The Bean Pod
Join Matt Reese as he talks all things soybean farming. Brought to you by Ohio Soybean farmers and their checkoff.
The Bean Pod
The BEAN POD August 2026
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The BEAN POD is a joint project of the Ohio Soybean Council and the Ohio Soybean Association hosted by Matt Reese.
The Ohio State Fair recently wrapped up after welcoming nearly 100,000 visitors to the massive new Ohio Agriculture Center. In this episode you’ll get to hear about the value of partnerships and teamwork in Ohio agriculture from Ohio Department of Agriculture director Brian Baldridge.
From the Ohio Soybean Association you’ll also get a Soy in Session Policy Update with incoming executive director Brandon Kern and manager of policy and demand Kiley Holbrook.
Along with a broad cross section of agriculture in the state, Ohio’s soybean farmers invested in the youth and consumer content featured in the impressive new Ohio Agricultural Center at the State Fair. Such investment demands a strong return. This episode wraps up with insights into the farmer ROI through perspectives from beyond the soybean industry with Adam Sharp, Executive Vice President of Ohio Farm Bureau, and Adam Heffron, Executive Director of the Ohio Expo Center.
One farmer feeds many. Many Farmers Feed all.
Brought to you by Ohio soybean farmers and their checkoff.
Welcome to the Bean, a joint project of the Ohio Soybean Council and the Ohio Soybean Association. I'm your humble host, Matt Reese. The Ohio State Fair recently wrapped up after welcoming nearly 100,000 visitors to the massive new Ohio Agriculture Center. In this episode, you'll get to hear about the value of partnerships and teamwork from Ohio Agriculture, and we'll talk ROI of the large agricultural investment in the Ohio State Fair. From the Ohio Soybean Association, you'll also get a soy in session policy update. Up first, though, Ohio Soybeans Brandon Kern and Ohio Department of Agriculture Director Brian Baldridge share about the value of partnerships and teamwork in Ohio Agriculture from the new facility at the Ohio State Fair. I'm your humble host, Matt Reese, and I'm joined today by Director of the Ohio Department of Agriculture, Brian Baldridge, and our own Brandon Kern with Ohio Soybean Council. Thanks, guys, for being here. Absolutely. We are at the Ohio State Fair in the new building, and this has been a long time coming. A lot of effort, a lot of work has gone into this. And uh Director Baldridge, from your perspective at the Ohio Department of Agriculture, what do you look forward to at the Ohio State Fair? Why is this a valuable uh investment for Ohio Agriculture, Ohio's farmers, and Ohio's soybean farmers specifically?
SPEAKER_02Sure, Matt. And as we think about the state fair and what it means to Ohio, but most of all what it means to Ohio agriculture. I mean, this is our uh it's a foundation of an agricultural show. That's the foundation of this fair. And as we know that our barns, our young people are just out showing and doing great work and just doing the best of the best with our projects. But this new space, the Ohio Agricultural Center, we truly get to tell the Ohio agricultural story to people that maybe this is our only connection with Ohio agriculture besides eating our great products.
SPEAKER_05And uh as we look around at this display, there's a lot of different ways for uh the general public to connect here. Uh for soybeans specifically, Brandon, what are we seeing in this building uh that folks can pull away when they walk through here, they learn about agriculture. What do they learn about soybeans?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, so there's a couple things in this building that are really cool, I think, that help make that connection with consumers. So one of the displays right behind us is talking about uh pests and weeds, and they're kind of displayed in a in a character type of way as the nemesis of of row crop farmers, right? And but it also makes a connection about why uh farmers uh conduct some of the practices, the farm practices that they do, right? Why do we use some of the chemistries that we use, making that connection to the consumer? I think one of the other things that's got uh some of the most traffic and generated some of the most questions, we've got a uh combine in here. And just simply displaying that thing to the consumer. Can't tell me how many people have come up and said, How much does that thing cost? And what does it exactly do? And and and it gives an opportunity for us to talk about those things in our industry that consumers don't get to see every day.
SPEAKER_05It opens up a conversation and j just the cost of a combine. People don't get that, they don't understand the kind of investments that go on out here. And my three-year-old ran straight for that combine. There was a line of uh other young kids waiting, and he ran past them all and started climbing up until we kind of had to pull him off, told him it needed to wait in line because that combine's pretty amazing.
SPEAKER_02It's a nice combine now. I will tell I'm gonna put a little pressure on him. I mean, we're gonna have to have a beanhead in here next year. Because we got a corn head on there, it looks really good.
SPEAKER_04Well, I jotted a couple notes down. Um maybe maybe we alternate every other year, right? We can probably do that. I love it.
SPEAKER_02I wasn't gonna send it to you. I couldn't resist.
