Up until now our two perspectives of conventional agriculture versus sustainable agriculture could roughly be summed up as big v. small. The farms we visited in North-East Iowa associated with Organic Valley bucked this trend. There we toured various farms run by farmers part of the Organic Valley Co-op and they were very different from the organic farms we had previously experienced. Our hosts happened to be some of the kindest people. Their willingness to let complete strangers into their home and then to give us behind-the-scenes access to not only their farm but others is testament to their amazing generosity. They cultivated an engaging tour that led us throughout Northeast Iowa and Wisconsin. Organic Valley presented itself as a unique beast as it promoted family farms, and yet it was an organic and grass-fed juggernaut. The company is uniquely focused on the welfare and well being of its farmers. This focus on the farmers is sensible as the company is a marketing co-op where the farmers serve as the owners.

For thousands of years, humans have cultivated crops. Thought different parts of the world various seeds are used. Generally, these seeds were native to the area. As years went by and as humans began to migrate to different parts of the world, they brought seeds with them. in certain cases, these seeds have been passed down from generation to generation. The preservation of these unique seeds and the story surrounding them is what organizations like the Seed Savers Exchange has tasked itself with. While its main objective is to preserve seeds and their history, Seed Savers also has a catalog of roughly 21,000 seeds which people can order the seeds they desire. The unique part of this catalog lies in how the majority of the seeds listed in the catalog are provided by farmers and gardeners who simply want to make their seeds available to others. On our tour of the property, we helped weed the various seed plots, got an inside tour of the seed banks, got to walk the rows of the nascent orchard.

Unlike the majority of the cities of Iowa, the city of Storm Lake is its own diverse melting pot. Various Latino and Hmong communities thrive there as they work in the Tyson Meat Processing plants in the area. On Friday we got to hear the perspectives of two integral parts of the community. In the morning we met with Mark Prosser who is the Storm Lake Public Safety Director and the Chief of Police. With him, we sat down and opened a dialogue about how one goes about policing such a diverse community and what he does in terms of public outreach to change the negative views of the police. Surprisingly, he let us know that one of his lasting regrets as Chief of Police was his role in aiding an ICE raid on one to the meat plants in either the 90s. In his eyes, this shattered the relationship between the police and the immigrant community. Since then Chief Prosser has focused much of his efforts in community outreach and education with the desire to cultivate a better public image for the police force.

Prior to coming on the trip, we were required to read the book Storm Lake by Art Cullen. Storm Lake gave us a base understanding the importance of agriculture in Iowa and educated us about certain Iowa traditions. Along with Busch Light, farming is an integral part of Iowa which is why the Des Moines Waterworks lawsuit was such a big deal. Storm Lake details the case presented by the waterworks and then goes into how these small towns and drainage districts got the case thrown out. As students, we were surprised to hear from our professor that we would be meeting with Art Cullen, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Storm Lake. With Art, we covered a wide range of topics ranging from the contents of his books, the current political climate of Iowa and the economy. Water was still an important topic throughout our discourse but it took up less of our conversation than what I originally thought it would. After our meeting with Art, we had the honor of meeting with royalty. Mark Skopec, crowned the Queen of Water by one of her students who gave us a tour of the Lakeside Laboratory in Okoboji. There she demonstrated how to test the nitrate and phosphate levels in the water.

“Map of My Kingdom” is something anyone whose family has any sort of property can relate too. The looming question of who gets the farm in the play can be applied to things like the beach, lake, or mountain houses. A single child household does not necessarily have to consider about who gets what, but a family with two or more children does. Any additional child adds another layer of complexity to the situation.

This morning started with pigs and a phone call home. In the am, the group was split into three parts. Two people decided to sleep in, two others decided to go for a ride on a big green tractor and the four gentlemen had the wonderful opportunity to experience a hog operation first hand. The phone call mentioned above consisted of a certain someone (it could’ve been me, who knows) telling his mother that “ she’s pregnant”. Little did the poor mother know that her son meant the sow he artificially inseminated but why ruin the fun! She still loves me; I hope. After our fun on the Friest farm, we made our way to Iowa City where we met with Connie Mutel where we discussed the impact climate change had on the farms and how the current way of farming is not sustainable.

Originally, our final non-travel day was only supposed to consist of a morning meeting with Dr. Dave Cwiertny. But due to our 2:00 appointment yesterday being rescheduled today we had the honor of partaking in two activities. With both Drs, we continued our discussions about water quality, the effects of pollutants in the soil and waterways, and what could be done to circumvent or stymie the nutrient loss. In between these two meetings, we had the opportunity the walk around downtown Iowa city and visit the old haunts of our professor.

Last Thursday our morning began with a visit with one of HN’s former classmates, Jenny Terry, who heads up the Iowa Environmental Council. With her, we opened a dialogue about the current state of the quality of the water in Iowa. This organization’s primary focus is to work with legislators to enact policy and regulations with the intent to improve water quality and punish those who pollute the waterways. Topics included drainage districts, the lack of well water tests, and what the right approach to this problem really is. Later in the afternoon, we met with Omar de Kok-Mercado and he showed us the STRIPS project he was working on. The goal of prairie strips is to reduce the erosion which is caused excessive amounts of water on bare soil.
Friday again signified a shift in gears regarding the subject matter of the course. Previously we had met with many representatives of conventional agriculture and very few who represented the other side of ag. Visiting Grinnell Heritage Farm and the Red Earth Gardens allowed us to experience the sustainable side of agriculture first hand. The people at Grinnell preached mostly about the pitfalls of big and conventional ag versus organic ag practices. Meanwhile, at Red Earth Gardens, their practices were more focused on furthering the lives of the people on the Meskwaki Settlement through teaching them practical life skills in their garden.
One of our earliest days on the trip was Saturday when we had to be on the road by 6/6:30 in order to make it to Whiterock for a service event by 9. There we helped weed a pasture and also met with Liz Garst. With her, we talked about the modern farming crisis and how conventional agriculture practices were reducing the quality of the soil and endangering the environment. While her views were similar to those held by others on the trip, no two people have had matching agendas. This lack of uniformity further illustrates the divide between camps when it comes to solving the problems of Iowa.
After Whiterock, we began our journey to Essex where we met up with distant relatives of one of the students on our trip. The Liljedahl family owned over a thousand acres of terraced soybean and corn cropland as well as a hog operation. It was interesting to see just how interlinked Iowa is with family heritage in addition to food processing in the United States. Moreover, being able to get a firsthand look into what a hog operation and hog barns were like on the inside was eye-opening.

