With much preparation and conjecture concerning Furman MayX: Farm, our greatly anticipated mid-western journey began as one more amusing than our immediate expectations. In fact, our journey commenced antecedent to our first steps upon the rich soils of Iowa. After most of us, excluding three members of the group, happened upon each other at the Atlanta-Jackson Hartsfield airport in Atlanta, it didn’t take long for us to greet each other and make friendly introductions. There, at wee hours of 8:00 a.m., and with consideration to all our colorful personalities, we happened to form strong friendship during the two hours we awaited our departure.

Landing in the Des Moines airport in Iowa, after an “interesting” flight, we met HN (Dr. Glen Halva-Neubauer) and Hagan who arrived a couple of hours prior. After Mariah finally arrived in Des Moines and while awaiting the arrival of our last member, we traveled for a nice lunch at Gateway Market, one of HN’s favorite spots in the city. The restaurant, to our surprise, consisted of both a dine-in and a grocery store. Moreover, the menu consisted of a number foods, some very common, some not so common but popular in Iowa, and others we had never heard; all of which proffered an insightful and conversational meal.

Shortly after this meal, we proceeded to pick up our last member from the airport and traveled swiftly to the Neubauer family farm in Radcliffe, Iowa. There we were politely introduced to HN’s brother, Denny, who, as we came to know, is a kindred soul but interesting character. He provided much insight concerning some of the issues related to tractors and planters as well as personal experience he’s had with using precision agriculture. Not only was he excited to meet us, we were also greeted by the Neubauers’ amazing canine, Shadow (one the biggest highlights of the day).

Subsequently, we proceeded to meet our host families. Mariah, Hagan,and Sophie (the Girls) met Morris, who is unquestionably the funniest and most lovable of people we’ve met so far on this trip. Jessie and Josh met the Knutsons, the most adorable and sweetest hosts whom we have coined our “Mom and Dad” for the next 3 weeks. Lastly, the Boys (Parker, Ethan, Reid) met the Sweeneys, a caring and daring family with close relations to the Neubauers. After settling in and unpacking, the group along with our hosts and hostesses met for dinner at Morris’s home known as “Versailles” (the nicest and most well decorated home in the area). There we made brief introductions and enjoyed some of the best cuisine prepared by the lovely Diane Schwartz.

Immediately after dinner, the group debriefed at the Neubauer barn and discussed the schedule for our three weeks in Iowa. We also watched a documentary video on Henry Wallace, Henry A. Wallace: An Uncommon Man, which provided an avid example of some of material we would be learning during this course. This video completed our first day in Iowa and the group returned to our designated host families to await the wonders that would come tomorrow.

This course has officially drawn to a close.  I am the last one in the house, patiently waiting until it is time to leave for the airport.  Since it is the last day, Scott was able to bring the guns back to the house—they had to be removed from the premises due to liability reasons—so he invited me to shoot some skeet with him.  I thought I was remarkably good at it for only having done it once before, but then Scott admitted he was keeping it easy because he didn’t know how I would shoot.  I had shot the first three in a row, but after Scott started throwing harder, I missed three in a row. Well, c’est la vie.  Finally, as a last hurrah, I had to do a photoshoot as the awesomely stereotypical farmer image I can imagine.  So, I present to you this photo:

*Backstory: the second day I was at the farm, I sent a picture to all my friends with the image of the softly rolling farmland and windmills in our vicinity set against a pretty decent sunset.  I accompanied the photo with the caption, “#Farmlife.”  My actual-farmer friend replied back with his own photo of him and his brother posing with guns in their crop fields, also accompanied with, “#Farmlife.”  I naturally had to out do him.  That’s how the above picture was born.

