{"id":192313,"date":"2025-04-29T21:29:56","date_gmt":"2025-04-30T02:29:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=192313"},"modified":"2025-04-29T21:29:58","modified_gmt":"2025-04-30T02:29:58","slug":"dewine-rollins-visit-darke-county","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2025\/04\/29\/dewine-rollins-visit-darke-county\/","title":{"rendered":"DeWine, Rollins visit Darke County"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

VW independent staff\/submitted information<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

VERSAILLES — Governor Mike DeWine hosted U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins in Darke County Monday afternoon to meet with farmers impacted by Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI).\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Ohio has had the most birds affected by HPAI in 2025.  HPAI cases are now trending downward in Ohio, but the virus has infected 76 premises since the end of December, leading to the depopulation of 15.5 million birds. <\/p>\n\n\n

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Pictured from left to right are Ohio Department of Agriculture Director Brian Baldridge, USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins, and Governor Mike DeWine. Photo submitted<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Governor DeWine and Secretary Rollins toured Weaver Eggs, Inc. in Versailles, which was impacted by HPAI in January. They also hosted a meeting with local poultry producers to discuss Ohio\u2019s response to HPAI and how the virus has affected Ohio farmers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“HPAI has been devastating for poultry farmers in western Ohio, so I appreciate that Secretary Rollins came here personally to speak with local farmers and hear what they’ve been going through,” DeWine said.”The visit was very positive and productive.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI have worked to implement a five point plan and roll out additional grants to give Ohio farmers the support they need,\u201d Rollins said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ohio is the second largest state in egg production with 11.8 billion eggs annually, and 10th in the nation in turkey production with 6.1 million annually.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Governor DeWine and Secretary Rollins also visited an area dairy farm to watch a demonstration of an innovative farming practice that is under consideration to become an H2Ohio best practice. Ryan Schmitmeyer\u2019s farm uses advanced equipment to manage on-farm manure and reduce the risk of nutrient runoff from his fields. The equipment, called 360 Rain, is a self-driving irrigation system designed to apply manure directly to the roots of a growing crop. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

H2Ohio, a statewide clean water initiative, is working to reduce nutrient runoff from farm fields to protect and preserve Ohio’s lakes and waterways. Manure management practices are a cornerstone of H2Ohio because nutrient runoff is a contributing factor to water quality issues in the state.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

VW independent staff\/submitted information VERSAILLES — Governor Mike DeWine hosted U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins in Darke County Monday afternoon to meet with farmers impacted by Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI).\u00a0 According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Ohio has had the most birds affected by HPAI in 2025.  HPAI cases are now trending downward […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-192313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-22 16:40:36","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=192313"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192313\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":192315,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192313\/revisions\/192315"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=192313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=192313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=192313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}