So today was a day full of firsts, but the first first of the day was that I got to ride on a tractor. More specifically I got to ride in a tractor with Denny Friest while he pulled a field cultivator. Mr. Friest farms a total of 1200 acres with his son Brent, and he did the same with his dad, so he has been farming the same land for quite some time now. He is the first person that I have met that you would consider a full time farmer, which to me means that his sole source of income is from his farm, but he does a lot more outside of just farming. He is an advocate for corn and soybean producers, and he has worked on both the Iowa Corn Growers Association and the Iowa Soybean Association. Beyond that he has done a lot of work with international groups that have come to Iowa to learn about the local agriculture and livestock production. Needless to see he is a very impressive man, and as I walked across the field I was a bit intimidated. This all fell to the wayside when I opened the cab door and he greeted me with a smile a firm handshake. After I got settled in we were off, but I was initially very scared because Mr. Friest didn’t have his hands on the wheel. It turns out that modern day tractors just drive themselves.

While I might have found him intimidating at first, Mr. Friest has made it is goal to educate all sorts of people on how farms actually work, so he was a natural at getting people to relax and just have a conversation. We started off talking generally about his farm and his operation, but quickly moved into the issue of farm inheritance. This is usually a hard topic because for some families this is a very hard issue, but the Friests have it worked out. He talked about how since his son Brent was the only one working on the farm he would take over the operations and get the biggest portion of the farm, and his two siblings would get smaller portions of the farm because they didn’t put in much work on it. In some farm families this can be a highly contested issue and for some it turns into years of legal battles. The Friests on the other hand have their farming operation in a few different corporations, so there will be a smooth transition.

After that we moved onto the issue of regulations and sustainability. This is where Mr. Friest puts in a lot of time when he is not farming. He works to educate people on how conventional farming can be very sustainable, and he works to educate law makers about actual farm practices to create more fair regulations. When looking at sustainability he taught me that you have to look at the technology behind farming. This is what we spent a good bit of time on, but to give the spark notes version advances in technology have allowed farmers to plant more plants per acre, put on less chemicals per acre, and produce more per acre. This was surprising because now farmers can produce almost double the amount per acre then what they used to, but this is also using less chemicals. Using less chemicals means that there is a less chance of them running off and getting into other water supplies. I was super shocked by this, but also really excited because run off is a big issue that I personally see with conventional farming. When talking about regulations I saw a deep sense of frustration with Mr. Friest. He is a man that is always first to adopt and comply with regulations, but the different programs that the government puts out are always using old science and are just blanket programs. Since they are blanket programs some of the ideas don’t work for his farm.

I had a blast with Mr. Friest, and learned more from him in his tractor in one hour then I have any time before. He really showed me what a true Iowan farmer looks like, and showed his dedication to the environment and producing the best crop possible. He also unfortunately reaffirmed that science and farming are not in sync, and I find that very disheartening. I’m glad that he has tried to fix this problem, and I hope to help in fixing this problem myself someday.

The morning of May 12th was that of much enjoyment and intrigue. The group began the day, after a filling breakfast, with chestnut tree planting at the Stolee family farm. Before arrival, I found it somewhat shocking to be planting chestnuts tree as one of our first of many projects in Iowa pursuant to my predetermined expectation that farmers only grow crops like wheat, corn, or soy. However, Heath Stolee corrected my naive opinion. He explained that chestnut tree planting is not a usual activity farmers participate in but not at all shocking. Moreover, his reasons for planting chestnuts as a revenue source occurred upon accident, thinking it would attract deer. Consequently he rationalized, based on market prices on chestnuts, that he could earn a greater profit from chestnuts than that of other crops or produce. As we all know from the most basic lessons of economics, is that price is the centripetal result of supply and demand. Both act as adjacent variables to which a concurring price can be set balancing consumer cost with producer profit. Aware that the price of chestnut trees for planting was significantly higher than his expectations, it proffered a seemingly valid signal that chestnut productions could offer substantial profits.

With all taken into consideration, the group proceeded in tree planting, which turned out to be more fun than tiresome. I believe, if my memory accurately suffices, Heath planned to plant over 500 trees on the Stolee farm. Within a few hours, we were able to achieve a substantive one-fifth of the project, planting slightly over 80 trees.

Undoubtedly, Heath would have a definite supply of chestnuts. However, the question of inquiry was upon the limits of demand as chestnuts are not a commodity often purchased locally or even in the U.S. nationwide. Heath inquired that chestnuts, despite its value locally, is a produce often used by foreign countries such as Asia and parts of the Middle East. This is where most revenue comes from. Notwithstanding the high profits chestnuts have to offer, Heath mentioned that he doesn’t receive much of a profit till a few years antecedent to production.

