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Ohio Agriculture Department renews trade focus

The Ohio Director of Agriculture says creating a trade division within the agency will be a top focus in the year ahead.

Brian Baldridge tells Brownfield a specific program under the department’s Market Division will renew efforts to increase international opportunities for the state’s agricultural sector.

“To stand up that program, to assist all of our stakeholders, all of our commodity groups making sure that our folks in Ohio are in a great place to be in a competitive market all across the world,” he says.

The state’s Department of Development has been providing export assistance for the agricultural industry since 2013 when the position was moved out of ODA.

Baldridge says partnerships with the Department of Development and Food Export Midwest, along with state commodity organizations, will be leveraged to expand markets. 

USDA says Ohio exported more than $6 billion worth of agricultural goods in 2022, with soybeans and corn the top shipped commodities.

Baldridge discusses his first year in the position with Brownfield.