GROWING SUCCESSFUL MANAGERS

Wet springs, planting delays and bad weather as well as high yields, good prices and great markets are all part of the business of food production. Dealing with those ups and downs is a challenge Iowa State University students have experienced firsthand since 1943.

Today, that hands-on learning approach has expanded and students can choose between managing a conventional corn and soybean operation or a horticultural enterprise.

Bill Murray, an agriculture economics professor, developed the Agriculture Education and Studies 450 Farm Management and Operation class in 1943. The concept was simple—teach hands-on farm management by putting students in charge of an actual farm.

The concept was backed by the philosophy that the farm had to support itself. Louis Thompson, the farm’s instructor in the 1950s, and later an associate dean, emphasized the importance of letting students run the farm without financial support. In a 1983 interview he stated, “If we can’t teach farmers to make money, we have no business teaching farm management.”

The 450 Farm has grown into a successful program that allows students to make choices, while facing the same challenges other producers juggle. Throughout its 68 years students have raised corn, soybeans, chickens, dairy cows, sheep, beef cattle and hogs. Each class maintains detailed records, daily logs and recommendations for future classes.

“This collaborative approach allows students to use problem-solving, decisionmaking, critical thinking and communication skills,” says Tom Paulsen, assistant professor in agricultural education and studies. “This is a capstone course designed to provide an opportunity to manage a real farm operation.”

Jesse Deardorff, a senior, and Chad Krull, a junior, both agricultural studies students volunteered to finish up some business for the 450 Farm after the class ended last spring. The two drove four hours at 30 miles per hour in the sweltering July heat to pick up a soybean harvesting head. They wanted to make sure the next class was ready for harvest. Both say the class provided practical management experience they couldn’t have gotten elsewhere.

“The class gives you an idea of what happens from bottom to top, as far as grain production,” Deardorff says. “If you didn’t have any idea how the process works, you would have after taking this class. It’s also about learning farm management, which is different than farm operations.”

During that same heat wave, Kyler Sheets and Joe Jacobs spent a couple of days thinning onion seedlings. The two mstudents were part of the first summer 465 Horticulture Enterprise Management course, which began in the spring of 2011. The new course was based on the same idea as the Ag 450 Farm.

During the spring session students wrote a business plan and decided what to plant, grow and harvest. Members of the summer session, Jacobs and Sheets, worked on implementing the plan.

“This class is modeled after the Ag 450 Farm, but the challenges, especially for marketing and labor, are completely different,” says Jacobs, a senior in horticulture.

In July, the students hosted a tour at the All Horticulture Field Day to share what they learned. Attendees listened while Jacobs and Sheets talked about successes and obstacles they encountered planting tomatoes, potatoes, watermelon and onions on the one-acre plot located on the Iowa State Horticulture Station north of Ames.

One recommendation for future classes, “don’t plant onion seeds. It’s labor intensive and costly,” says Jacobs.

Along with onions, the first horticulture 465 class planted tomatoes, potatoes and watermelons. Sheets, a senior in horticulture, says the class is an opportunity for students to apply what they learned in previous classes.

“I’ve never farmed before. I’ve raised a few tomato plants, but not 1,000,” Sheets says.

The class is in the business of raising food, says Malcolm Robertson, the instructor and program coordinator with the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture. The idea, he says, is to let students make business decisions and solve problems.

“This course is focused on the direct marketing of local foods, which is essentially relationship marketing and meeting the needs of customers,” Robertson says.

The class supplied locally grown food to Iowa State University Dining Services, grocery stores and restaurants, while the Ag 450 farm class decided how to sell commodities that could be used to feed livestock. This fall both classes focused on harvesting, marketing and beginning plans for the 2012 planting season.

Click here for Krull’s scalloped pineapple recipe, Paulsen’s butterscotch squares recipe, Deardorff’s roasted corn salsa recipe, and Robertson’s Boerewors sausage recipe.

WHAT’S IN A NAME? UNDERSTANDING FOOD LABELS

Whether consumer or producer driven, terms or labels are a major part of navigating today’s food systems. Part of the Societal Impact on Food Systems course taught by Ruth MacDonald, professor and chair of the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, and Cheryll Reitmeier, professor and associate chair of food science and human nutrition, is understanding terminology used to describe food. The following examples were used in the class last spring.

Genetic modification – Changing the genes of an organism by insertion or deletion, usually for some sort of possible benefit to the survival of the organism.

