Today we arrived in the Whiterock Conservatory around 9 am to work in their goat grazing land until 12:30. We met the guard donkey as soon as we arrived. Yes, a guard donkey. They are apparently a popular thing here to guard herds of goats from coyotes and anything else that may disturb them. I guess the donkey though it was disturbing them because he dropped his head and charged me, but I was able to win him over with ear scratches later in the day. We spent the day weeding out the weeds that the goats do not like. The goats had controlled another invasive, honeysuckle, but our crew of volunteers was responsible for pulling the invasives at the ground level. While we were pulling the weeds, the goats were basking in the sun watching us sweat. It was a little funny because the goats’ purpose is to weed the area by eating the weeds. While there I befriended an eight-year-old boy named Elliot who threw weeds and rocks at Hannah and me the entire time we were there. Overall, it was really fun, and it was good to get outside for a while.

In the afternoon we spoke to an interesting woman who lives in the biggest house that I have seen in all of Iowa. Liz Garst is renowned in Iowa for a list of things she is or has been involved with. She had an opinion on every major thing that we have talked about since arriving in Iowa. We talked to her for three hours, and I think she is the person that my views have aligned with the most. She thinks the solution to the water quality problems in Iowa are actually soil problems. I think she’s right. Many of the places we have gone so far have centered their focus on water quality and how to fix the water. If we fix the soil, the water will also be fixed. The small microbes in the soil are dying because of the chemicals and single crops we are planting on them. They are losing their ability to absorb rain or chemicals that are being put on them. She had some awesome ideas, and I wish I could go back to places we visited earlier in the week and tell them about what she thinks.

Since we are far away from our home base, we spent the night in in a cabin. To complete the cabin experience, we roasted marshmallows and sat around the camp fire. We even talked about something other than agriculture, which is rare in Iowa.

I woke up to the sound of my alarm to find that it was pouring rain outside. It continued to rain through breakfast and through our drive to Grinnell Heritage Farm where we met Andy Dunham and his employee Eric. We arrived at 9 am and the second we arrived we were bombarded with aggressive arguments against conventional ag. This continued for a while until they realized that we were not the enemy, and we shared a lot of similar views after nine days in Iowa. After we got the politics out of the way, we went out to look at the farm. Some of it was planted and some things were still in the transport pots. It was much smaller than I had thought it would be. Heritage Farms is the largest organic vegetable farm in Iowa. It is around 25 acres. The difference is that each acre has a much higher value than a conventional farm of corn or soy beans. It was cool to see how productive a small area of land can be. We talked with Omar yesterday, the man working with the STRIPS project that just became part of the Farm Bill. Andy plants buffers between his crops but does not do it through any government funded project. He said that he does not go through the government because he wants to be able to do whatever he wants with the buffers without regulations or requirements. I think that the idea of STRIPS is seeking a solution for people like Andy who want more freedom with their strips. Andy said that all of the prairie plants in his buffer zones were native to the area so it seems like they would qualify if he were to look into it. With all of the perspectives I have been given, I think that I fall somewhere that promotes more diversity and a smaller scale but does not totally aim to cut out existing systems.

For lunch we went to a local restaurant called Relish. It is family owned and the family opened the restaurant up for us during hours when it was usually closed. It was good food and conversation.

We met another Adam in the afternoon at Red Earth Gardens in the Meskwaki Indian Settlement. Adam Ledvina led us around the Red Earth Garden to show us how it works and what they are growing. They work with members of the tribe that have gotten a rough start to life. They hope to rehabilitate people and give them a new beginning. Diabetes is also a problem among Native American populations and the farm also helps to spread awareness of healthy foods and ways you can incorporate them into a diet.

Tomorrow marks the first day of our overnight travels so we are all getting to bed early tonight to prepare.

We ran back to Des Moines for the day. The first stop was the Iowa Environmental Council with Jenny Terry and her posse of female attorneys who sent us through a series of interview questions before we began. They were very aggressive in their strategy to push for policy. I understand why they are so defensive after visiting some of the places they are up against. Something that Jen said stuck with me “funding is fundamental”. I have seen that across the places we have visited, funding has indeed been fundamental. The groups with more money are having it their way and the ones with less are following along or trying to work around them. We went to an example of a group working around the powerhouses later in the day.

Upon the suggestion of a woman at the IEC, we went to Zombie Burger for lunch. Zombie Burger is probably exactly what you think it sounds like. It was a burger restaurant with a zombie theme. The décor did not make any of us less hungry. Four people got a burger with fried mac and cheese buns as big as their faces. No one finished the whole thing.