On Friday, we picked up rocks. Yeah, that’s right: rocks. Picking up rocks, or even just rocks, isn’t something most people think about on a daily basis (unless they’re @Jessie Wheeler). Farmers though, they think about rocks pretty often. Rocks can cause some serious damage to farming equipment, especially harvesting equipment. While the Neubauers do have rock insurance, it’s not something that they want to use: It would cut into the already small margins that they rely on for success.

I’ve picked up rocks before. It’s just something that you do on a farm. In my case, we picked up rocks to keep my arena clean (generally an area is a flat area where you ride a horse to practice things). However, as a group we were/are inexperienced rock pickers, so guess what we did? If you guessed that we did it wrong, you’re right. Generally, rocks bigger than the size of softballs are dangerous for equipment, and one leaves the smaller ones behind. We picked up ALL the rocks in a really small area, rather than sweeping the entire rock belt.

In a way, picking up the rocks symbolizes our entire experience thus far in Iowa. It’s a big jump for our group, and while we might think we know a little about farming, we just see the big, flawed picture that we have previously been presented. Conventional farming might rely on equipment, but it’s still helluva lot of hard work, hard work that rock picking hammered home. It also hammered home the variability of land in Iowa and the fact that farming hinges upon getting the smallest of details correct. The land where we were picking up rocks, affectionately known as The Rock Belt, used to be a dump, and we found a variety of older farming detritus, including old coke and tonic bottles. Now, with the advancement of technology and the reduction of commodity prices, all land matters, and what used to be a dump is now part of productive acreage. Additionally, the smallest of details matter, i.e. rocks. To be productive and to make a profit, everything has to go right. The rocks have to be picked up, the nitrogen has to be stabilized, it rains enough, it doesn’t rain too much, it rains at the right time, there are no pest or fungi issues, the equipment doesn’t break down, the commodity prices are high enough, and many more. One or more of these may go wrong throughout the year, and it might be okay. But it also might not, and that’s a scary prospect.

These were our activities for Friday, May 12th

7:15: The whole group gathered for a delicious Diane Schwartz breakfast. Eggs, Bacon, Sausage, and waffles.

9:00-12:00: Working in fields with Heath Stolee on his 50 acre farm. He bought this farm from his parents and is converting it into a chestnut tree farm. We worked together as a team to plant the trees.

12:00-1:00: Another delicious lunch from Diane Schwartz and Staci Reifschneider

1:00-1:30: Half the group worked with Scott Neubauer to plant spruce trees to help limit the impact of the wind

1:30-3:30: Working Denny and Scott Neubauer picking up rocks in their field. It was very backbreaking work! We also found very cool glass bottles lying around in the field.

3:30-6:00: Working with Mike, Franklin, and Ruth Fiscus. We helped put in a barbed wire fence on their small five-acre farm.

6:00-7:00- Dinner at Morris Stole’s house–our central gathering place.

Then we slept!

May 11, 2017

Before, during, and after our visit with Kevin Butt, the main question that pervaded my thoughts regarded the primary goal of precision agriculture: economic growth or environmental protection? The technology that Mr. Butt introduced us to controlled for the application of seeds, water, pesticides, fertilizer, etc. to the fields. This allows limited inputs which reduces costs, resource use, environmental degradation, and labor. While the technology and mechanisms used for precision agriculture are likely developed with a mix of these goals in mind, it’s important that we understand and revisit the principal goals of this transition to achieve efficiency in agricultural productivity.

I questioned whether the technology involved in precision ag was financially accessible to family-owned farm operations, and Kevin explained that the ability to afford the updates depended largely on the productivity of your land, that is how many acres are farmed. He told us that many of the farmers he knows use precision ag for fertilizer application and that with their switch to the technology, he and his family were able to reduce their inputs (and thus their costs) significantly. While they benefit marginally from the introduction of precision planters and drones on their farm, larger industrial operations presumably save even more with larger tracts of land and the ability to use the latest and most efficient technology. This begs the question of which groups of farmers these technological advancements target and benefit most.

Farmers operating family businesses and corporations operating industrial farms may have divergent interests and goals for their operations. While we cannot assume that small farms are more environmentally sustainable, the decisions made on larger farms have bigger environmental impacts than smaller scale operations. Farmers who own their land may feel attachment that encourages stewardly behaviors, recognizing the role of their land as a piece of inheritance for their offspring, whereas corporate agriculture decisions are heavily driven by the goal of profit. Precision agriculture thus has the ability to support small scale farm operations and limit the potential environmental devastation by corporate ag, or could gradually increase the gap between the economic success of family farms and corporate farms, increasing small farm buy-in and dissolving family operations. If our goal is to preserve small-scale farms and encourage environmental stewardship in land holders, we should find ways to make precision technology more affordable for these groups.