SPEAKER_05Uh, when it comes to engaging with the public, why do you uh uh at the Department of Agriculture, what what value do you see in that here at the State Fair?
SPEAKER_02Well, I think we in the agriculture community as a community as a whole. I mean, that's that's truly what we have to do each and every day is tell that story. From the Department of Ag, as you first walk into this building, if you come into the food court, we got our commodity partners there cooking uh great uh meals and serving uh to the fairgoers, and then you shift to the across right across the aisle to the Ohio Department of Agriculture space. And we get to tell people what we do to lift up safety and everything agriculture, food safety, animal health, um, you know, when it we talked about pests and those type of things, the things we do to protect and and uh prevent any con you know things that we can from the agricultural standpoint, uh plus our Ohio Proud store is in there as well. And that is, you know, those companies that are grown, raised, processed, agricultural products right here in the state of Ohio. Um that store is hopping. And basically we're being able to tell that story of what that that product is that's uh you know agricultural based, and folks are just really engaged about it. Plus, we're cooking in there. So, and then you know, we're trying to be the beginning of this massive space, this 100,000 square. It's huge. It is a big space, and so we're gonna catch them first after they get done eating, and then we want to make sure that they're headed back here to see the big picture of everything, all our commodity partners, but today mainly soybean. Uh you know, obviously. Obviously. Um, but you know, to really, really engage. And I tell you, to see the experiences and the smiles and just the questions I'm hearing people ask, you know, they're they're uh they're really engaging, and that's important to what we do in agriculture here in the state of Ohio.
SPEAKER_05Well, we also see a lot of youth come through this fair and uh with their various livestock projects and and other summer projects, but all those livestock, they're eating grain, they're eating soybeans, they're eating corn, uh, and it really uh emphasizes the the the camaraderie and the partnerships that have to exist. Ohio agriculture doesn't exist, any segment doesn't exist in a bubble. Everybody's working together, and this uh display kind of showcases that a little bit, Brandon. Uh as we look at some of the partnerships that it took to pull this off Farm Bureau, Ohio Soybean Council, the governor, the the Ohio Department of Agriculture.
SPEAKER_04This is everybody working together for the greater good, right? Absolutely. Everybody's contributed, you know, financially. So there's farmer dollars involved, invested in this building to help tell the story back to consumers. We all work from our association size to advocate for the public dollars that were allocated to help uh build these facilities and make the you know the brick and mortar facilities possible here on the fairgrounds, and that was a major undertaking as we worked with the legislature on this. We had to partner uh in multiple different ways to make this happen and make it come to fruition. But that's kind of what we do in Ohio, you know. I I'm just so proud of the different commodity groups here in Ohio and how we work together, work with our partners at Farm Bureau. I I think we probably have the best relationships of quite frankly any other state. I don't know if you talk to your other directors of ag, but I really feel like our relationships are so strong here in Ohio.
SPEAKER_02I will add to that, and I talk to my colleagues in my role, you know, the departments of ag all across the country, and I tell the stories of what we do as an agricultural family here in Ohio, and they're like, wow, those are amazing relationships and we're amazing amazing opportunities. Together, we in the ag community, all our commodity friends and partners, we are set up for success when we're together. Yep.
SPEAKER_05And we're getting close to the end of the fair here. I know, Director, you spent a very significant amount of time in this building and around the fairgrounds. What has been your impression? This is the first year for this, uh again, long time coming. Uh, how's the traffic been? How's the response been? What have you been seeing and hearing uh here at the fair?
SPEAKER_02It's it's exceeded my expectations. I really I I knew people were gonna be excited once we got them in here. I thought, ah, are people really gonna work their way to this side of the fairgrounds? Because we're kind of shifting a little bit, kind of the southeast corner with this built building of the campus here on the fairgrounds. I was a little worried about that, but oh my goodness, people have come in, they've sat down in air conditioning. One day they came out of the rain, right? It started raining just a little bit, everybody piled in and they're enjoying those commodity sandwiches, and then getting back here to this backspace. So the flow has been great. Uh I've been really excited, and again, people are just wow factor. I mean, that's the way they're describing it uh as people leave this, and I'm sure you've been hearing it too.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I want to know how many miles you've walked uh during the course of this fair right now, though, because you've been everywhere, my friend, on this grounds.
SPEAKER_02It's steps and Kubota miles. How about that?
SPEAKER_05Probably quite a few of those. Uh and one last one last question, Director. What do you want uh farmers to take away from this? Because uh this uh event is certainly farmer friendly, but some farmers may not make it out to the state fair. They may be busy in the field, they may be busy at the county fair. Uh so they may not be here to see this. What do you want farmers to take away from this new focus on Ohio agriculture here at the fairgrounds from the administration standpoint and from uh the Department of Agriculture standpoint?
