Monday, June 3

Who knew it would be difficult to find a green tractor in the middle of corn country, while everyone is planting, when you’re given vague directions to look for the wind turbine road (when you are surrounded by wind turbines). We finally found the right tractor. Sammy and I decided to ride the planter with Brent Friest while the boys AI’ed sows. Climbing into the planter is like entering a office that just happens be on top of a tractor. We got to see Precision Agriculture in action. Sammy, Mr. Friest and I had hour long conversation in the moving tractor, all the while Mr. Friest didn’t even steer. With the exception of turning at the end of the row, the tractor did all the work. With the use of GPS, the tractor knows when it is off track and the farmer can program special planting patterns. For example, Mr. Friest has a grass strip in his field that is curvy and winding. He has programmed his tractor to plant near this pattern and follow the curves.

Around noon we traveled to Iowa City to meet with Connie Mutel at the University of Iowa. Ms. Mutel gave us the history Iowa from the time before settlers, to breaking the ground and present day. Man-made changes to the earth have lasting effects. The loss of plant diversity and soil health have all contributed to climate change. However, we were encouraged to become “climate warriors”. There is still time to keep climate change below a two-degree increase in temperature, but we should start sooner than later.

We ended the day by meeting Representative Mascher for supper. I tried escargot for the first time, a bucket-list goal of mine (who knew it would happen in Iowa). For the second time in one day, we were reminded by Representative Mascher that our generation is the future. The future of this country, the future of the earth, and maybe the future of agriculture.