The photo that started it all. The original #farmlife

P.S.  The tractor in the photo is Denny’s tractor-pull tractor.  If you don’t know what that is, it’s basically drag racing for tractors where the competitors pull a large hitch with a sliding weight as fast as possible. Here is Denny in action at the 2011 Wright (Iowa) County Fair.  (Notice how he runs into the fence at the end.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nj4TgHb9RP0

This last post is supposed to be a final reflection on our experience, and what a great experience it has been.  As Dr. HN said multiple times, an entire course or even a degree can be crafted around the subjects we tackled over three weeks.  If this was offered as a semester course while at Furman, I definitely would have taken it.

My main goals for the trip were to learn more about the food system, gain a better grasp of the politics surrounding food and agriculture, and simply to learn what farmer life is like.  Growing up in suburbia, the only exposure to farming I had were stories that some of my farmer friends–of which I had two or three–decided to share and what I had seen in documentaries or Discovery/National Geographic shows.  If I saw anything in the media, it was usually related to the newest trend in agriculture or food, including organic gardening, non-GMO products, and sustainable agriculture.  I did not know much about conventional agriculture.  

If I had to take away one thing from the course, it would be how diverse everything really is.  I am referring to the different views and opinions, different tastes, different farms, different farming methods, et cetera–from the Annette Sweeney’s to the Mary Mascher’s, Tabletop Farms to Summit Farms, and from Seed Savers to Monsanto and Dupont Pioneer.  Everyone has a story. There are those in the middle who may or may not get too involved in the politics of food, such as our very own Denny and Scott Neubauer and their relatively modest conventional farm.  And I definitely cannot forget about Dalona, our wonderful cook with an equally wonderful family!

Hardly any policy affects only a few parts of the population.  Odds are that there are numerous indirect costs, benefits, and externalities.  Therefore, there are many members of the public who have a stake in any potential change.  (*Statistically speaking, the American public actually doesn’t hold complex views, much less know that a change in the status quo may be taking place or could affect them.  Let’s assume differently for the sake of this post.)  Hoping to go into politics when I establish myself in the job market, it would be my job to consider all the different actors who hold a stake in a particular policy decision.  They will find their allies on a particular issue, form coalitions, present their ideas to the public and the government, and hopefully craft good policy.  I would then do my part to help effect a change that I believe would better those affected, and especially in the case of Farm, leave the environment in better condition than before.  

Farm covered many topics, most of which required a good deal of technical knowledge to fully comprehend.  It showed me how vital it is for agriculture and food politics students to know the latest science being published academia as well as the circumstances on the ground.   Some political battles, such as gay marriage or abortion, are arguably more ethically and morally based, whereas agriculture and food battles can be more scientific in manner—or at least, I think it should be.  You have to be familiar with the geography and geology of the areas in question, what farmers are currently doing, the ability or willingness of farmers to change the system, and have to know the answers to numerous other questions.  Then again, such topics as government regulations and jurisdiction are very ideological and prone to personal beliefs.  Without any of this knowledge, you won’t know what you are likely to confront.  

Finally, agriculture and food deal with some of the biggest questions that could affect the course of world history.  Can we really feed the world?  Can we do so and keep the environment healthy?  Should we master nature or work within its most natural state? At this point in history, there are still many tradeoffs between efficiency and sustainability when it comes to feeding the world’s burgeoning population.  Conventional farmers may not be willing to sacrifice more capital for the newest method that may not work, especially if it decreases the yield in the short term without presenting a clear long-term benefit.  Many organic farmers, especially CSAs, sacrifice size, yield, and/or efficiency for organic certification or other demands of a specific market.  Nonetheless, as has been stated by almost every farmer we’ve met, there is a place for everyone.  They just have to work for it.  Although we have heard some doomsday prophecies about how we are ruined by the system, may run out of food, and destroy the Earth in the process, I hold a more optimistic view.  From what I’ve seen, I know there are many people out there that are working to find the answers to these questions.  I would love to see what the Farm group ten years from now will learn about.  I bet that even the group five years from will have a very different experience the one we had.  Food and agriculture is an exciting and constantly changing field, and I hope I can keep up with it.  No matter who you are, you are affected by what happens in the fields of Iowa and the rest of the Midwest and in as faraway places as Brazil, India, and China.