SPEAKER_02Sure, and I guess the key message is if you can't make it out this year, I get it, it's busy times. You know, we're all, especially this year with the planning season being so spread out across uh diverse parts of the state. Um, but mark that counter next year uh because I think it's something the ag community can be proud of. Uh really coming in here and seeing this, even getting back to, you know, to the uh to the birthing center and the the that area that the Ohio Veterinary Association is putting on. I mean, we are telling people are they're two or three deep looking at those baby pigs when when the different species were were uh you know having their babies. People were like excited, they just couldn't, they didn't leave. Um, you know, and once they're in this building, we are truly at the end of the day telling the story of what we do each and every day uh in all our commodity partners, feeding Ohioans, feeding the nation, and feeding the world.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. I don't know we can I don't think we can wrap it up any better than that. I will say good. He's done this a couple of years. He is, he's good. Uh the baby animals, my three-year-old loved, but the combine wins. Well, thank you, Director. Thank you, Brandon, uh, for taking a little time to talk here at the Ohio State Fair. Next up on the Bean Pod is the Ohio Soybean Association Soy in Session Policy Update with incoming Executive Director Brandon Kern and manager of policy and demand, Kylie Holbrook. Kylie, what's uh what's going on with uh we've been talking a lot about data centers. People get all fired up about it. What's the update?
SPEAKER_00Yes, sir. There's uh there's been a lot of movement at the state level when it comes to data centers. So we just recently saw a lot of different proposals thrown around. Nothing actually stuck. Uh the state legislature kind of got held up in the Senate, but really focusing on making sure that data centers are carrying their weight when it comes to electricity generation and water usage at the state level. Um, they also threw around the idea of encouraging data centers to develop on brownfield spaces, which is going to be really, really important when we talk about bringing uh business and this this new industry into Ohio, this industry that's uh actually pretty strong in the state already. So we've seen a lot of that. Uh the EPA, the Ohio EPA, actually just recently made a decision to not move forward with a proposal that the Ohio Soybean Association had submitted comments on uh when it comes to water discharge permits for data centers. So we were really excited to see that.
SPEAKER_05Uh yeah, that's a win.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely, a big win. Big win for Ohio's farmers. So that's one big topic that we're talking about a lot on this the state level.
SPEAKER_05And uh I think we'd always be remiss in this update if we did not talk about biofuels. Uh what's what's going on there? It's a uh perennially important topic.
SPEAKER_04Uh incredibly important topic for soybean farmers. You know, biofuels add 13% of value to the soybean crop, and so we're always looking to enhance that market, and it's such it's it's influenced uh quite a bit by public policy. And so if you look at the federal level, we had a huge win last year with the renewable volume obligation. That's the the uh standard for how much biofuel has to be blended into the fuel supply, and the Trump administration finalized a rule to dramatically increase soy-based uh biodiesel uh into that fuel supply. So that was a huge win. We're still working at the federal level, though, to completely finalize the production tax credit, the federal production tax credit that's pending out there. So if you've heard about 45Z, the details are slowly rolling out the industry. Very, very slowly. But you know, we're we're getting there. We're making incremental progress. There's more and more information out about what farmers can do in terms of practices on their farm to enhance the value of that production tax credit at the federal level. And so that information is going to be really important to clarify for farmers. So we'll continue to track that. But Kylie, we're also working on some things at the state level as well, right?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, you mentioned production tax credit, and I think that's a really important piece when we talk about bringing industry into states, and we're really excited to be working with a state legislature on drafting our own biodiesel production tax credit. So be on the lookout for more information on that. Uh, very, very excited as we look to Ohio being a key player in the expansion of this biodiesel industry.
SPEAKER_05Another perennial topic is the farm bill. It seems like you we don't go too long without talking about a farm bill one way or the other, upcoming or finishing one up, or what's the update there?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, so unfortunately, it's more of the same, right? We just can't get this thing completely past the finish line. We think we're getting close, we think we're getting close, and then another hurdle jumps out there. But um unfortunately a vote in the uh U.S. Senate and the Senate Ag Committee uh failed to pass the Senate's version of a of a farm bill out of committee during the committee markup. Uh we've had a farm bill pass the U.S. House, and so you know, we're you know, we felt really good when that was done. I know I felt good personally about it, but it felt like we had a lot of momentum, but there's some still some sticking points in and the farm bill has become uh a partisan political football a little bit and some of the provisions that are out there. We're just gonna have to find a way to work through our coalitions to to finally push this thing across the line. The one good news is that a lot of the financial side of the farm bill was passed under the one big, beautiful bill. So when we look at the crop insurance program, when we look at our Title I programs, uh uh ARC and PLC programs, all the financial enhancements that we really needed to happen in the agriculture industry happened as a part of that package, but we still need a long-term five-year authorization bill done. Uh, you know, what we call a farm bill for a lot of those other programs that were not included in that. We got to get this done at some point. We're hoping that maybe in September. Uh Chairman Bozeman in the Senate Ag Committee has said they're gonna try again for another uh vote at a Senate AG Committee in September. So we'll keep working during the month of August while the members of Congress are at home here, and uh hopefully we can build some momentum to get it passed in September.
