200-Year-Old Farm to Turn into OSU Agricultural Lab: Heirs of Wooster Land to Give School 300 Acres Valued at $700,000
By Carol Biliczky, The Akron Beacon Journal, Ohio
Apr. 10–Five generations of the Mellinger family worked a 300-acre farm near Wooster for almost 200 years. But when the last Mellinger died, no one in the extended family wanted to continue the tradition.
So heirs Patricia Miller Quinby of Columbus and the estate of her late sister, Virginia Miller Reed of Washington, D.C., chose to give the property to the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center in Wooster, the research arm of Ohio State’s College of Food, Agricultural and Environment Sciences.
“We want it to continue to be a farm and not be developed,” said Quinby, who is 80. “The family worked so hard on that land, we wanted to keep it as it was.”
The gift is valued at about $700,000, the OARDC said. The property includes an easement for the Killbuck Watershed Land Trust. If the property were to be sold, it would have to be used for agriculture.
The OARDC is turning the farm into an agricultural laboratory. Fourteen students are taking a new course in which they will design a comprehensive plan for the property on West Old Lincoln Way in Plain Township.
The donors have been giving the farm to the university in stages for the past couple of years. The last installment of the land gift will be made next year.
“Because we’ll own it in 2009 and are beginning the transition now, it’s a great time to get the students’ creativity engaged,” said Casey Hoy, holder of Ohio State’s W.K. Kellogg Foundation-endowed chair in agricultural ecosystems management.
OARDC faculty have considered many options for the farm — internships for aspiring farmers, large-scale experiments and a competition that would allow students to develop a model farm. Currently, a nearby farmer is renting the property for corn and soybean production.
All the ideas that have come forth suggest that the farm’s going to be a lot more diverse in the future, Hoy said.
“The Mellinger Farm could provide a working demonstration” whose information could be exported to other farms nationwide, said Hoy, who is helping to design the curriculum for the two-hour course.
He said today’s farmers need to learn about sustainability, resilience and adaptation because they will be facing higher temperatures, more extreme weather, less available water and more expensive oil.
The course is meeting two hours a week, with some students located at the OARDC campus and some participating via video link at Ohio State’s Columbus campus.
It is being team-taught by about eight OSU faculty members who specialize in animal science, marketing and finance, the social sciences and more.
“Students will be exposed to all the different dimensions of sustainability and resilience,” promised Matt Kleinhenz, an OARDC associate professor of horticulture and crop science who is helping Hoy to design the course.
“We’re excited about the course,” he said. “Farming isn’t just about tomatoes, soybeans or the animals. It’s much more than that.”
The OARDC conducts research and offers advanced education on foods, agriculture, family and the environment. The Wooster campus has 2,000 acres, plus the Mellinger Farm. The center also has eight research sites across the state.
Carol Biliczky can be reached at 330-996-3729 or cbiliczky@thebeaconjournal.com.
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