After our huge lunch we met with Omar de Kok-Mercado to visit the STRIPS project which stands for Science-based Trials of Rowcrops Integrated with Prairie Strips. The STRIPS were located on the Neal Smith Wildlife Refuge in Prairie City. I really liked being at the reserve it was awesome to actually see the landscape so many people have been talking about. The STRIPS that we looked at were really effective after the week of rain we have had. There was no runoff. Which was amazing because typically there would be tons. We also saw bison on our way out at their bison reserve where they currently have 67 bison living.

The Knutson’s made dinner at Morris’s and Mr. Knutson showed us a demonstration of how nitrogen leaks out of soil more than herbicides. We have heard a whole lot about this, but it was really helpful to visualize it.

May 23, 2019

This morning we ventured to Ames to meet with Liz Kolbe and Steve Carlson at Practical Farmers of Iowa. Liz discussed pesticide drift with us and then Steve discussed Beginning Farmers. Later in the day we went to Bayer CropScience. We saw that hot topics among the groups has shifted from GMOs to pesticides in the recent years. Most people in Iowa seem to be excepting of GMOs.

The biggest topic of discussion in the subject of pesticides was dicamba. Dicamba is an herbicide that a killer of anything in its path except seeds that are genetically modified to withstand its components. This becomes a problem when applicators are careless or uninformed, when wind causes it to drift, or when rain volatilizes it. There have been disputes between farmers about effecting each other’s crops with these chemicals. Typically, when the law gets involved the applicator is the one that gets in trouble, with a thousand dollar fine. There is a lot of talk about how this is an inadequate amount of money for ruining someone’s entire crop which could potentially end their farming operation. There seems to be a pattern in the treatment of individual farmers.

Steve talked about Beginning Farmers, which is a program in Practical Farmers of Iowa that is meant to assist farmers trying to get a start in the industry. This is because it is difficult to start a conventional farm given all of the equipment and competition there is. Farmers that are getting their start often have to use a little creativity to make it. We saw a good example of this with Brian trying to start a local grass-fed chicken and beef operation. I think that he could really utilize the Beginning Farmers program to network and get some insight. There are creative small-scale farmers all over Iowa to connect with. This is really important and supportive.

The gang split up for lunch (males and females AGAIN). The girls went to Noodles & Co and got… you guessed it, noodles. They were delicious, and I highly recommend it to any readers out there who ever plan to travel to Ames, Iowa.

In the evening we saw David Tierney and others at Bayer CropScience, formally Monsanto. We discussed the science that they use to determine which seeds are the best for future use. The use a machine called a “chipper” that is able to take a small portion of the seed off to examine and the rest of the seed is still able to be planted. They track each seed using a barcode and retrieve the seeds they are interested in. After the science demonstration, we discussed dicamba with Bayer because they produce a product for crops using it. Their response was to look at their actions and place judgement from there. They believe that they are working with what others left them and they are doing the best they can. I think they were relatively transparent.

To end the day, my farm brother Michael played the role of Chef Michael. He brought a recipe from home that we all worked together to make for dinner. It was delicious and fun. Tomorrow, my farm family is coming to Morris’s to feed us so stay tuned for that. Ben (farm dad) is bringing a science project surprise and we are all really excited for that.

Another day in Iowa brought another day of controversies… and rain. We went to the Agribusiness Association of Iowa who represents larger agricultural companies. Then we went to the Iowa Food Prize to pay our respects to Norman Borlaug (or not). Next up was the Des Moines Water Works Tour which was relevant because a major theme of the book Strom Lake that we were assigned to read prior to our arrival discussed a lawsuit between the Water Works and farmers in Storm Lake over nitrogen run off.

After breakfast at Morris’s we went to the Agribusiness Association of Iowa with Joel Brinkmeyer, Dean Lemke, and Shawn Richmond. Dean Lemke is an environmentalist that works for the association. He has some interesting views about policy and climate change that he was eager to share, bluntly.

Between our two meetings, we toured two notable places downtown Des Moines; the Iowa Food Prize, and Des Moines Water Works. The Iowa Food Prize was pretty much as expected. Norman Borlaug was praised for his efforts to end world hunger. It reveals the normative opinions of Borlaug’s work around Iowa. Personally, I think that Norman Borlaug had great intentions, however, his revolutionized grain came with some negative unintended consequences. The consequences we see specifically in America were lagged (Bor-LAG) but are starting to become more prevalent, in issues like obesity and heart disease. The mass production of a crop promoted the fast food culture and led to the increases of health problems.

