Stories Archives

AWE Reflection

Becky Weeks

I came to AWE with virtually no farming experience.  I was born and raised in Kansas City, Missouri and came to Iowa for college.  As a graduate student at Iowa State, I conduct small-scale research on ear and tassel development in corn.   My responsibilities include tending a small area of corn for research.  In our field, everything is done by hand, so naturally
I was curious how farming works on a large scale. Additionally,
I was interested in learning about the financial side of farming. 
I thought the AWE experience would give me broad perspective
on how today’s farms operate. 

On the first day, we met up with the host family, Don and Marylou Ahrens.  We went into town to tour the co-op and I learned how the grain quality was tested and how the grain gets into the bins.  I also learned about storage available at the co-op for farmers waiting to sell or signed into a late contract.  The host family explained how markets work and about basis, the difference between the local board of trade price and the actual price the farmer gets.  I had assumed prior that all farmers received a price close to the Chicago Board of Trade price.  The Ahrens explained how a basis works and what determines the basis.

When we returned to the farm, we got a tour of the shop and got to see all of the machinery.  Don explained how the corn and bean combine implements work, something I had always wondered about.  Next, he showed us the computer program farmers use to monitor markets, weather, and USDA reports.  We learned how you could buy a call, which allows you to lock in at a higher price if it comes up before the call time.

The next day, we toured the Golden Grain ethanol plant.  We got a short explanation of how ethanol is produced and then got to see it being made.  We learned about distillers’ grains, which are a byproduct of ethanol production.  I was impressed with how efficient the plant was with resources like heat and water.  Walt, the President and CEO, showed us the figures for ethanol production, which is increasing rapidly.  Their plant started at 40 million gallon per year capacity and after some expansion, is shooting for 150 million gallon capacity.  The expansion will make them the largest farmer-owned ethanol plant in the United States.  I was glad the Ahrens had talked about basis because Walt explained that the areas with the largest basis make the best locations for ethanol plants because the corn is cheapest.  He also talked about the president’s plan to use both corn and cellulose as precursors for ethanol production and said that when it comes on, the plant will likely be retrofitted to do both types of production.  He is currently looking into bringing on four more plants in Europe.

Later that day, we went to a dairy farm run by a man named Edward who is from the Netherlands.  We got to see the cows and watch him mix and distribute the feed.  One thing I was surprised to learn was that they play music for the cows.  It gets them used to hearing noise so they don’t get excited when people come into the barn.  We got to see employees milking the cows with machines that know when the cow is finished.  We also took a trip to the barn where the calves are located.  The calves are fed by a machine that recognizes a chip in their ear and distributes the correct amount of milk.  We talked with Edward and his wife about the financial side of the dairy farm and learned how unfortunate events can really hurt the farm’s profit.

That evening, Marylou took Karla and I to see the Mitchell county fair.  We toured the 4H building.  There were photography, baking, carpentry, gardening, and even a few fashion projects.  The organization is a lot more diverse than I had thought.  We also toured the animal barns.  We saw cattle, hogs, chicken, sheep, and some huge rabbits.

That evening we had a big discussion about farm subsidies.  I was surprised to learn that the farmers get a subsidy payment regardless of the grain price.  Don explained that a lot of large farms were finding loopholes in the program and abusing it by splitting the land and registering it to family members.  He said that 75% of farm subsidy money goes to the top 10% of recipients.  When I got home, I was inspired to do some more research and I found a report saying that 1.3 billion dollars annually goes out to people who don’t plant a single seed Washington Post 6-2-2006.  It’s a shame that some farmers can’t afford to get started and payments are being sent to people who don’t even need them.

We also talked about crop insurance, and Don expressed concerns over this year’s crop.  They have received less than an inch of rain in the past couple months and according to the 18-year cycle, they are due for another big drought.

The Ahrens explained how estate planning is very important these days.  It is getting more difficult to start up a new farm and family farms are rapidly disappearing, so many families have a farm financial planner, who works out transfer of farm property through generations.  In the case of families with no children to farm the land, many will rent the land out to other farmers and collect money off of it.  Many retired or widowed farmwives will do this to supplement retirement income. 

The Ahrens explained the draw of selling off land.  Don’s father bought their farmland for under $200 an acre when Don was 11 years old.  He jokes that now it takes twice that just to farm it each year.  Currently, farms in the area sell for up to $6,000 dollars an acre.  Its quick money for people in need and companies are anxious to buy it up and rent it to farmers.  The Lursen’s explained that their daughter-in-law gladly signed a prenuptial stating that she would not ask for the farmland in the case of divorce.  Its important that they keep the farmland they have because it would be so hard to start over.

I think that learning about farm economics was my favorite part of the whole experience.  I had so many questions about how the financial side worked, and still many of them that we discussed are not listed here.  We also discussed check-off programs, how tax reimbursement works, and how the farm finances are managed.   I also learned how busy today’s farmer is.  Many of them have other jobs as well as leadership positions.  Don was a Pioneer seed salesman and served on many agricultural committees and Marylou was just as busy.  I was impressed with how much Marylou knew about farming.  She has also been on many leadership councils.  It just shows how each person in the farm family is imperative to the farm’s success.

I participated in AWE because I am planning for a career in private industry.  The key for succeeding in this field is to make things easier and more profitable for the farmer, which is difficult to do if you don’t know what he needs.  I felt it was important to learn how the farm works to gain perspective and expand my vision for future corn improvements.  I would definitely recommend this program to other students, especially those like me who grew up in a city and/ or have no experience with farming.  It was very educational and I have no complaints of the experience.  Maybe it is just my own interest, but I think it would be fun to tour a seed company to learn how the seed industry works and interacts with the farmer.  If I had to sum up AWE in one sentence, I would say:  AWE is a unique opportunity to learn about the everyday workings of an American farm as well as the current issues facing today’s farming families.