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With fall quickly approaching, now is a good time to consider whether you should lease your land for hunting. Leasing your land for hunting can be beneficial by giving you an extra source of income as well as managing wildlife populations and decreasing crop damage. However, there are some considerations to make before granting that lease to someone.
In response to the recent drinking water ban in Toledo, three senators from Ohio's Lake Erie counties have introduced SB 356 to expand and accelerate fertilizer certification legislation passed earlier this year. Senators Brown, Cafaro and Turner's proposal would add "manure" to the definition of "fertilizer" for purposes of the fertilizer certification program enacted this May in SB 150. Whether or not manure applications should fall under the
Fourteen years after the Ohio Legislature transferred permitting authority for confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs) from the Ohio EPA to the Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA), a Wood County couple is challenging the transfer in federal court as a violation of the federal Clean Water Act. Larry and Vickie Askins filed the lawsuit on August 4, 2014 in the U.S. District Court Northern Division against the ODA, Ohio EPA and U.S.
The Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) faced harsh criticism recently when the agency inspected and issued fines to small farms engaged in grain storage activities. The farms argued that OSHA had no authority to do so because of the "small farm exemption" that limits OSHA’s authority to enforce safety regulations on small farms. This week, OSHA released a guidance memorandum that attempts to clarify how its regional administrators should interpret the small farm exemption. The agency's new guidance focuses on whether an activity on a small farm is “not related to farm
A recent decision by the Ohio Court of Appeals examines the issue of employer liability for a worker’s harmful acts. The Twelfth District Court of Appeals clarified when an employer could be liable for injuries caused by a worker’s violent behavior, whether the worker is an independent contractor or an employee.
Worker’s violent behavior leads to a lawsuit
Larry Gearhardt, OSU Extension Asst. Professor, Taxation
Ohio Governor John Kasich recently signed a bill that, among other things, increases the small business income deduction from 50 percent to 75 percent of the first $250,000 in net business income.
In an effort to grow Ohio’s economy, last year the Ohio budget bill included significant tax law changes to deliver a $2.7 billion tax cut to individuals and businesses, over the course of three years. The changes included:
The recently enacted Water Resources Reform and Development Act of 2014 established a new mandate to the U.S. EPA: change how EPA enforces the federal Spill Prevention, Control and Countermeasure (SPCC) rule against the nation’s farms.
UPDATE: The Ohio Supreme Court affirmed the decision of the Court of Appeals on September 17, 2015. Read the Court's decision here.
Hunting laws don't often reach our highest court, but the Ohio Supreme Court has agreed to review one man's challenge to an unlawful hunting action by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR). The case resulted in a fine of $27,851 against Huron County hunter Arlie Risner for the unlawful taking of an antlered white-tailed deer.
For most people, dogs are a very familiar part of the family. For farm families, dogs may even go beyond the family pet duties and help protect the assets of the farm – the livestock. However, when dogs get loose and go after the livestock of someone else, serious problems can arise. Any livestock that is killed or injured by someone else’s dog is a monetary loss, as well as an emotional loss for some. A question we frequently receive is what can someone do if their livestock is threatened or attacked by someone else's dog.
The Ohio House of Representatives gave final approval on May 21, 2014 to a bill initiated in the Senate that addresses invasive plants. As approved by both chambers, Senate Bill 192 grants regulatory authority over invasive plants to the Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA). While ODA, Ohio EPA and Ohio's Division of Forestry already have programs in place to educate and assist in the identification and removal of invasive species, the new law clarifies that the director of ODA has "sole and exclusive authority to regulate invasive plant species in this state." This authority includes th