SPEAKER_05Now, how important is it for uh members uh to engage on these issues? What do we need to do to move the ball forward on these?
SPEAKER_00It's extremely important. I mean, the the chairman of the Senate Act Committee himself has come out saying we need our farmers to speak up, we need rural America, rural Ohio to speak up about the importance of pieces like the farm bill being passed. So it's gonna be crucial. We can sit here and talk about it, Brandon and I all day, but it hearing from the farmers is what's gonna move this across the finish.
SPEAKER_05The podcast can't be that long to sit here and talk about it all day. Well, guys, I appreciate the update. Uh thanks for that. Uh I've been hearing from Brandon Kern and Kylie Holbrook. Thank you guys. Thanks, Matt. Along with a broad cross-section of agriculture in the state, Ohio soybean farmers invested in the youth and consumer content featured in the impressive new Ohio Agriculture Center at the state fair. Such investment demands a strong return. We wrap up this episode of The Bean Pod with insights into the farmer ROI through perspective from beyond the soybean industry with Adam Sharp, Executive Vice President of Ohio Farm Bureau, and Adam Hefferin, Executive Director of the Ohio Expo Center. So we're very fortunate on uh this episode of the Bean Pod to host a couple of Adams. I've got Adam Sharp with Ohio Farm Bureau and Adam Hefferin here with the Ohio State Fair, and we are at the Ohio State Fair in the new building dedicated to agriculture. This has been a big deal. It's been a long time coming. And gentlemen, as we start here, I want to wax poetic a little bit. I was in the brown sheep arena the other day and sitting in the stands, and I was watching my kids out in the show ring. My my daughter specifically, she's uh just turned 18, she's going to Ohio State, proud papa. And I uh started to think back, you know, 15, 16, 17 years ago, I was uh sitting in the same spot, and that back then though, I got up and I was pushing a baby stroller around with my little baby girl in it, and I uh try to get her to sleep and push her up and down the aisles for hours, it seemed like, on end. And you just start to think about all these memories, and then all of a sudden you start thinking, oh, she's going off to college, and you start getting getting a little weepy dad syndrome going on, especially when uh these young people are out there uh doing such great things, rising to the challenges that they're faced with uh in terms of showing livestock and the different competitions, and uh it's so fun to be a part of something like that uh from the perspective of a parent. And I think as we watch uh not only our own young people as a as a dad and as parents uh but other people's uh children that we watch grow up in these kind of experiences and see them learning the positive lessons they're learning and grow, that's got a lot of value for society as a whole. And that's kind of where I want to start this discussion. The Ohio State Fair is many things to many people, but one of those things is the development of youth specifically in agricultural Ohio. So, Adam Sharp, I know you have a lot of uh background and experience with this, but what are your thoughts on the value of that and what we're seeing at something like the Ohio State Fair?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I mean we look at all the new investments here, and you know, one of those first questions, well, why'd we do all this, right? Why why do we have the state fairgrounds and why did everybody fight so hard to get all this new investment into it and to do the things that we've been able to do this year, uh but but have been able to do here for you know a hundred years. And that's because it starts right with that the piece you just mentioned, right? Uh this fairgrounds benefits the children of all 88 counties in the state. Um so uh so so you watch them every single year. It principally here at the state fair, we'll we'll watch that experience, but it also happens throughout the year, right? The dairy expo that happens here. It happens here with Beef Expo, Quarter Wars Congress, FFA State Convention, all these different events that take place that a lot of our rural youth, uh a lot of our youth are involved in agriculture in rural Ohio, they come here, they compete, but also suburban and urban, right? All these kids are coming from all over the state uh and they come here and they learn. And uh, you know, it a big part of it is is is they're they're learning a project, they're learning responsibilities, right? They're learning um um how to work with others oftentimes. They're learn also learning to be competitive because hey, guess what? It's a competitive world out there, right? So that's good. But you learned how to do it respectfully. Uh you learn how to uh you know to win and you learn how to lose. Those are things that we don't always teach all the time. Those are great things for young people to learn. And just like you, I got we weep dad's syndrome, right, when I'm out here too. Um because same thing, I've watched so many kids, you know, that have been a lot of kids of uh of our employees at Farm Bureau, a lot of my community's children, you know, who are up here competing and doing things. And my own daughter who is here, you know, served on the junior fair board. Kids come here for 4-H and FFA, kids come here for the junior fair board. You get kids here who are serving in lots of different ways at this fair and they're all learning different things. And I watched my daughter be the shy girl when she started, you know, here on the junior fair board, and oh my gosh, within two years of serving on that board, she just came out of her shell. And to watch her just blossom because of her experience here uh and the things that she was put in charge of, right? She was given responsibilities. Uh and those are that that's a big deal, right? Those are things that um uh sometimes it can be tough, right, to get kids those kind of experiences. 4-H, FFA, the state fair, the competitions, all the diff the projects or the leadership opportunities that they have to jump into here, give them that.