When compared to what we did previously, the beginning of the week was an entirely different beast. Instead of on-farm activities, we met with different representatives of various agricultural groups throughout Iowa. Our first stop was at Corteva Agriscience where one of its agro scientists passionately informed us of Corteva’s mission and how it was using new technology to revolutionize the seed markets. CRISPR technology enables scientists to pinpoint exactly where in the DNA they can add or subtract new traits. This means that it will be easier to dictate what traits are exhibited in a seed.
The second half of our day involved meeting with representatives from the Iowa Soybean Association and later the Iowa Corn Growers Association. Evident by their names, the focuses of these two groups are to ensure that the soybean and corn industry in Iowa remains profitable. While both groups have similar interests in mind, the Iowa Soybean Association reps certainly seemed more prepared and knowledgeable about the subject matter being presented.
The final part of our day, while not farm-related was still an integral part of our trip. Our motley crew had the honor of meeting with Dr. Angela Franklin, the president of Des Moines University and a Furman grad. This meeting’s inclusion in our itinerary was a no-brainer as Dr. Franklin is the most successful Furman alum in the entire state of Iowa.
Tuesday began similarly to Monday. At 9 am sharp we had a meeting with the Agribusiness Association of Iowa. Unlike the Iowa Corn Growers Association and the Iowa Soybean Association, the Agribusiness Association of Iowa represents all agronomic interests in the state. While one of their goals is to institute cleaner and progressive farming practices all across Iowa, they believe that policy and rulemaking is not the correct avenue with which to pursue these goals.
As Iowa is a predominantly agrarian state, it makes sense that The World Food Prize Foundation’s headquarters are located in Des Moines. The brainchild of Dr. Norman Borlaug honors those who have made advancements in all things food focusing on helping those who are unable to help themselves.
While on Wednesday we also met with representatives from lobbying or activist organizations, the experience was different. Instead of meeting with so-called “big ag” supporters we met with the Practical Farmers of Iowa whose goal was to foster the career of the small farmer. Similar to the “big ag” supporters, PFI focuses on helping new farmers get into farming as well as holding field days showcasing new more environmentally friendly farming techniques. The main topic of conversation we covered was pesticide drift and how in rare cases, it can wipe out or severely reduce the yield of a farmer.
The merger of Monsanto and Bayer was also a topic directly tackled in this course.  We met with Dave Tierney, the governmental affairs director, and three other Bayer employees at one of its learning centers to talk about what Bayer Agroscience was doing in the farming world. Surprisingly the employees present did not shy away from questions concerning the whole RoundUp Ready- Monsanto debacle.

Saturday, May 18

This past weekend was filled with a mixed bag of activities, though they are revolved around farm activities.. On Saturday, we started our day by speaking with two crop insurance agents. We learned about the government programs that supplement crop insurers. Interestingly enough, one of the agents referred to hail as the “white combine” due to it shredding any crops unlucky enough to be in its path.

Afterwards, we moved to meeting with the mastermind behind Nutty Farmer Chestnuts. Heath Stolee, the cousin of one of our hosts. While his operation has yet to turn a profit, as chestnut trees take 10-12 years to start consistently producing the $5-a-pound nuts, a farmer growing anything other than corn or soybeans is rare in Iowa which is why Heath’s dive into chestnuts is notable.

The final item on the docket was worming goats. Now, we were not really giving goats worms. Instead, we were giving them tetanus shots and medicine which gets rid of worms. So the practice really should be referred to as deworming.

Sunday, May 19

Sunday was the first day in a long time where we were able to sleep in. We got to wake up at 9! The first item on the docket was meeting with Mark Tintjer, a local beekeeper and nature enthusiast. He taught us all about the different types of honey, what it takes to maintain a beehive and how to win the most prizes at the Iowa State Fair.
Our afternoon was mainly spent inside but a few of us were lucky enough to head over to Neubauer Family Farms and talk to our Professor’s brother about all things farming. Mainly we were educated about his extensive collection of tractors, and Denny was more than willing to answer our novice questions about farms, farming, and tractor pulling.

Day Three can only be described best as a fruit basket of events. We started our day at the Poet ethanol plant. There we learned about the role ethanol plays in the US fuel industry and how Poet tries its best to support local farmers by trying to only buy corn from within 25 miles of each plant. After this, our day was split into two. Our early afternoon was spent separating the calves and their mothers from the rest of a heard of cows. Once this was done we headed off to another farm where we cut and packaged wheels of cheese. Overall this has been a very enlightening and fun experience!

Our first full day in Iowa was all about safety. We made a quick trip to Ellsworth Community College where we met with Professor Kevin Butt. Professor Butt taught our novice group all about general farm safety procedures and drove his points home by sharing scary statistics. A key takeaway was to always have three points of contact when on a piece of machinery. Tomorrow the group is looking forward to getting out into the fields.