I want to thank Dr. HN, Denny and Scott Neubauer, Dalona Fiscus, Denny and Brent Friest, the other students—Kris, Adam, Cecily, Hedley, Rachel—and all the other characters I met on the trip for making it such a wonderful experience.  

Bye, Iowa! As all the t-shirts say, “Wave next time you fly over.”

As a whole, the FARM course has been one of the best courses I’ve taken at Furman, and it has certainly been the most unique. I also believe that the information I gained in the course should be of the highest importance for anyone who is a part of our global food system. This makes the FARM course perhaps the most relevant and practical study away program, and I would recommend it to any Furman student. First of all, the course heavily reinforced my confidence in my choice to follow the vegan diet. Especially in the United States of America, the cesspool of selfishness, most people follow diets for their own health and preservation. Regardless of how healthy veganism makes me, taking this course has furthered my understanding of how interconnected our food consumption practices can be with the Earth and the other species that inhabit it. Therefore, I have no desire to participate in food practices in which animals that were at one time wild, autonomous creatures are bred for domestication, and enslaved to the human species for the “improvement” of our diets. While I am opposed to all forms of animal agriculture throughout history because I believe we forfeited our right to eat other animals upon our invention of farming and accompanying separation from the rest of the animal species, I was especially bothered by the conventional forms of animal agriculture that I observed on this trip. In those systems, animal life was valued purely for its economic value, as the workers within these systems confirmed over and over again that of course they did not abuse the animals, because if the animals weren’t healthy, their meat would not be as high quality and would not demand as high a premium from the consumer. Within many of the organic / small-scale / “animal welfare” livestock facilities we visited, the workers and owners at least had an awareness and respect for the value of non-human life.

Other than helping me to validate my vegan diet, this trip also challenged me on some of my other food consumption practices that are lacking in ethical awareness and should be improved in the future. I currently consume too much food from a system that treats plant life and the land much in the same way that I criticize the conventional meat industry for. Non-organic forms of agriculture and the over-processing of food are making an arrogant statement to the Earth that it is incapable of providing for our ever growing desires, and that we can strip it bare of anything that is useful to us, proceeding then to distort and modify those resources to create barely recognizable forms of what once was a beautiful gift. While I am sometimes disgusted with the human species and wish that I could return to my hunter-gatherer roots, my socialized dependence on modern conveniences that have rendered me soft and weak would prevent me from ever making that decision if it were even possible. On a more positive note, human greatness is evidenced by our ability to contemplate questions such as these, and this greatness can be both a marvelous tool and weapon of mass destruction. I will do my best to use my greatness as a human being to live out a life of stewardship and encourage others to do the same, rejecting an attitude of domination towards the rest of creation.

The last blog post. Feels kinda weird, but nice to start winding down a little bit. This is meant to be a overall experience posting summing up my feelings and really what I’ve learned and gained from this experience. First off, I got exactly what I hoped. I heard from farmers and ranchers of all varieties their opinions about agriculture, how to farm, research, farming processes, ethanol, and every food or farming based topic imaginable. Even a few non-agricultural topics like child care and global climate change. I also got to hear similar opinions from politicians, activists, farmer groups, and businesses involved in agriculture. The reason I wanted to hear all of this is because I’m a sustainability major which thrives on its interdisciplinary structure and critical thinking development. I wanted to learn more about agriculture and although I’m seeing both sides of agriculture in my major, I’m definitely seeing a bit more of one and seeing it as an outsider, suburban, environmentalist. Being here put me at the forefront with seeing our food production from the inside. I’ve learned some common misconceptions (such as corn being “used up” after going to the ethanol plant) about the food system and much more importantly for me the opinions of those involved with agriculture first hand; the people who provide us and the world with food. This course helped me realize how complicated farming is between the legislature, economics, logistics, media, and unknowables such as weather or market prices which means that lots of farmers guessing on the future. I’ve realized how advanced farming is, and for some reason one of the most surprising things for me is how accepting farmers are of differences. Very few farmers on the conventional or sustainable agriculture side said that everyone should do things their way or that they had argued with others. Most of them said they knew people and were friends with a number of those on the other side of this spectrum and that we need all types of food from organic to GMOs to grass fed so that people have as many options as they like. Don’t get me wrong, everyone still defended the value in their view and did believe they should continue in their method, but i suppose the two sides are often pitted against each other while farmers themselves rarely debate it as the media and even scientists often do.

