just a great way to showcase Ohio's number one, number
one industry. But it was hot, it was steamy, and
it was the State Fair.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Indeed it was, and a good time was had by all.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
So you mentioned the heat tie and how it's affecting
farmers and crops right now, as I would imagine you're
starting to think about harvesting some things. But you know,
I think about the weather and it's been hot. July
was hot, but we did get a lot of rain
during those days of extreme heat until about, I don't know,
ten days ago. I felt like we turned the corner
into August and we had the heat continued, but the
(01:40):
rain kind of disappeared on us.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
So talk about the crop conditions.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
Yeah, I've been in all four corners of the state
and all points in between over the last couple of weeks,
and almost every farmer to a person has said the
word variability about this year's crop. We are seeing a
little bit of everything and really it was because of
the challenging planting season. We were able to get in
pretty early on at the end of April to start planting,
but then we had about three or four weeks where
(02:04):
mother Nature just did not give us a break with
rain and we weren't able to get back into the
fields until late May and maybe a couple of weeks
into June, which is really late for planting corn and soybeans.
So the early Planet stuff is looking really good right now.
The later Planet stuff got into that heat during a
really important part of the growing season. So I would
say the crop is average right now. According to USDA,
(02:27):
corn is fifty eight percent good to excellent, soybeans are
fifty five percent good to excellent, So there's a good
crop out there. I think the beans are going to
be better than the corn. But this hot and steamy
weather in some places Mike that had no rain last
year has too much rain this year. It was gone
from one extreme to another, and I guess that's just
called farming. So it is. You know, challenging is a
(02:50):
word you'll hear an awful lot from farmers, and variabilities
certainly one of the top things you're going to hear
as well.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
But as compared to last year, we were talking a
lot last year, Ty Higgins from the Farm Bureau about
the lack of water just all all throughout the state.
I mean, we were in severe drought situations and feel
like it rained once in June and it didn't rain
again until late August.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
Not quite the case. We do have more water this year.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
Though, Yeah, but too much of a good thing sometimes
isn't a good thing. And some farmers were feeling that,
especially in south central Ohio where the rain just was
relentless and then continued on through the summer. And we're
not talking about an inch or or two here or there.
We're talking about four or five six inches of rain
in one storm, and that does no good for young
(03:33):
crops out there in the field. So we are going
to have a better crop than last year, There's no
doubt about it across the state. But you know, that
extreme from one to the other certainly has some farmers
scratching their heads this year.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
Well, just keep that sweet corn coming my way, because
I've I've had a couple of good years so far,
and keep the vine ripen tomatoes coming my way. I
love going down to my local farmers market and grabbing
some stuff and eating like a king on the weekend.
So how important are these I mean farmers markets that
really in the last five or ten years just exploded
(04:06):
and you have more access I feel like now more
than ever, to fresh, quality grown produce in the state
of Ohio.
Speaker 3 (04:13):
Yeah, and we're seeing more of those types of farmers
around the state. We've seen growth in that small farm,
that niche farm category over the last ten years across Ohio,
and that means more small farmers able to take their
produce to the community and again build that relationship with
someone that may not know where their food comes from
and have some really important conversations about what goes into
(04:33):
food production. And I say it every day, if it
were easy, we would all be doing it. It is
not for the faint of heart, but for those that
do get into it and get to be pretty good
at it, we're very thankful that they're able to learn
that craft and feed the rest of us. One farmer
feeds about one hundred and seventy people across the country.
So it's a daunting process, but a lot of those
(04:56):
small farmers are getting into production agriculture and helping all
their communities across the state.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
That's a great stat Ty Higgins, Ohio Farm Bureau.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
A lot of what you do TAI is navigate the
waters in legislation, in politics, you do spend time in Washington,
d c. On behalf of the farmers in the state
of Ohio. What are you looking at now? I see
the governor signed the Farm Bureau Health Plans Bill into
law last month. That's a good thing, So talk about legislatively.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
Where are you Yeah, so you mentioned health plans here
in the Buckeye state. That's going to give Ohio Farm
Bureau members another option for health care. Many farmers work
off the farm just for health care for their family
because they can't afford it if they were just one
hundred percent on their farm. This is going to give
them an option to take a look and see, can
I go back to the farm full time and have
(05:44):
health plan through Ohio Farm Bureau and be able to
do what I love one hundred percent of the time
and not have to worry about the cost of health
care through other programs, whether it be government or not.
So that's a big win for Ohio Farm Bureau. Another
big win for farm not just here in Ohio, but
across the US was the One Big Beautiful Bill. As
(06:05):
much as we've talked about other things in that agriculture
had a big stake with a lot of Farm Bill
provisions that were put into that bill. Because if you
and I have talked for the past couple of years
about the Farm Bill expiring once, expiring twice, getting ready
to expire again. Well, now, a lot of the things
we are pushing for, as far as safety net programs
for our commodities, crop insurance, those two things have been
(06:25):
beefed up through the One Big Beautiful Bill. Conservation programs
will continue. But really one thing that I've really kept
an eye on is trade promotion. For the first time
in a long time, if ever, over the past two years,
we have seen a trade deficit for agriculture products. We
are bringing in more ag products than we're shipping out
to other countries. So to have some funding in this
(06:46):
One Big Beautiful Bill to look across the country, and
not not across country, across the world to find out
where our products could be better utilized and be able
to sell them for better market value here at home
is something that is very important and something that we
need to really folksocus on as we lose more market
share to our major trading partners like China
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