October 6, 2002

Ohio Agricultural Technologies Association Update

A group met on September 18 at the Farm Science Review to discuss leadership roles, by-laws and 2003 activities of the Ohio Agricultural Technologies Association.

Leadership

As a result of the meeting it was decided to go with a temporary slate of Board of Directors for the first year. These members include:

Producer
Rob Joslin, Sidney
Scott Metzger, Williamsport

Industry
Michael Lairson, Agro-Chem, Inc.
Josh Sears, John Deere
Patrick Trail, AgCode

University/College
John Barker, OSU Extension Knox County
Jim O'Brien, OSU Extension, Fayette County
Nathan Watermeier, OSU Extension, Agriculture and Natural Resources
Harold Watters, OSU Extension, Miami County

Consultant
David Sever, Sever Consulting
Bill Lehmkuhl, Precision Agri-Services, Inc.

Agri-Business
Jim Wolf, Icorn.com
John Wagner, Precision Partners, Inc.
John Dignan, Agri-Tech

The board of directors will meet December 9 from 6-8pm. The meeting plan is to meet by IP video conferencing. Exact locations will be established at a later date.

By-Laws

A set of proposed by-laws for the organization was reviewed, discussed and edited. The board of directors will go over some of the final changes to the by-laws at a later date.

Activities for 2003

The group has decided to look into sponsoring related technology activities for 2003 rather than create or start a one or two day technology conference. As a result:

The association has already committed to co-sponsoring at the Conservation Tillage Conference, Ada, Ohio, February 24-25. 2003. We will have a block of presentations for the afternoon on the first day of the conference. The Board of Directors will discuss particular topics for that event.

The association will also have an opportunity to co-sponsor the Ohio Geospatial Conference for Agriculture and Natural Resources, March 24-26, Holiday Inn Worthington, Columbus, Ohio.