SPEAKER_05When you look at the value of this youth development, strictly for for the farmers in the state of Ohio, uh, there's a lot of ROI here when you start looking at the investment. And the investment's big, but the ROI is bigger. Uh on one hand, you've got young people, even if they're not on a farm, that are showing animals and are involved in some way, uh, they're feeding all those animals production from Ohio agriculture. And that's part of it, but then you're also developing that leader, and it you can't put a price tag on that.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I think a big part of that too is you know when you get kids from all over the state here, right, and especially that have some share a little bit of shared background, right? A little bit of shared background as they come here. Uh, another part that we really put a huge value on that you know the ROIs way up here is just them starting to meet each other and network and build those relationships. And because how many times, right, do we here at this fair do we talk? Yeah, we're we all know each other. Well, how do we all know each other? Well, we started getting involved in 4-H together and FFA together, we started competing against each other, we started working on projects together. Next thing you know, we're serving on boards together, and then we're leading the agricultural industry together. That's what happens, and that's what we want to have happen, right? So that as these kids get to know each other and get to compete and learn and grow. Hey, uh I keep telling them, you know, it's kind of funny, right? Right right here, we're as we sit here in the in the new Ag Center, and you turn around back here, uh, all of our interns back here, probably half of these interns are children of people that I was in college with or that I was in 4-H or FFA with, you know, that that are here. Here's the next generation, right? And they're learning and they're growing, they're meeting each other and they're working together and they're starting to learn, hey, you know, such and such of theirs an expert in this. They really know what they're talking about over here on this. And another kid over here, they know this. So they start to learn to network with each other and build a community with each other, and frankly, be building businesses with each other too, guaranteed, right? So um so that that's a big part of the value, too, like you said, Matt. It's hard to put an ROI on that, but we know it is big.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. And I want to then maybe shift gears a little bit. We're sitting in a this incredible new facility, and it is incredible, but this has been no small lift. This has been a work in progress for uh a long time coming from the Dewine administration on down through Farm Bureau on down to the farmers that are putting uh Jekhov dollars into this kind of thing. Uh Adam, walk us big picture. Which one? Stay fair, Madam, whoever talked to her. We have to do that at least a minute. It is it's rough hosting cigarette. It's tough hosting too. The one with hair with the mouth. Uh when you look at this from the the Dewine administration and and uh all the big picture to the legislative work, this has been a huge project. And you uh uh are right in the center of things. So uh give us a big picture overview of what led us to sitting here today in this incredible facility.
SPEAKER_01Well, everything has a timeline, right? So I think back in about 2017, before my time here, um, and Adam, you could probably speak to it better than I can, but there is a vision. Um I think the governor looked at the state fair and said there needs to be some work done. And pulled together a group of leaders uh from agriculture and the the governor was walking the grounds. It might have been say September of 2023. This is a urban-suburban uh rule myth, but I think it's partially true. He walked the grounds and said, I really think that this needs to happen sooner than later. I'd like to see, you know, a a lot of this project be done before the end of my tenure, my term. And and so the switch got flipped and things got sort of elevated uh to a higher level and the the the compression of the scope of the project got pressed down from say twenty plus years to now we're at, you know, two and a half, three years. And so it was really the first shovel was put in the ground right about the time I came on board. It was about January of twenty-four. So if you if you look at that time period from January of twenty-four into where we are now, is a very short compression because this is not about one building, two buildings, it's about multiple buildings, restoration of many, many other buildings, as well as under underground infrastructure. So, you know, the lift has been really, really mighty. And back to the math on this whole scope of this project, there was 22 months of construction. Twenty-two months. Because even though the period of time was more like twenty-six months from start until right before the fair, you have to carve off months that we went black and there was no construction during the fair and quarter horse and the good guys car show. So you take away those four months over the two years, and that gets us to where we are right now, about a 22-month period that all this was built out. And you walk anyone around this property and they see the output, the outcome, and the construction quality, and they won't believe that when you tell them that. You know, one building. Yeah. Um it's just it goes gate to gate, north to south, east to west. We just touched almost every element of the grounds that we could touch.