By around 4 O’clock we arrived at our final stop of the day, the Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation with Professor Emily Heaton. The Center for Advanced Bioenergy is a part of Iowa State University. Our meeting with Dr. Heaton and her class was more of a conversation. It was cool to pick the brains of her and her students about Miscanthus. The group is trying to figure out a way to plant Miscanthus in the potholes of the farmland–essentially wet spots in fields that are unproductive. We saw lots of examples of fields with lots of wet spots as we traveled to meet Dr. Heaton and her students at an ISU facility near Boone. Miscanthus is a perennial, which means it grows back year after year. Corn and soybeans are not. Planting Miscanthus could potentially mean that farmers could cut their workload way down and still make a profit. The idea is gaining a lot of popularity, but there are still a lot of kinks to work out.

Today has been full of presentations, three to be exact. As well as a meeting with the president of Des Moines University, who is a Furman Alumni. The theme of the day was commodity crops. As a result, we visited Corteva, the Iowa Soybean Association, and the Iowa Corn Growers. Each place we visited told a completely different narrative.

In the morning, we met with Dr. Kevin Diehl. Kevin works for Conteva which is an AgriScience company that genetically modifies seeds to withstand different conditions and provide specific desired traits. It was the largest company we saw today, and since we’ve been on the trip. The company is mostly interested in the productivity of corn, how much they can squeeze into the smallest amount of land and how they improve the yield of the corn . Conteva is very profit driven, and they are critical of most regulations in agriculture. Kevin Deihl specifically discussed that he believes that regulations are an unnecessary hindrance to science, and the people often regulating do not understand the science behind the GMOs. I am not strongly for or against GMO’s, but I am strong against an operation the size of Corteva. Who, by the way, is in the end stages of a merger which brought together Dow and Dupont Chemical companies.  

I asked Kevin what he thought the future of the company was and he said they are planning more improvements for corn and soy in the future. This means that the company does not plan to diversify the crops they provide to people. This is huge because of the amount of influence a company like Corteva can have on the market and eventually our diet. They stressed that farmers have a choice to use their products or not. Diehl’s perspective was that Corteva offered many kinds of products suited to their customers, but the variations was on the corn and soy theme.  The real issue is whether farmers have a choice to plant corn or soybeans.  Given the Farm Bill’s insurance coverage for soy and corn, a farmer would have to undertake a much larger amount of risk to plant anything else. Why would a farmer, whose livelihood depends on the success of their crop, deviate from the insured corn or soy? So, what choice do they really have? A small one: corn or soy.

After Corteva, we went to the Iowa Soybean Association where we met Michael Dolch, Karey Cleghorn, Grant Kimberley, and Chris Hall. The group works with soybean farmers. The group had a lot of interesting things to say about the trade war with China and how it has affected the soybean market. Our next stop, which was BACK in Johnston, was with Rod Williamson and Kevin Studer, of the Iowa Corn Growers Association (there are a LOT of Kevin’s in Iowa). The corn growers were also concerned about our relations with China. They seemed a little upset that the government did not give more money to corn growers when the trade war affected their sales.

My impression of the soy and corn associations is that they are kind of fraternities for farmers that grow the same crop, hence the title. While the idea is nice in that it gives a farmer a platform to express their concerns about some the farming industry, I think that it can also alter the individual farmers opinion based on the agenda of the association. A farmer can be in more than one association, so if they grow corn and soy beans they are likely to be in both.

To bring our day to an end, we visited Des Moines University where a Furman graduate, Dr. Angela Franklin, is the president of the university. I thought it was so cool that someone who graduated from Furman is now in such a prominent role. It goes to show what amazing places Furman can take you if you take advantage (the FURMAN Advantage) of all of the things our school has to offer.

To synthesize the day in a sentence: things are beginning to get very political. Every Iowan, as an individual and as a company, seems to have a different opinion that derives from a different point of view that seeks to accomplish a different goal. Who knew there could be so many opinions about two seeds? Who the heck gave those two seeds this much power across so many sectors? King Corn was very appropriately titled.

We got an EXTRA late start today, but never fear we will be getting 6 am start the next two days and will have an excess of information to blog about. For today, I have two major events to report on; a bee farm visit and the reorganization of Morris’s refrigerator.