I think my biggest takeaway from today was speaking with Kevin Butt on his farm about sprayers and the types of chemicals used on his family farm. I don’t think I understood the importance of precision agriculture until we were on site with Kevin’s father talking about the history of chemical use in commercial agriculture. In the past, if one gallon of pesticide or weed killer worked, then farmers assumed two gallons would work just as well. As we know now, this can lead to chemical runoff and pollution of nearby water sources.

Now, in the larger study of precision agriculture, farmers can spot-treat problems in their fields with the help of drones; chemical sprayers can be hooked up to GPS and map out acreage that’s already been sprayed. This ensures that pounds and pounds of chemicals aren’t being applied to large swaths of acreage when it’s not necessary.

Before this trip, my biggest problem with commercial agriculture was the use of chemicals and treated seeds. And while I am still not completely on board with these practices, I understand that in an effort to become more efficient and environmentally sound, precision agriculture seems to be doing its intended job. The use of technology ensures that farmers are planting seed in a uniform fashion and maximizing their land use.

As we were listening to Kevin and his dad speak, I kept asking myself “Well, why use chemicals in the first place, why use treated seed in the first place?” Because in my experience farming on small acreage, we use heirloom seed and organic practices and we don’t run into bug and pest problems all that often. And we can spot treat with oils and natural practices. But now, I understand that for farmers to grow the corn that pays their bills, treated seeds ensure that farmers have a profitable crop.

In my experience farming, I’m are not producing thousands of pounds of a single product in a growing season where one bout of disease can wipe out half my season’s crop. So precision ag and treated seed isn’t useful to me, but farming across the state of Iowa is a completely different kind of business, and I am beginning to understand that the risk of small-scale farming is nothing compared to conventional agriculture.

On the morning of Thursday May 11, we awoke at what seemed like the crack of dawn, 6:45 am, and arrived at Morris Stole’s house for breakfast at 7:15. Here, we met Diane. Some say she is the best cook in Harden County, which I might agree with. After our breakfast, we headed off to Ellsworth Community College in Iowa Falls to meet with Professor Kevin Butt. Starting at 9, we had a lecture on farm safety. It was interesting, but it was also very scary to see how easy serious accidents can occur on the farm. During the farm safety presentation, we were also introduced to precision agriculture. I would define precision ag as making life for farmers much easier and their work much more efficient. Instead of doing work by hand, such as driving the tractor and operating planters and sprayers, the software technology allows tractors to steer themselves or to plant seeds in very straight rows. Professor Butt also introduced us to the use of drones on the farm. This took us to his family farm, just outside of Iowa Falls, where we watched him fly his drone. While flying, he explained how the camera on the drone was useful to look at how crops were growing, where weeds were growing, and everything that had to deal with the field.

After we left Professor Butt’s farm, we drove back into town and ate lunch at 502 Grill House. In an attempt to keep with my majority pork diet while in Iowa, I ate the 502’s special, the pork tenderloin. While eating lunch, we were able to talk among ourselves and get to know each other a little better. This proved to be important because we typically spend all day together. Once we finished our lunch, we headed to the main campus of Ellsworth Community College in downtown Iowa Falls. Professor Butt took us on a tour of his workshop and let us ride on his precision ag golf cart. On the golf cart, we saw a sprayer work alongside the GPS and cover the field. In my opinion, the best part was seeing the sprayer shut off over the areas that had already been sprayed. Once we finished our testing on the golf cart, we took a tour of campus and headed back to the Stole house.

On the way back to Morris’s for dinner, we stopped at Theisens. The only way I can describe this store is a Lowes mixed with an Academy Sports with chickens in the back. We picked up some extra rubber boots and then we made our way back to the Morris’s place. For supperer, Diane and Staci, her daughter, made beef stew topped with biscuits. For desert, the most important part of Diane’s meals, we had rice pudding. After dinner, we discussed our day around the table and continued discussion on topics ranging from precision ag to a Kum & Go 100 oz. mug (which we will acquire).  Stay tuned, others in the group will surely explain.