SPEAKER_05And uh I'm maybe putting words in your mouth here, but uh to me, all the changes, all the amenities are to make it a better experience for fairgoers, the general public, the people from Columbus, from Cleveland, from Cincinnati, wherever, uh all our urban friends, all our suburban friends. Uh that to it makes a better experience for them across the fair.
SPEAKER_01Am I right? Oh, absolutely, and I and and that's what I keep saying is that not only for this generation, but generations to follow, uh to be able to present agriculture, Imagine Ag in this building in this fashion, uh you you remember the old Ag and Hort building, you know, it was a beautiful old building, but for far for a far cry, aren't we?
SPEAKER_03Far cry from that from where we were just two years ago.
SPEAKER_01So, you know, to be able to step into this space and have appropriate lighting and air conditioning and this space to really showcase agriculture the way it was meant to be showcased, is is an experience that people didn't have before. And uh and and that's you know, that's everywhere in everything that we touch, the aesthetics, the comfort, the openness that we've created on the property. And to to build off of what you said earlier, Adam, it's not just for our 12-day annual agricultural state fair, it is for Quarterhorse Congress. We have a lot of great partners producing really wonderful events here. Beef Expo, FFA convention, you mentioned those, but we have 150 other events.
SPEAKER_05So when we look at this kind of investment from checkoff dollars, from Farm Bureau, from Ohio's agricultural community, an ROI is expected. And to get that, another part of that is engaging with the general public and showing them the baby litter of pigs and and letting them uh go see a dairy cow and uh so forth. Adam Sharp. How did that factor into the Farm Bureau involvement with this and agriculture as a whole?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, uh big time, right? So part of this is as we talk about agriculture being Ohio's number one industry, right? We talk about that. Um, but you sure as heck better show people that. Um you know, and and we we we were we had a good fair. Uh Adam said it sort of today, we had a good fair, we didn't have a great fair. We have great fair now, and it's that's taken a lot of work from a lot of people, and part of that helps us showcase what this industry is all about. If we are Ohio's number one industry, let's show it. Um and it part of this, you you can you can um you can kind of wax on this a lot of different ways. One of the things that I've shared a lot lately, and I talked about it here when we were here earlier this week in the joint agriculture committee hearings with with the Ohio legislature coming down. And I talked about this there, is is we're agriculture is a number one in this state. If we want to keep it that way, we better we better stay very visible, we better invest in it, and we better keep working together. And this is one of those demonstrations of that. One of three those big generational investments we've talked about happening this year, right? This expo facility, what's happening over at OSU with Waterman and the Malk facility, and what's happening at ODA with the disease diagnostics lab. These aren't just one-offs, right? These are all building our number one industry's infrastructure. Both from what the kids learn here uh to the shows that happen here and the business that comes out of this out of this facility, that's a huge benefit to the industry, no doubt about it, right? Across the board for so many reasons. So are the other two projects that we're that we're investing in here. We we talk about if food security is national security and it is, let's put it, let's put our best foot forward, we gotta be front and center and we got to be top of mind. And that's that this helps that support what we are, right, as an industry and the importance that we've got to continue to to fight to make sure this industry gets that gets that kind of visualness to the public and also to the other people who come here too. And who's that? Well, the public, yes, policymakers too. Uh uh part of the part of the reason we're here, it's for that reason, right? It's we want to educate the public. You know, we start off with youth, there's no doubt, right? Question, you know, checkbox number one is help those young people, right? This is that space for them to just to grow, grow, grow. Educate that public, make sure they know what our industry is all about and why we are the number one industry in the state, we want to continue to be. And third, hey, you got to educate the policymakers. You know, you gotta be front and center. If you're out of sight, you're out of mind. We just took our board, this is what I shared the story with the with the with the uh uh committee the other day, was you know, if we we were we took our state farm bureau board to California uh last last month, and and uh as we were leaving, you know, we we challenged him the whole time. What are you gonna learn here? What do you what are you learning here? What are you seeing? What are you gonna bring back? And we also had the former California Farm Bureau president in the room with us when we had this conversation. He stood up and he goes, I want to leave you guys with one thought. He goes, We're the largest cal we're the largest agricultural state in this country by agri seats, California is. Largest one in the country by far. And he said, However, we're not viewed as an agricultural state anymore by our public or by our policymakers. He goes, You guys still are in Ohio. You're viewed as an agricultural state, don't ever lose it. So keep working together, keep investing in it, and stay visible. Well, here we are, right? Uh those are perfect examples of that right here in this this whole facility and the other big projects we've been you know working on here in this state to make sure that we're investing in the infrastructure for the future of this industry.
