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Getting dirty Richland students learn firsthand what it’s like to grow something from the ground up. Page 12
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2 | FARM FOCUS | September 2016
Young farmers look to diversify operations Corzines add high-tech pork production to farm portfolio CHRIS LUSVARDI Lee News Service Writer
ASSUMPTION — Caleb Corzine has been around farming as long as he can remember, so it’s something he’s been interested in doing for a living. Yet, while starting a family of their own with his wife, Tarcie, Corzine knows farming needs to make sense economically for him to continue as a fourth generation farmer or he would need to work in the types of off-the-farm jobs like he has in the past. With volatile commodity prices, Corzine, like other farmers, is looking to diversify their operation near Assumption as traditional corn and soybean growing might not be enough. In order to do that, the Corzines are turning to a new approach for raising hogs. “This will help us stay on the farm,” Corzine said. “I grew up around it. I was with my dad every day since I could walk. I always looked up to him.” Tarcie Corzine is supportive of the plan, as it will allow her to be a stay at home mom. She grew up showing pigs but this will still be a new experience for her. Starting with their first set expected to be delivered last week, 2,400 hogs will be rotated through a newly built barn about every 6 months. “I’ve never been around anything this big,” Tarcie Corzine said. Caleb Corzine said constructing the barn on 2.5 acres was a better alternative than using more land. “This is prime farm ground,” he said. “This livestock is a new adventure for us.” The operation can have a far reaching impact, said Nic Anderson, livestock business developer with the Illinois Livestock Development Group. An operation the size of the Corzines can produce 320,000 pork chops every year and about 5 million slices of bacon annually, Anderson said. “They feed not only Illinois, but the world,” Anderson said. “There are opportunities to participate in the livestock business.” The pork industry contributes an impact of more than $1 billion to the state’s economy, said Jennifer Tirey, executive director of the Illinois Pork Producers Association. “We want to provide strong economic development to Illinois,” Tirey said. Being able to remain economically viable is a concern for young farmers, said Troy Uphoff, who works with the Shelby County Farm Bureau. “It’s always a plus to bring a young farmer back to the farm,” Uphoff said. “More farmers need to diversify to improve their economic bottom line.” The Corzines are contracting with The Maschhoffs Inc. hog producer network to market the animals that will be raised. The pigs will enter the building weighing about 12 pounds and be kept there until they reach market weight of approximately 280 pounds. The family-owned company, which is based in Carlyle, has 550 independent farm partners
PHOTOS BY CHRIS LUSVARDI, LEE NEWS SERVICE
Caleb and Tarcie Corzine installed a new barn this summer near Assumption that will house 2,400 hogs, using the latest technology including an automated feeding system and tunnel ventilation system. The hogs will be raised and new groups brought in approximately every 6 months. As the company expands its operations, Wolter said it wants community members to understand where their food might be coming from. “As our operations do have an impact on the communities in which we operate, we aim to have that be positive,” Wolter said. Science and technology continues to advance in order to allow farmers to do their jobs, Wolter said. Much of the equipment for the Corzine barn was produced at Grain Systems Inc. facility in Taylorville where products for its Automated Production Systems, or AP, line are made. The automatic feeding system ensures the feeders are full at all times and the pigs never go hungry, said Alan Hays, who works in technical support for AP. The heating and cooling system regulates the temperature inside no matter what the weather conditions are outside, Hays said. “It allows the pigs to be in a good environment,” Hays said. “They grow at the best rate they can.” The Corzine facility was built near what is becoming a cluster of similar operations in the area. R.D. and Jill Waddington, who live nearby, jumped back into the pork production business Caleb and Tarcie Corzine talk with President Bradley Wolter of The Maschhoffs Hog Production in 2013 after not having pigs on their family farm Business about the livestock industry. The Corzines are joining the Maschhoffs network as they for 15 years. expand their farming operations. They became interested in adding to that part with hog production sites in nine states. Farm- Hog Production Business. of the operation as a way to save on input costs, ers become dedicated to what they’re doing “It’s a way of life,” Wolter said. “They find such as for fertilizer. despite the challenges of raising animals, said meaning in raising the animals. There are new Bradley Wolter, president of the Maschhoffs challenges with every set of pigs.” clusvardi@herald-review.com|(217) 421-7972
