Member Institutions:

• Bowling Green State U.
• Cleveland State U.
• Kent State U.
• Miami U.
• The Ohio State U.
• Ohio U.
• University of Cincinnati
• University of Toledo
• Wright State U.
• Youngstown State U.

Agriculture - A Key Element of Ohio's Economy The forestry, turf, landscape and ornamental industries are multi-billion dollar industries and major agricultural initiatives in Ohio. In fact, the green plant is the single most significant component of Ohio's economy. In 1995, Ohio had 74,000 farms over 15 million acres generating approximately $56.2 billion of revenue. Since then, Ohio agriculture has increased to $68 billion annually, and nearly 20% of the state's population is employed in agricultural-related activities.                  

The Ohio Plant Biotechnology Consortium was formed to stimulate and facilitate the most effective and financially relevant research efforts among Ohio universities and other interested parties.  The key goal of the Consortium is to strike a balance between the basic sciences that comprise biotechnology and the exploitation of this information for the benefit of Ohio citizens, agriculture and natural resources. Such an agenda, given the structure of Ohio’s economy, is to be distributed as the shared mission of all publicly funded institutions of higher learning.  OPBC was formed to maximize the development of an Ohio-based cooperative community of biotechnologies and to minimize duplication among state-funded institutions. Without doubt, a huge intellectual resource exists within the Ohio university system that can be harnessed either by joining together existing technologies in a collaborative way or by developing synergies among the membership to solve problems of global, national, and local significance.     Examples of research areas that will potentially be supported by the Consortium include, but are
not restricted to:
• Biobased products/energy
• Bio-remediation
• Plant improvement
• Alternate crop/plant development

 
Administered by the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center. Contact Program Coordinator, Ohio Plant Biotechnology Consortium, The Ohio State University, OARDC Director’s Office,  1680 Madison Avenue, Wooster, Ohio 44691-4096  --or--- Room 115 Agricultural Administration Building, 2120 Fyffe Road, Columbus, Ohio 43210-1066  Phone: (330) 202-3555, ext. 2638; Fax: (330) 263-3688; E-mail: OPBC@osu.edu