By 1808Delaware, OEFFA
The Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association (OEFFA) has named the 2023 recipients of its Stewardship, Service and Policy Leader awards. One of those award winners was a Delaware Countian and long time part of the Stratford Ecological Center.
Jeff Dean of Sandusky County received the Stewardship Award, which recognizes outstanding contributions to the cultivation of sustainable agriculture; Jeff Dickinson of Delaware County received the Service Award, which recognizes extraordinary service in support of sustainable agriculture; and Scott Myers of Wayne County was named the Policy Leader of the Year, which recognizes members whose actions have promoted effective policy work for OEFFA.
These awards were announced Feb. 16-18 as part of OEFFA’s 44th annual conference in Newark.
When Stratford Ecological Center in Delaware was founded in 1990, their first hire was Jeff Dickinson. He was studying for his Ph.D. at The Ohio State University then and started to work part time at the nonprofit educational farm and nature preserve. When he completed his degree, he was hired as Stratford’s director and has been on staff ever since.
More than 30 years later, Stratford is a popular destination for schoolchildren and adults alike to learn about the natural world. The farm welcomes more than 12,000 visitors a year through hands-on learning, camps and other environmental programming.
At the start, his work encapsulated everything from fundraising to lawn mowing. Through Dickinson’s direction, the educational programs have continuously grown in quality, and now a professional team of staff, interns, and volunteers make the nonprofit run year round.
“Who in agriculture has had a bigger impact with children?” said Timothy Van Meter, associate professor at the Methodist Theological School of Ohio (MTSO) and award presenter. “Knowing where their food came from, how systems work, why you have a pond, why you have animals, why you have all these holistic ways of growing and being better.”
Before joining Stratford, Dickinson gained skills in farm tour development and fundraising at the Innovative Farmers of Ohio, in on-farm research at OSU College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences (CFAES) and in horticulture at Meadowcreek, Inc.
“What service [is this] when you get to spend your whole life doing the things you love to do?” Dickinson said.
