May 15, 2017

One of the main reasons I had a strong desire to participate in this particular May Experience, is to be able to dig deeper into the debate between conventional farming practices versus organic farming ones. My freshman year of college, I took a first year writing seminar titled “Big Food,” that centered on the importance of organic farming in bettering the health and lifestyle of Americans. I however, do not necessarily agree with this type of philosophy because America cannot be fed solely on organic farming practices. So, being able to learn more about these different styles is something that I have been looking forward to for a long time. This morning, we were fortunate enough to visit the Monsanto Huxley Learning Center to learn more about conventional farming. This was a very modern looking building with a “self-guided” tour system that allowed visitors to move freely through the display. We however, were fortunate to have a real tour guide who further explained Monsanto’s practices to us and answered questions that we had concerning different topics such as GMOs, precision agriculture, and the research that goes into these methods.

Conventional styled farming can be defined by three different categories: Seed Science, Precision Agriculture, and Data Science. With the combination of these strategies, the total yield of corn, soybeans, and other agricultural products can be greatly increased, even on smaller plots of land. In fact, this concept is the overall goal of Monsanto. A great amount of research is applied to advances in breeding and biotechnology to identify seeds with the best qualities for growth in different types of environments. This is where different advances in technology can take place. For example, Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs)  are developed to allow a single seed to grow as efficiently as possible, while protecting the environment at the same time. To decrease the use of pesticides, fungicides, and other harmful chemicals, the seeds are developed to already have these traits incorporated into them before they are even planted. This goes against the beliefs of the extreme health people, who believe that GMOs are very harmful to human health and can even cause children to develop Down Syndrome. However, because so much research is applied to these modifications, health is not something that should be of any concern.

I also thought it was very interesting to go through a “timeline” of technology that has helped improve precision agriculture in today’s society. For example, soil health and depth is not the same in every location on a field. Improvements in technology have allowed more consistent and precise seed depth that is able to increase the total yield produced by the seeds. This allows each seed to have an equal chance of reaching its maximum potential. Before coming to Iowa, I had no idea that these issues were so problematic. I find it to be very surprising yet relieving to know that farmers have amazing technology that allows certain issues to be avoided, such as keeping a consistent seed depth. I also took Remote Sensing last year for my Environmental Science major and I am enjoying being able to connect my research to satellite images of agriculture. Being able to apply my learning to real world situations has been a great opportunity, and I am excited to be able to learn and connect even more.