The bee farmer, who can be accurately described as a bee genius, gave us a tour of his beehives and all of the fun gear and gadgets that go along with it. We started at a hive that was queen-less, this left the bees wandering around confused with a lack of direction. They can be left without a queen awhile before going completely crazy in search of a new one. The queen was borrowed to put into a glass frame to show our class, without the fear of being stung. We spent a long while trying to locate the queen among the female worker bees and the drones (male bees). Bees are very systematic and intelligent, and so is bee keeping. We discussed swarming a lot. Swarming is when the bees leave their hive in a tornado-looking fashion and relocate in the form of a bunched ball. There are different reasons a beehive can choose to swarm, the most common is when they feel over crowed in their hive or there are too many drones beginning for form.

It was fascinating to uncover some connections between each of the smaller scale businesses we have seen over the last couple of days. They are all risking the certainty of a profit by entering markets that are less common in Iowa. Beekeeping, chestnut raising, and local cattle raising are not things that everyone is practicing here. The brave and adventurous ones all seem to want to go against the norm for some reason, whether it is religion, politics, or a respect and love for wildlife. They have also all found hardships regarding raising these uncommon crops in an environment dominated by corn and soy. A few years back, Mark (the bee genius) had a large portion of his bees die as a result of a neighboring farm spraying pesticides that killed his bees. He was able to meet an agreement to protect his bees, however, it was almost devastating to part of his livelihood.

One thing that holds true for everyone that we have met so far, there is some serious passion in Iowa. I have never experienced a group of people more willing to talk about what they do with such excitement and pride.

During the afternoon, the boys on the trip went to see Denny’s tractors. While they were gone, the girls stayed back to catch up on some reading and blog posting (it was not meant to be spilt by gender that is just how it worked out). During this downtime, I reorganized the two refrigerators required to feed our group of 10 people that have been eating at Morris’s. It was a large task to undertake but the results will hopefully decrease the stress level at mealtime for our chefs. It was therapeutic.

Today, was a little lower key than previous days on the farm. We began at 8:15 am, which allowed for some extra sleep. There was down time that allowed us to catch our breath and reflect on all of the new knowledge that we have gained since our arrival.

After breakfast, we traveled back towards Kevin Butt’s farm to learn about crop insurance (not State Farm) with Mitch and Renae. Mitch and Renae have their own insurance agency, in which they actually provide HN’s family with various crop insurances. We learned about the different types of services that can be provided from either government or private insurance. A popular type of insurance offered by private companies is hail insurance. In Iowa they call hail the “white combine,” meaning that it seems to completely remove the crop from the ground. This really emphasized to the group just how much of a gamble farming can be, in what is considered some of the best areas to raise corn and beans in the United States. The variability causes a lot of stress that the insurance helps to relieve.

Next, we headed off to Heath Stolee’s Nutty Farmer Chestnuts operation. Heath, an Iraq War veteran, has decided to go against the grain (pun credits to HN) and plant chestnut trees on his farm land. He has also recently undertook a project to restore a  wetlands on his land through the Conservation Environmental Easement Program (CREP). Stolee also has a significant portions of his land in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP).  In Heath’s CRP land, he has planted wildflowers between rows of chestnut trees to promote wildlife and prevent runoff. I really enjoyed learning about his practices and the successes and troubles he has had with it. I think that having another job has allowed him to try new things with less risk as other farmers that make their entire livelihood from their crops. He did mention that he has had some trouble finding available insurance for his trees that adequately cover the risk. The policy only covers a tree if it is ruined down to the roots.

Next on the list was goat deworming with Franklin Fisus. The goats that we treated were kids, which I learned is a name for goat babies. At first, I was reluctant to hold a kid while they were getting a shot, but I overcame my fear to get a good photograph. I got a good picture.

The rest of the night was very relaxed as well. We went to the Neubauer farm to watch a the documentary, “King Corn.” The documentary was about two boys from Boston who were in a biology lab and found that they had a significant amount of corn in their hair. Because of this, they wanted to live the life of a farmer growing corn and then trace where it went around the world. The amount of corn that they added to the pile was so vast that they are unable to trace where it goes. Through a process of tracking popular destinations of corn, they found that much of it goes to feeding cattle in Colorado. The cattle farm they visited in Colorado was unlike anything I’ve ever seen before, even on TV. There were what seemed like mountains of cows covering every inch of ground over a huge area. The corn and corn stalks are used as food to feed the cows. It is not good for them, but people don’t seem to care considering they will be slaughtered in six months’ time anyways, which is before any serious health concerns arise. They also give the cows medication that allows them to survive those situations. The boys in the documentary said that if you were born in the last 30 years, it is likely that you have only eaten a corn-fed cow. The documentary came out in 2007 and I’m sure this is untrue now because of the movement towards grass-fed beef and cage-free eggs. It is still crazy to think that all marketed beef came from those sorts of places for so long. I watched this documentary while snacking on some Rain Bran, which has corn, and know I have found myself checking all of my favorite snacks that usually claim to be healthy and some of them are made almost entirely from a corn derivative. BRB after I rethink my entire diet.