This trip made me realize that there’s a lot of media attention on food, how it’s grown, it’s safety, and the environmental issues involved. Conventional agriculture can undoubtedly be better for the soil than organic agriculture depending on the organic farm and the conventional one. That’s something I would not have thought to say before this trip. Even without listening to the news and TV just overhearing some of the commonly held beliefs among friends at school has imprinted some ideas for me about food many of which have no scientific grounding. This trip has made me realize that some things need to be looked at through science even when it is talked about so much that you begin to think there was a scientist who said it. Not only that, but it has reinforced my belief that science needs to be translated to the public for it to be really useful, and even in that case science can’t make claims that all areas will experience the same results and will either have to test multiple areas to account for that or just acknowledge it. I feel like this trip has resurfaced some of the things which got me interested in sustainability science and the complexities within it while also giving me a considerable appreciation for what farmers do for us every day. I’ll probably think twice before believing things I hear without evidence, and I will be sure to go through some of my own ideas around agriculture to see whether they’re well founded or not, especially if I intend to speak about them.

“What is the name of your program?” That was a question we got at about every stop we made, and our host(s) were always amused when we simply said “Farm”. Although it was not creative, an acronym, or an initialization, it fit just right. Farm was an experience that taught all of us and affected us each in a different way. We were not told one side of the story, ever, but got a broad spectrum viewpoint from all types of people. Farm affected me specifically by opening my eyes to how much work and thought goes into farming. From the math to the sustainable research, from the mechanics to the technology, and from seed to product, farmers really do it all. On top of that, they do it with heart. There was not one farmer we met that did not love his family, community, or job. With farming being such a tough industry and one in which many people watch, will they break even this year; the people that do it really have the best interest in mind and are devoted to feeding the world. I have gained such a respect for farmers and am thankful that they do the backbreaking job that they do because we honestly could not live without them.

I have also gained new perspective on environmental factors. It is true that farmer’s spray their fields with harmful pesticides and enrich their soil with nitrogen, which has a negative effect on waterways, but what we don’t think about is that they don’t want to ruin the land. It is what keeps their livelihood afloat. They are not going to dump any more nitrogen on the field than they need because that costs them money. They have begun to use tractors that put out cleaner air than they take in. They have incorporated buffer strips and other no-till practices into their line of production because they don’t want their soil eroding. They need their soil to produce their seeds, some of which are GMOs, that have been tested and declared safe, and save them from over spraying  as well as using excess water. The technology is so advanced that it can go through a field and adjust the amount of nitrogen it puts down depending on the plant’s needs. Conventional farmers, not all, but most are doing the best they can for the environment as well as the people and they deserve a lot more respect, I believe, than they get.

I am also thankful for organic farmers and that we have the option to choose which food product we want. I know there needs to be a coexistence and there is not one perfect or right way. If it were all conventional, the soil quality would decrease, but if it was all organic, there would be no capabilities to feed the world and prices would dramatically increase. This is the same for livestock. I learned about both ways of raising livestock and although a gestation barn doesn’t sound too great, it does not seem to be having a negative effect on the animals. All of Brent’s pigs were calm and docile, that would not be the case if they hated their lifestyle, and I feel that as long as there is no harm to the animals and they are treated well, it is okay. The pigs were air conditioned, heated, looked after and given constant water. They seemed very content to me. After this trip, I will not focus on organic vs. conventional when looking at what food to buy, but I will try to buy local more. I will go to farmers markets and support my local community as much as I can, but am not against eating conventionally grown foods or GMOs.