Natural – Products labeled “natural” cannot contain any artificial flavor or flavoring, coloring ingredient, chemical preservative or any other articial or synthetic ingredient; and the product and its ingredients are not more than minimally processed (ground, for example). All fresh meat qualifies as “natural.” All products claiming to be natural should be accompanied by a brief statement which explains what is meant by the term “natural.” USDA does not regulate use of the term “natural.” (Source: USDA)

Organic – Organic production is a system that is managed in accordance with the Organic Foods Production Act and regulations in the Code of Federal Regulations to respond to site-specic conditions by integrating cultural, biological and mechanical practices that foster cycling of resources, promote ecological balance and conserve biodiversity. The National Organic Program develops, implements and administers national production, handling and labeling standards. (Source: USDA)

Local – Obtaining food from within some set distance of one’s location. Some define as anything that can be transported to the location in one day or less.

Nutraceutical – Created from the words “nutrition” and “pharmaceutical” meaning a food (or a supplement) that may provide medical or health benets, including the prevention and/or treatment of a disease (Source: American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists)

Whole food – Loosely defined as a food which has undergone as little processing as possible, or that is in as close to a natural state as possible.

HOMEGROWN LIFESTYLE A COURSE AND WAY OF LIFE

By Willy Klein

Living a homegrown lifestyle on a small parcel of land is second nature for those having grown up learning “how it’s done.” For others, the desire to reconnect to the land comes with a realization that there is much to learn.

Homegrown Lifestyle, an Iowa State University Extension course piloted during  spring 2011, was created with those people in mind.

Iowa State’s Jennifer Bousselot, Iowa Master Gardener coordinator, and Andy Larson, small farm sustainability specialist, designed the course for people with visions of producing food for their own use and practicing natural resource stewardship, but not knowing how or where to start.

“Homegrown Lifestyle brings campus and local experts together to offer a complete educational experience. It helps us meet the demand for more information about growing, raising and preserving food for personal consumption,” says Bousselot.

The course combines basic information on food production with practical application and local farm visits. Coursework is presented via webinar the first half of each session and participants further delve into the subject with a local activity during the second half of the evening. Homegrown Lifestyle is purely forpersonal application; there are no requirements or certificationassociated with the course. There were 62 people in the first course offered at three locations.

Rich Myers took the course in Dallas County. Growing up he paid little attention to his mother’s gardening techniques. After an absence of 40-plus years, he returned to the home acreage and tried his hand at raising vegetables and tending the landscape. He is more successful in these endeavors as he applies Homegrown Lifestyle education and networking.

“It was incredible learning from experienced gardeners—they shared simple things that have definitely improved my garden and farmstead this year,” says Myers.

The tremendous amount of information provided each week was more than he could apply immediately, Myers says, so he started planning—including restoring a modest orchard, improving the windbreak and establishing useable landscaping around his new energy efficient home.

Elizabeth Kloss, of Iowa City, had only lived in Iowa six months when she enrolled in Homegrown Lifestyle. This city kid and her family came to Iowa so they could “live off the land” and the ISU Extension course delivered information she was interested in—vegetable and fruit production and preservation, small animals, bees, energy and water use and landscape planning.

The course was an investment in a self-sustainable future for Kristin Blaha, who stays connected to other participants via the course Facebook page.

“Meeting local people with experiences related to the topics and hearing other participants’ ideas and goals added even more value to the course,” she says.

In 2012, the 12-week course will be offered April through June in multiple Iowa locations.

Click here for Bousselot’s beet salad recipe and Larson’s tomato pie recipe.

VOICES The face of food production: Families like ours

By Scott Tapper

I am proud to produce quality pork for U.S. and foreign consumers. I take great pride in producing a wholesome, safe product that consumers can buy with confidence. I have had the opportunity to see food production systems all over the world and nothing compares to the U.S. From the farm to the supermarket, all partners involved are striving to have the
best product available.

Being the fifth generation to live on my farm, I have had the opportunity to improve it and pass it on to my children. Livestock has been a large part of the sustainability of this farm. I raise the corn to feed the pigs that produce the manure to fertilizer the corn—and the cycle repeats itself each season. I live here, drink the water and have raised my kids here.

I make sure the animals entrusted in my care are well cared for and comfortable. This not only makes economic sense, but goes to the core of what being a farmer still is. We care about our animals. What else would make me fix a hog waterer on a freezing Christmas Eve, go check pigs one last time at 10 p.m., or miss a family event because the pigs just didn’t quite look right today?

I hope my children will have the opportunity to play a role in the everchanging food production system. We need young people not only to be great employees, but also to take over as entrepreneurs, owning their own businesses and farms. We as producers must reconnect with consumers, who have decreasing ties to agriculture and less understanding of where their food comes from. We need to put a face on food production. We must learn to tell our own story or risk losing more of our food production to developing agricultural areas abroad.

I’d like consumers to know that we produce the most abundant and safest food supply in the world with the largest variety. Food production is not just nameless, faceless corporations. It’s still families making their living in agriculture, whether it be directly or indirectly— owners, contractors or employees, farm workers, truck drivers or meat cutters. We all provide food with pride and enjoy doing our part to feed the world.

Click here for Tapper’s pork loin chili recipe.