P.S. Scroll down to see Rob holding a temperamental goat. 

Today’s adventures, which HN titled “fruit basket upset” plans, were determined by the weather. There were plenty of potential plans including picking up rocks in fields and witnessing the maintenance of farm machinery. We ended up focusing on three events during the day.

We began at the Poet Plant, which produces ethanol from corn. We were walked through the process and logistics of making ethanol and then given a walking tour during which we got to wear safety helmets and glasses. The plant was loud and large. It smelled of peanut butter toast, but apparently that is what corn smells like because everyone else claimed it smelled like corn. The plant itself seemed much more massive up close than when we were driving towards it from afar. The plant’s daily operation utilizes a lot of recycling and features little waste, which was a surprise to me. The three main controversies with using ethanol seem to be the creation of smog when used in vehicles, the belief that vehicles are not made to run on corn and therefore become ruined, and the increase use of corn as a mass produced crop which has many negative environmental and health impacts.

Next, the females of the trip went to a farm not too far away from the plant to build a fence for cows. The fence that we created spanned the entire length of the field; I do not know the exact measurements of the field, but it had to have been at least a half mile. My fitness tracker notified me that I reached my fitness goal of the day, and I am pretty sure that I owe it to fence building. At this farm we also got to see and photograph all kinds of dairy cows including a calf that was born at 9 pm the previous night. During the search for a missing calf, I lost a rain boot and managed to sink knee deep barefoot into some of the soggiest mud I have ever seen. The calf was found later so it made it worth it. Kevin Dietzel, the man who owns Lost Lake Farm, practices rotational grazing, a technique appreciated by Brian Wosepka, the next farmer we visited.

Brian has a family farm of about 100 acres, where he wants to practice the principles of sustainable agriculture and produce food in a local food system. The sustainable practices that characterize Brian’s farm are a little different than what I am was accustomed to at Furman. He is more interested in implementing sustainable practices for religious, political, and human health reasons. It was interesting to see how folks with more conservative leanings are working to promote locally sourced goods.

Brian also discussed the difficulties of finding markets for his beef and chicken products.  Poet, Brian, and Kevin have all faced some sort of policy that has made it more difficult for them to succeed while being smaller than some other player with more money, and therefore more political power. Brian in particular has found that most regulations do not differ depending on scale of the operation. He noted that this makes it difficult for him to make connections and find success.  For example, he discussed how slaughtering regulations are one-size-fits all, and as a result, make processing his beef quite expensive in comparison to a large-scale meat processing plant.

To begin my journey to Iowa, I woke up at 3 am this morning (which is 2 am Iowa time) to head to the airport in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. From there, I took another plane to Charlotte where I had a three hour layover, during which I fell asleep and nearly missed my flight.

Thank god for the voice of a woman over the loud speaker who awoke me with “paging passenger Bernacki, please arrive at gate E28 for an on-time departure,” an announcement I am almost positive the entire airport received.

From there it was smooth sailing (flying) to Iowa. I touched down at around noon and remained in the airport flagging down the rest of the group until around 3 pm.

After an hour drive from Des Moines to Radcliffe, Iowa we finally arrived. We took the short-long tour of Downtown Radcliffe, Dr. HN’s hometown, total population estimated to be around 400 souls. This concluded our first ride (of many more to come) in the 12- passenger white van that will be our Mayflower of sorts as we discover the four corners of Iowa and what is in between.

Some things I am looking forward to learning during the 21 days of traveling the paved and graveled roads of Iowa are getting to witness and participate in different agricultural practices, visiting a dairy farm, and touring the Water Works in Des Moines.

I am especially looking forward to our visit to Storm Lake and the Nutty Farmer. Storm Lake because of the book that we read prior to our arrival that was incredibly interesting. The Nutty Farmer because I am curious about the runoff and erosion barriers I saw there on the drive by.

I will be staying at the Knutson residents for the duration of my trip. I met them both, and their energetic dog today and I am so happy. They are, like most Iowans very sweet and welcoming. Following a short break, which I utilized to unpack and settle in to my lovely home for the month, we met for dinner with all eight students and each host family. There was wonderful food (especially the vegan Alfredo) and wonderful conversation. 

Finally, we met at the Neubauer Farm barn to discuss what tomorrow will hold. In the morning, farm safety, and in the evening, composting 101 which I am stoked about.

Goodnight farmers and followers of the blog.