Another thing I am taking away is knowledge about the politics of farming. It is a messy situation and there is no easy or quick fix. Crop insurance is very important to these farmers and makes their risk manageable, but could change at any time with the Farm Bill. Also, pesticide drift. There are so many issues revolving around it that it will be an ongoing debate in the future. Another complicated issue is water quality. How to keep the water clean and keep the dead zone from growing because of the actions of farmers? How do we get farmers to change their traditional practices, but also get people to comply? There is no single group to point a finger at or blame, and that makes it difficult to create change. I will stay involved in each and every one of the issues as time goes on and am curious to see what comes of it; especially if we run out of water in 20 years. That will be interesting to watch play out.

Overall, I am very thankful I got to go on this trip and really did experience a once in a lifetime opportunity. There is so much that I learned and so much that interested me that I will keep up with throughout my life. I am glad that when I go into the store now and see Non-GMO labeled, I will know exactly what that means; and when I see why the organic is priced so high, I will know all the work that went behind that, like hand picking weeds. This MayX really did open my eyes and made me aware of the food that surrounds me every day. It is something I did not really think about before, but now will never forget.

Well, its actually over. I’ve spent three weeks in Iowa, gained five pounds, and learned more than I ever hoped to know about agriculture and food. I can honestly say that I’m coming away from this trip a different person.

I have officially become a foodie. I know I’ll never be the same in a grocery store again. From now on, I’ll be checking labels and ingredients. I’ve decided to start buying organic as often as I can and would like to support free range chicken and gras-fed cattle farmers. I’m going to try to convince my mom to let us join a CSA, and I’ll definitely make more trips to the local farmers market. Now that I actually understand GMOs, I’m going to keep up to date and try to get involved in our local politics surrounding it. I’m going to try to convince my parents not to use, or at least use less, pesticide to try to protect the creek behind my house (this one may not work, though).

Everything considered, the days that we were outside and working hands on were my favorite. I learned a lot from the lectures, but I really feel like I’m taking away more from when I could physically experience what the farmers experience. I can sympathize with people when I can experience it for myself. Out of all of the meetings, however, I thought that the one with the Iowa Environmental Council was by far the most engaging. Jenny has a vibrant personality, and Susan was great at getting her point across.

I guess if I have any advice for next year’s group, its bring extra hoodies and be prepared to go nonstop. Its worth it.

In my political thought classes at Furman Dr. Storey has often referenced the book “Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry into the Value of  Work” by Matthew Crawford. Soulcraft being “something that shapes and modifies one’s soul or core being.” The idea of this book is to emphasize, in an increasingly hands-off world, the good that manual labor can do for your soul. Seeing as how I am someone who has had minimal exposure to any sort of manual labor this made me think that this was an experience lacking in my life. My decision to attend the farm was reinforced when a visiting professor talked about The Tempest and its theme of the attainment of true freedom. This freedom was obtained by the transformation of the harsh realities of labor into something nourishing to the individuals soul through love or passion.

I do not mean to try and depict farm life as idyllic. Many of the people we talked to dispelled this myth, and it did not take long to see that they were right. This is a large part of the reason why I have waited till now to tie in what I have learned in political philosophy courses with my farm experience. Farm life consists of doing hard work for long hours with the knowledge that any variable such as weather, pesticide overdrift, or animal disease could destroy everything you’ve done. There is also always the fear of something even more permanently damaging, such as like the farm crisis of the 1980s, occurring and leaving you bankrupt. And even when everything goes perfectly, there is no guarantee that you will make a profit.

Despite the messiness and complexity of agriculture we still found numerous people who did it because it was their passion. Many such as Denny and Scott Neubauer and Denny and Brent Friest have been doing it all, or most of, their life and see it as a family enterprise. And others, such as Kevin Butt, consider it their ultimate passion and couldn’t imagine doing anything else. But what I found most moving were the couples who had changed the entire direction of their lives and abandoned their plans or careers (such as Jill and Sean who left their jobs as theatre managers in Houston) in order to start farming from scratch. To most people this might sound insane, especially since the vast majority of them opt to do organic/alternative farming where there isn’t even a safety net of crop insurance and government subsidies. But I believe that they are all motivated by something similar, something which may be explained in part through an understanding of the relationship between manual labor and soulcraft.