SPEAKER_05And it can be easy sitting on the farm uh to get lost in the details of what you're doing there. There's it's challenging farm world right now. It's it's it's tough out there in a lot of ways. And something like a state fair and investment in this kind of thing can seem maybe not your top priority when you're uh dealing with fertilizer costs on down the list, right? Yeah. That's right. But it's easy also to take for granted what is happening here if you are not involved with the state fair, you know, and on the farm, that's okay. But just it's important to understand there's some positive things going on here with a lot of ROI for your behalf on the farm.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, and that's a good way to put it too, because um yeah, if you're not involved at all with 4-H or FFA or the state fair, the benefit we're still getting out of this for the agriculture industry is enormous because those policymakers, they're coming here and they're learning. And they're interacting with all these young people and they're interacting with all these agricultural leaders who are here and they're learning. And when they're going back down to the state house or they're going back to Washington, D.C., because we've got both state and federal folks that are that have been here all week long, and local, township trustees, you know, county commissioners, you name it, right? They're learning. They're learning what you're doing out in the fields. They're learning what you're doing out in the barns. And that's what we're that's what we're doing. This is a heck of a platform, right, to educate those folks that are making public policy, right? And that's not just good for us, that's good for the public, right? We want the public to understand that, right? This is this is why we set up something like this, right, to make sure that the public is coming in and benefiting from that. Because while we know our we know all of our young people coming here for 4H are gaining enormous amount. One of those other big aspects of this, right, is all these folks who who don't have a chance or or an opportunity, they're not growing up in roll how, they're not growing up around agriculture or on farms. This is a chance for them to learn about that because hey, if we're also going to function this state, we want to make sure the things that we're doing, the public understands it as best they can and also supports us, right? We want the public to understand what we're doing and we want them to support it and value it as well, and this is how we teach them that.
SPEAKER_01Adam and I started talking and we drew in Director Baldridge, of course, and and the University of Kath Ankaras and started envisioning what this would look like, oh gosh, less than a year ago, right, Adam?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, less than a year ago.
SPEAKER_01And we were like, well, what are we gonna do with this space? How are we gonna showcase agriculture? What are we gonna do with what we once had in the old Aggon Hort building two years prior? And so what what then spun out of that was a a a format for what this exhibit would look like. And you know, it started off like this from a financial backing and and support uh mechanism to get this thing launched, and then it grew and it grew and grew. Just to be able to pull together an exhibition of this quality in such a short amount of time is truly unheard of. And uh, and so I think when people come in here, they'll want to to come back over and over again and bring other people to the exhibit uh because it is just so filled with uh interesting stories of agriculture and facts and and a great point to make, I'll make this, is it's about educating the non-agrarian and agrarian folks about the opportunities for careers. That is very key to what's in this exhibit is to understand that it's just not putting a seed in the ground. There's the technology behind it and the bioscience, and and I think that's as important as anything to understand the career opportunities in this industry. So I think that's one big takeaway, and I think overall overarching, you know, when any time you take on a project on a on a fairgrounds, uh it's typically a building. Uh it's not, you know, 460 million. We're pretty unique in that. This is uh probably the biggest project of any fairgrounds that has taken place, a $460 million build-out. But I would say this is that um what everyone says is this exceeded my expectations. I had no idea that the outcome of this project was gonna be as far-reaching and as beautiful and as uh wonderful as what we're experiencing. I find I've heard probably no one is gonna tell me there's a fault or a problem in here. Um but if they if they did, um I might, you know, punch them in the nose. But there's everything has been well embraced. Everybody says really great things about what we have just done, and it's it's what a remarkable job the the governor has has brought to us uh in the form of of improvements as well as the legislators have funded. So everything across the board is getting just compliments and and just great things said about everything we've done.
