From the bird flu outbreak, to soaring food bank demand, and more, this was a busy year for agriculture news.
WYSO is home to one of the only food and agriculture reporters in Ohio, and we spent the year digging into these pressing topics.
Here are our top three stories we followed this year.
1. Bird flu
Darke County is the center of Ohio's egg industry and this year found itself at the center of the bird flu outbreak.
It could take years to make a full recovery from the devastating impact of the bird flu, but steps are underway to help, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins said during an August visit to the area.
The Ohio Department of Agriculture said producers in the state destroyed more than 15 million birds in the latest outbreak; At one point, Ohio had the most cases of bird flu in the country. The latest case was on April 14.
2. Food bank funding vs. demand
This year, we followed local food banks as they faced soaring demand, while navigating funding and resource cuts.
When SNAP was frozen during the shutdown, the strain worsened.
But we were also there to cover people working to help and find solutions, such as when Montgomery County gave $1.5 million to the Foodbank Inc.
3. Homesteading interest growing
About third of human-generated greenhouse gases come from the food system, including agriculture and land use.
In response to this, some urban and suburban families in Ohio have taken matters into their own hands — and yards.
In one of our most listened to stories of 2025, WYSO learned more about this by talking with a Huber Heights family and their urban homestead.