I experienced this for myself when working in the various organic farms we visited and seeing people who invested so much time and money into something where there was little chance of significant material rewards. I was particularly inspired by people like Mark and his wife and Dalona’s family who kept small gardens, bees, and a few chickens just to be self-sustaining, as well as for the love of it. Hearing the pride and joy in Mark’s voice as he told us about his bees and all that he gladly invests in his hobby, solidified my belief in the ability of labor to be made into something nourishing to the soul. Mark and Dalona also gave me the hope that even if I would never go into horticulture as a business, I could aspire to something more small scale. Of the numerous things I learned throughout this trip, perhaps the one that will serve me most in the future is the reward of trying something new and not being discouraged when doing so is difficult. I know now that despite my minimal experience and skills I am capable of starting a daunting project, such as a planting a garden and keeping a hive. And that despite the difficulties and hours of labor this will bring, in the end it will be worth it even if the only rewards can be found in my soul.

Today began with the refreshing scent of hog manure. Walking into the confinement, however, I will admit it did not smell as bad as I was expecting, but when I left I did notice not the most pleasant smell following me around. We visited hog barns from farrowing to finishing and saw pigs of each and every size. Unfortunately, with the PEDv outbreak, Brent had less than half of his normal number of pigs in the finishing barn. PEDv is a huge virus that has effected numerous farms and was the reason we were not able to visit more. It was very nice of the Friest to let us in given the circumstances because it hit him especially given that all the pigs he raises are farrow-to finish; so if all they babies die, there goes his income. This is different than people who just get the pigs delivered, and raise them until market because those pigs are insured. They get the pay check no matter what and are not dealing with the dead babies because their pigs are not producing. Now farrow-to-finsih barns are rare and in Hardin county; there are only 2 people who raise pigs this style. The county is dominated by corporate hog barns, not family-owned farrow-to-finish operations.  Something that has improved Brent’s breeding process though is AI, or artificially inseminationl.  Boars tease the sows to come into heat and then Brent sticks a small tube into a sow’s uterus, which inserts the semen. He said one container has about 10 billion semen and costs about 5 dollars. The sows do not mind this process and what was interesting to me was that when a sow is in heat, you can apply a lot of pressure to its back and they will not move at all. Another indicator is to watch a sow’s ears. Side note about their ears, they use as markers to easily keep track of the month they were born. The notches in the pig’s ear indicates numbers getting larger the higher up they go up. If a pig has a few notches, you add them up dependent on the location.

There seems to be a lot of controversy on the way pigs are managed. In the gestation barns they are able to stand, sit, and lay down, but not turn around. The big question here is, is this okay? Brent mentioned to us that this method prevents them from hurting each other because they can be rough, so it is a form of protection. Also in the barn, they were not too wild or mean. If they were truly unhappy with their lifestyle, I feel like they would be more aggressive which they were not at all. They do have different circumstances as they move from barn to barn also, so it is not like they are in one spot forever. In the finisher barn they are together and are able to move as they choose. I do not believe this is an inhumane way to raise pigs, but at the same time I am not apposed to the way Niman Ranch does it either. There is room for coexistence in farming, which is something I have seen a lot of on this trip. We could not sustain everything off of only free range livestock and organic farming. It is nice that people who really want that option have it, but overall there is a crucial need for conventional farming.