Today was the day we all finally made our journeys to Iowa. We arrived to sheets of rain, and an excited HN greeting us all at the airport. Some of us took different flights, but once we all had landed our journey to the farm began. Now we had landed in Des Moines Iowa, which is about 60 miles south from our final destination, Radcliffe, Iowa. This trip takes about an hour on a good day, but the rain made us go a little slower, and on this trip HN started to give us a little more background on all the people we were going to be meeting and staying with for the next three weeks. First was HN’s brother, who we met in his tractor shop working away at restoring the smallest tractor that International ever produced. He was a fantastic first person to meet, and he more or less fulfilled my idea of a farmer. He grew up on the land where we stood, fixing the tools that he used everyday to work the land and produce a crop. He gave us a quick lecture about his views of the current topics surrounding Iowan farmers today. I couldn’t have thought of a more perfect person to introduce us to our adventure that is Farm. Next we met the Knutsons, who Jessie and Josh would be staying with. They were a mild mannered couple that managed 600 acres of land (up until now I never thought I would hear a person say 600 acres and small in the same sentence, but apparently that constitutes a small farm here). When not on the farm Mr. Knutson works for Iowa State, and Mrs. Knutson works at a flower shop and does interior design work. The next group we meet were at Mr. Stole’s house, which is affectionally called Versaillesfor reasons we would later learn. Mr. Stole himself is a retired school counselor, and recently built a very nice house (thus the name Versailles). He will also be the new owner of 30+ chicks next week and I can’t wait to see the new little chickens. Also at his house was Diane Schwartz, and she was the one that HN had convinced to cook for us during the majority of our stay. She greeted us with warm cookies and lemonade, and dinner cooking in the oven. Now to call her a good cook is an insult because she is fantastic, she might even rival my mom’s own home cooking (sorry mom but if you were here you would understand). The last group of people we meet were the Sweeneys. Reid, Ethan, and I would be staying with them for the next three weeks and I was excited to meet them. They run a Black Angus beef cattle operation and Mrs. Sweeney has made an impact on the Iowa political stage, having served for four years in the Iowa Legislature, two as the chair of the House Agriculture Committee. We finally got the chance to meet them at dinner, and also all the other people we had met today came too.

Dinner was interesting for me because where I live I barely know my neighbors, let alone invite them over for dinner, but it came natural to everyone one. Diane had made more then enough food to feed all about 15 of us, and everyone already knew each other very well. Dinner showed me that in this small community everyone knows each other, and knows what everyone is doing. This sense of community was shocking at first because it is so different from what I know, but it makes sense. It makes sense because most of them are all working towards the same goal, run their farm as best as possible, and produce the best crop possible so they can farm again next year. This idea of them all working towards this one similar goals ties them all together, so it makes sense that they would know each other and have a vested interest in knowing what everyone else is doing. If all these people we met today are an indication of what is to come, then I know it will be fantastic because we were welcomed with open arms by some of the friendliest people I have met, and they are all more then willing to share their stories and knowledge with us. I know I’m excited to get to learn form all of them.

May 10, 2017

Before I arrived in Iowa, I expected to see lots and lots of fields completely filled with 6 foot tall stalks of corn. I also expected the climate to be chilly, cloudy, and windy, especially since I am from South Carolina and am used to hot, humid weather in the springtime. However, my expectations of this state were a little off, not because I wasn’t properly prepared, but because the farming lifestyle in the midwest region of the United States is a little unfamiliar for me. I can safely say however, that I packed enough clothing for every type of situation, so my attire was not affected by my slight misjudgment in temperature and weather.

When we first arrived in Des Moines, Iowa on May 10, 2017, I was surprised by the unusual amount of people who showed great courtesy and politeness to me and my fellow classmates who were on the same plane. Even on the plane ride, the man who sat next to me currently works in Iowa as a nurse and he was one of the most social yet kind strangers I have met during such a brief encounter. This type of respect was unexpected to a southern girl such as myself. I had always believed that South Carolina was a state of kindness and friendliness, whereas more northern states had those that were less social when it came to meeting new people. I can gladly say that this surprise was relieving and lifted a weight off of my shoulders because I knew that the family I would be staying with, would most likely be just as friendly and welcoming as those on the plane. In fact, this family, the Knutsons, are indeed extremely hospitable and immediately made me feel welcome as soon as I entered their home. Not only the Knutsons (Ben and Carin), but also Diane Schwartz (our wonderful cook), as well as Morris Stole, may be my favorite humans who live outside of South Carolina!

The other big change that I noticed when first arriving in Iowa, was the change in topography. In Greenville, South Carolina, I am used to waking up to the sight of Paris Mountain as well as the Blue Ridge Mountains right outside my window. Trees surround my house and a very steep driveway connects it to my neighborhood road. This is not true for Iowa’s land. As we were driving down the road towards Radcliffe, I could look out the van window and see land for miles and miles. Trees and mountains were not blocking my view and unlike what I had imagined, the 6 foot tall corn did not exist yet because harvest time occurs in the fall. Occasionally, there are some slight, rolling hills that gradually rise and drop, but as for the majority of the land, it is completely flat and foreign to my eyes. At first, I wasn’t quite sure how to interpret my feelings towards this new scenery. Did it scare me because it was different? Or did I enjoy having a new sight of atmosphere? It wasn’t until later that night that I realized the new topography wasn’t something to be afraid of. A beautiful sunset could be seen just above the land and there were no trees or mountains to block the transition of blue and orange colors. This type of sunset is not seen in South Carolina and it will be something that I will surely miss when my 3-week long journey comes to an end.