SPEAKER_05Adam Sharp, what about you?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah, it I appreciate everything Adam just said because you know spot on, right? Just I definitely uh dittoed all that. You can see right behind us almost in the video, probably, but you know, you got all of our uh partners back here on the board. I set it up on purpose, Adam. Yeah, well done. Well done. Well done. Yeah, that there's the whole gang, right? So um uh so we thank the whole group. I mean, again, coming back to that comment I just finished up with a second ago, it takes a partnership, right? It takes all of us. And as Adam said, we started talking about this, really what happened in here with Imagine AG just not even a year ago. And and we said we gotta make something happen big and good. We had plans, but we didn't know. You know, the building, the construction, everything had to, you know, things were getting done on the bigger picture side of things, let alone what was going to go inside uh this building. So to bring together this great group, uh all the commodity groups, soy, of course, uh being one of those good ones, uh soy and corn. Uh but uh you look back here at the board with Nationwide and the Department of Agriculture and the Expo Commission, Farm Credit, Ohio State, uh Bob Evans, uh, of course, Farm Bureau, and then all like I said, all of our other commodity friends uh really came together to put together this educational experience for people, but entertainment experience, right? We start off with that whole piece that it's gotta be you know it's gotta be entertainment, right? These are folks coming in, they they they're not just coming here to just, hey, we're gonna learn. We wanna we're gonna teach them, but we don't we want them to learn things through having fun and and entertaining and making things you know uh accessible for them. So so that has been great. I I'll just mention kind of bigger picture to that, it'd be my one actual comment uh uh about uh the thing that I didn't quite expect. It was kind of fun. We had the Alabama Farm Bureau up here. Uh they're building a brand new fairgrounds, and uh and uh some of Adam's staff met with them and others. They and they wanted to see what we were doing here because we we we've been talking about this in some national forums and they said, man, we hear a lot of good stuff happening. Can we go up and check it out? Sure, come on up. So they did. They were up here last week, and uh they walked around and they came up to look at buildings. They wanted to see the buildings and the layout. That's what they wanted to see. Um, you know, hey, what's happening here? They weren't here more than an hour or two, and we had them in this building looking at Imagine Ag. We had them at DNR Park, we had them at the showcase building, watching the movie and and learning about, you know, they saw all the in the butter cow. So we had them in all these spaces and they and they they turned to me, uh, their administrator turned to me and he said, I didn't expect this. He said, he goes, look at this crowd. And this was on a Tuesday, right? He goes, look at this crowd. He goes, he goes, You got everybody here. You got everybody here. He goes, he goes, at our fair, you know, he goes, we have we have a junior fair, and it's a good junior fair, and we have a carnival, and it's a good carnival. But we kind of that's kind of people come for one of those two things and that's about it. And he said, you know, he goes, You got everybody here. And he goes, all these things, he goes, are these things free? You know, once you come in the gate, we said, well, yeah, I mean you used to pay for some rides and pay for food, but all these other exhibits are free when you come in the door. He goes, we I just did it, they didn't expect that. And he goes, we came here looking at buildings and we're leaving with a lot we learned about the buildings that they love, but also about the programming. He goes, we just didn't expect to to learn and see what that what you guys are doing and the and the breadth of the public that you're reaching at this facility and the way that it's been rearranged and upgraded uh that they did not even think of when they came up here. So it's kind of viewing that from an outside view, that that that took me by surprise. I guess we kind of take it for granted that we do a good job with these things here.
SPEAKER_01Um, you know, it's it's what you do with the space you have.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it's what you do with the space you have it, and and to see to hear that observation from the outside was really fun to hear. And and was spot on. I mean it was spot on, right?
SPEAKER_01So building the buildings for them is one thing, but it's it's programming the exhibitions and the entertainment and the educational component. That's that's the hard part.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, that's the hard part.
SPEAKER_01And that's what That's coming that's got to come from the community.
SPEAKER_03It's got to come from the community, and the community's worked so hard here, right, at this fair to make that happen. And uh and and and yeah, it and Adam's point, my gosh, everybody comes in and they've as they've strolled around this fairgrounds, they've just been blown away about everything that's happened. Um, you know, and to see what's uh you know, to see what the public they're a little bit they're a little disoriented.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, they're a little disoriented, yeah. Where's the ag exhibit?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, where yeah, where where's this and where's that? And they're they're and they're just and it's great. It's it's been such a great experience in that regard. So that that'd be my point. Yeah, is seeing some of those observations from the outsiders of what they've said about it's just been just reinforced, I guess. What we what we knew we wanted to do. Uh, and there you have it. You know, I think we've been able to achieve that.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, I was just excited to ride the buffalo on the carousel. There you go.
SPEAKER_03I did that too.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, that's a cool uh of all the things. I was like, I'm getting that buffalo. And I did it. I pulled it off.
SPEAKER_01That was my first ride, was the Buffalo. Was it? Yeah. And then the first official ride was a llama, which was okay. Not bad. But there we go. The Buffalo was Buffalo felt right and my official ride was the Eagle.
SPEAKER_03I rode the Eagle. We had to train. Well, you know, you know, hey, it kind of looks like that nationwide eagle, man. Our good friends. Right. So so myself and the nationwider, if we made sure that those first two rides, it was nationwide and and and funny, we rode the eagle first, right?
SPEAKER_05So good at plus. That was hard. Great conversation, guys. Adam Sharp, Adam Hefford, thank you for being here. You've been listening to The Bean Pod, a joint project of the Ohio Soybean Council and the Ohio Soybean Association. Please stay tuned for more segments and episodes on the Ohio Soybean Council YouTube channel, Facebook, Instagram, or your preferred podcast mic. I'm your humble host, Matt Reese, reminding you that one farmer beats many, many farmers beat all. Make it a great day, and thank you so much for tuning in to the Beep Hop.