Where to even begin?

I will start with the movie Farmland. I thought it was a good portrayal of farmers, and I know it was made to change their public image because that is something they really care about. The public is very uninformed about what its like to be a farmer, what they do, and where food comes from, so I am glad they are trying to inform the public as well as create a good image of the farmer. The movie was very family based which is something that is a huge motif here. Every farm we have been to has told us about the family history of the land and how much help they have gotten from their family. It is great to see such strong ties and how the family really is the center of life here. Another thing that it accurately portrayed was the amount of work that goes into farming. It is a lot of hard work as well as the knowledge you need to succeed. The movie did mention how they many of those featured in the film left the farm for college and then returned to pursue farming. I thought it was interesting, and I was very proud that I knew everything happening because we already had learned about it or done it ourselves.

The next thing to mention would be the Blue Gate Farm, which is an organic farm run by Jill and Sean. The farm is 100% chemical free, and there are 52 members in Blue Gate’s CSA. Jill and Sean also do farmers markets, which is different from the other organic farms we have visited such as Table Top. I asked them if the time and effort that goes into the markets are worth it, and she said absolutely yes! They do farmers markets to keep their name out there in the minds of people, to keep them visible as well as to know their customers. They get to create a strong relationship with the community when they go to the Farmers Market and they get to sell the extra stuff that is left over after CSA boxes go out. They also mentioned that the customer feedback has done a lot for their farm. One customer recommended that Jill make a jam, and it has become their most popular online jam. Like many farmers, they were also connected to their family and that is why they have the land to farm. Even though they are surrounded by their family farms, they were still effected by a pesticide overspray incident coming from the neighboring land. Jill’s Uncle had hired a guy to spray for him while he was away and the pesticide applicator was unaware that Jill and Sean’s farm followed organic principles.  Moreover, he sprayed on a windy day, which was illegal, and as a result of this incident their vegetables on that portion of the farm were affected.  They had lots of concerns, among them how to communicate with their CSA members; while they offered to buy out the shares of their members, only one member took them up on that offer.  However, their customers stayed loyal to them throughout the tough year and that really says something good about the community feel here in Iowa.

Today we went to the Hardin County Extension Office, which is more or less the campus of Iowa State in Hardin County, and we learned that there are people in every state there to help you when you have questions. They range anywhere from how to remove stains to how to raise a child to how to take care of crops. It seems like a very practical and useful resource. I had never heard about these, but can already see how beneficial they are. The information was endless and they really seemed to care about the community, which I liked.

When we talked to the government people I found it interesting that they were the last to find out what the regulations were on the new Farm Bill. She mentioned reading about the changes in the law in her husband’s farming magazines before she knew the fate of a particular rule, which was very concerning. I would want the people helping me out to be the first people informed.

The next thing we did was talk to Phil Kramer, who is field representative with Niman Ranch. He was very informative on how the company operates and how much they have animal welfare at its heart. They seemed like a strong company who focused on the farmer, not just their business. I thought it was great that they held a yearly farmers’ dinner and also gave scholarships to their kids. It was a company with the right intentions I felt. The way they treated pigs also seemed to be very humane and better than the confinements. I liked that they were able to be outside, and they had room to roam around. The only concern I had was the manure management. They had no specific regulations as a company, but ensured they follow the government ones. I do think they treat their farmers well as well as the pigs and would support them if I saw their product in the stores. However, I understand that this practice is not reasonable for all companies to do because there just is not enough land. I am not opposed to confinements as long as the pigs are cared for and treated with respect. They have come a long way in improving the hog barns, and I hope they continue to do so.

The last session of the day was talking to Denny and Caleb Knutson (the elderly neighbor of the Neubauers) about tiling. Before, when tiling was mentioned I thought of the bathroom floor, but now I know it is a water drainage system set up under the ground in Iowa to make it possible to farm the historic wetlands of North Central Iowa. Caleb also told us it was not originally done so farmers could plant row crops; rather, the wetlands needed to be converted to grow grass for cattle. Also, the amount of labor it took to do these before was very intensive, and Denny and Caleb mentioned that the original tiles were put in by immigrants who drank heavily.  Now it is very easy to do; you just use a machine. The tile has changed as well. It used to be foot long clay circles with a diameter of about 6″, but now they are plastic and about 18″ in width. There are slits in this plastic so the water can leak through unlike before when it just went through the cracks. There has been such improvement in farming and it was fun to hear them laugh about old times. My favorite story was that they used to go buy dynamite and stick it on big rocks to blow them up and so they could pick them up to take them off the farm land. It was really nice getting the information from such experts and people who really have been around to see significant changes in farming.