Our second stop was to Practical Farmers of Iowa where we met with Liz Kolbe. The main thing I took away was, the issues related to pesticide drift. How do you know where it came from? How do you know what chemicals it is? Is it safe to eat? How do you treat you plants if they begin to die from it? If you are organic, do you lose your certification for three years because of the drift? How do you ensure it will not happen again? There are just so many things that go into this issue, and it is so hard for people to find answers. I never thought about this topic in depth, but it is a HUGE one. In Minnesota in 2012, it resulted a signficant legal case in which an organic farmer got drifted on and called his organic certifiier who said the farmer couldn’t sell his produce and to till his fields. When he went to court, the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled that he should not have been directed to plow his crops into the soil and could have still sold it saying it was organic because he himself did not spray the pesticides. This is scary to the consumer as well as the farmer because he/she takes a lot of pride in being organic and does not want to sell a phony product to his/her customers. Pesticide drift is a big issue and still continuing to trouble farmers because there are so many unanswered questions about the issue.

The last thing we did was go to the Fiscus farm and deliver baby chicks. They were so cute and so fun to hold. We dipped their beaks in water so they knew how to drink and then placed them under the heat lamp. They were adorable and a great last thing to do!!

Pigglet

Baby chick!

Our final day was pretty busy, so we made good use of the little amount of available time we had left. The first thing we did was go over to the Friests to see their hog operation; I was not a fan. Because he knew that some of us were vegan, Brent spent a lot of time trying to explain why how they were treating the pigs ethically, and I didn’t agree with many of his arguments. For one, the pigs were kept in gestation crates for a significant period of their lives, unable to even turn around, which I would consider unethical. He argued that some humans spend most of their time in cubicles confined at work, so it is O.K. to confine hogs. This is not a very good argument for many reasons. Humans make the choice to confine themselves to cubicles. They also are free to walk to the break room and bathroom and have lunch breaks, and eventually get off of work at the end of the day and can do whatever they want. He also made the argument that it was O.K. to put hogs in confinement because they were physically healthy and got plenty of nutrients. Down south where I’m from, good slave holders used to keep their slaves fed and physically healthy so they could do good work, and that was also considered sufficient because slaves were considered lesser beings.

After leaving the Friest’s and eating lunch, we went to Ames to meet with Practical Farmers of Iowa, which seems to be an important resource for small and beginning farmers. Practical Farmers of Iowa is a community of farmers who share ideas and make it possible for beginning and older farmers to test out new ideas on their farms and network for various reasons. While there we talked to Liz Kolbe, the energy and horticulture coordinator, about many of the challenges that many of their farmers were facing. Because many members of the organization are small, organic vegetable farmers, pesticide drift from their larger conventional farming neighbors is a problem that many of these farmers face. Practical Farmers of Iowa helps the farmers who are affected by this problem to come up with solutions that could prevent drift or to know their rights when they do get drifted on so that they can seek justice. After hearing from many of the organic farmers that we met who told us that pesticide drift was a problem for them, Practical Farmers of Iowa seems to be doing important work alongside farmers.

The last thing we did on the trip was to pick up baby chicks for Dalona from the pet store to bring to her house. Some of them were to be raised to be layers and some to be broilers. It was fun to handle the baby chicks and to get them to drink water before putting them in their temporary homes, but most of all it was great to be able to end the trip working alongside Dalona’s family again.

What a better way to start the morning that smelling pig poop!  We ended the trip, just like we started it by going to the Friest farm.  Except this time, it was to see his pigs.  Brent Friest is a farrow-to-finish pig farmer, meaning he breeds his own pigs, raises them to adulthood, then sells them on the market.  Most pig farmers, such as Scott and his pigs on our farm, are contracted to only raise pigs up to a certain weight and age before they are sent to a different barn for finishing or to market.  Because Brent does it all, we got to see the whole process, from artificial insemination to adults-for-sale or adults-for-breeding. Overall, I learned that taking care of piggies is a lot of work, but Brent seemed to have a patter.  I think it is best suited for people who are very methodical.  I could probably do it, granted I’ll have to borrow a few hundred thousands of dollars and find some acres of land. Brent also had a very modern, conventional style of raising pigs–otherwise known as a CAFO or concentrated animal feeding operation–and is very supportive of using gestation and farrowing crates.  Although I recognize that conventional methods are advantageous towards organization, efficiency, low cost, and maximizing gain, I am still not entirely convinced that they are best in terms of animal welfare. (Sorry, Denny.)  As Brent said, they are given a very balanced diet; their waste is properly disposed of and responsibly reintroduced into the life cycle as fertilizer; they are kept at a very comfortable temperature throughout the year; and they keep the animals safe.  Nonetheless, even many academic and third-party studies that have studied the welfare effects of CAFOs say that the results are mixed.  If we were to go on a happiness or “freedom” scale, I would say the highest degree for animals would be dogs and (most) horses, who are given much more room to move around freely, as well as (hopefully) being exposed to new environments by walking or riding.

One of the biggest and worst offenders of misinformation of CAFOs, according to Brent, is the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and People for the Ethical Treat of Animals (PETA).  Although I have my gripes about the Humane Society and especially PETA, the political scientist part of me did have to give them some props for effective policy work.  These and other animal welfare groups have fought against CAFOs for decades, but occasionally their efforts have stalled.  According to policy studies, there are two main ways to effect policy change on a large scale: change the image and/or change the arena.  The first refers to the frame that a group can use to influence the public opinion.  People respond to different things.  For example, PETA can try to throw science into the mix.  However, to an uneducated or uninterested public, it may be better to humanize the issue by asking such questions as, “Would you want to be trapped in your closet for years on end?”  The second refers to where you fight your battles.  For example, if you can’t win in a court, take the issue to public opinion, or if you can’t win a the federal level, take it to the states.  This has also been a tactic of animal rights groups.  Most do not win in court because there is no definite, all-answering report that states that CAFOs are harmful to animals.  Therefore, the groups get policy ideas on the ballots, asking voters if they “want animals to be kept in cages in which they can’t turn around.”  Most people would immediately say, “No, of course not!” On the other hand, farmers and those close to farmers or knowledgeable of the practice would probably give a little more thought to the question, whether they agree or disagree.  However, these farmers are concentrated in such states as Iowa, North Carolina, and Minnesota.  Therefore, animal rights groups put these questions on the ballots in states that contain the smallest numbers of knowledgeable or sympathetic people.  Pretty sneaky, sis.

We also visited Practical Farmers of Iowa, a network of farmers who want to participate in and share research and methods relating to sustainable agriculture.  One of the biggest problems in conventional agriculture and especially for horticulture and organic farmers is pesticide drift.  As we’ve heard from conventional and organic farmers, alike, “there is space for every kind of farm on this Earth.”  However, there is still some difficulty in making sure these farms do not harmfully interact with each other.  Pesticide drift occurs when pesticide or herbicide is blown from one farm to another, such as when spraying on a windy day.  This may not be as big a deal on some conventional farms where they likely use similar seed, but organic farmers risk losing an entire crop or their organic certification if certain levels of pesticides are found on their land.  The most cited culprit is glyphosate, or RoundUp.  Many conventional row crop farmers plant RoundUp-Ready plants, meaning they have a natural resistance to RoundUp, so the RoundUp can kill any plant except for the crop.  Therefore, when this herbicide drifts, it will kill the plants of the organic farmer or even those of the conventional farmer that doesn’t use RoundUp-Ready seed.  On a small scale, it has the potential to poison some relationships between farming neighbors or get parties caught up in very complex lawsuits.  On a large scale, drift can pose a public health problem and some activists claim that the chance of constant drift onto a farmer’s land places pressure on that farmer to go ahead and order RoundUp-Ready seeds from biotech companies like Monsanto. Boo, corporate! Oh the joys of law and politics…

We also picked up some chick for Dalona!  They were SO precious!  They looked and sounded so perfectly chick-ish, that I thought they were fake.  It was rather simple to get them from the feed store and putting them in their little crates.  However, we had to dip their beaks in water before we let them run around.  This is to show them that that was how you get water and stay hydrated.  Apparently, they don’t know otherwise.  Poor things.

D’aaaawww!

EXTRA D’AAAWWW!!!!