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A year-round resource for soybean farmers DARYL CATES Illinois Soybean Association
Harvest is under way. Within a few short weeks, soybean farmers will be ready to sit down and evaluate the 2016 growing season and to begin preparation for next year. To help every Illinois soybean farmer make the best management decisions, the Illinois Soybean Association checkoff program maintains its active ILSoyAdvisor.com platform. The website shares insight from industry experts with timely, practical and useful tips and techniques for enhancing soybean production. Farmers can access tips through blog Cates posts from university and company specialists, research results and listen to or watch podcasts, videos and monthly webinars that offer continuing education unit credits for professionals. Articles are categorized by management area: agronomy, plant and soil health, disease management, insect management, weed management and crop diagnostics. Links to various apps also are available, along with useful soybean management guides. For the second year in a row, ISA has worked with the Illinois Certified Crop Adviser program to bring even more expert advice to farmers. Six CCA Soy Envoys provided regular, ground-level
expertise on ILSoyAdvisor.com during the 2016 growing season. Farmers with specific questions can visit the “Ask an Envoy” section to review questions and answers others have posed, as well as provide additional comments and questions. The CCA Soy Envoys are passionate about soybean production, and team members filed in-season field reports, thoughts about current issues and personal perspectives on the trials and successes that face the soybean industry. A new tab also was recently added to ILSoyAdvisor.com that features archived webinars and articles from the team. Farmers and crop advisers who want to dig deeper into learning can join these free online education sessions. Topics include technologies, strategies and onfarm decision-making, as well as water and soil management and integrated pest management. ILSoyAdvisor.com has links to Soy Podcasts as another learning tool. Audio interviews about various soybean issues provide personal insight into management practices and crop reports, including soybean fertility needs and dou-
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ble-cropping wheat and soybeans. ILSoyAdvisor extended its outreach the last two summers by bringing expert advice into the fields through ILSoyAdvisor Field Days. Three regional field days were held in different parts of the state to showcase practical advice to increase yields and profits. ISA hosts the Soybean Summit during the winter months to provide more resources for learning. The event was held in three regional locations in 2016, and plans are under way for 2017. In addition, ISA, with funding from the na-
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Nicole Florence, a weight-loss physician with Memorial Health System in Springfield, discusses healthy food options during the PrairiErth Farm Field Day near Atlanta.
Organic farmer has desire to teach, learn KEVIN BARLOW Lee News Service Writer
TLANTA — Logan County farmer Dave A Bishop likes to think of himself as an unconventional organic farmer. As the owner of PrairiErth Farm, a 300-acre operation just outside of Atlanta in Logan County, he produces corn, soybeans, wheat, oats, forages, vegetables, beef, pork, chicken and eggs. He’s also is committed to education, equally sharing and gaining knowledge about the future of food. “Education is so important,” he said during a Sept. 6 field day on his farm. “I’m always trying to find new and better ways of farming, and also trying to help others learn that there is more than one way to do things.” It’s rubbed off on his daughter, Kristin, an elementary school educator who often brings her classes for tours of the farm. “Dave is truly an expert in his field,” said Joe Bybee, a regional representative from the Illinois Department of Agriculture, one of the
featured speakers at the field day. “I’m not sure if he was born to farm, or born to teach.” Bishop said he has a natural enthusiasm for his work and wants to share it with others. “We’re talking about creating local and sustainable food systems and it’s something that I feel we can do a lot more of in Logan County,” Bishop said. “There are opportunities out there and people need to have resources to get information about it. We try to bring in experts that understand what Central Illinois has to offer.” The field day included about a dozen speakers who covered topics ranging from legislative support for local food systems to discussions on new agriculture funding programs from the state treasurer’s office. “There is an old saying that you are what you eat,” said Nicole Florence, a weight-loss physician with Memorial Health System in Please see Organic, Page 10
Organic farms
Andrew Anderson, Country Pond Gardens, Leland Members of the Illinois Organic Growers Bruce Chrisman, Country Sprout Organics Association (not all organic farms are members. Other growers may be found at Illinois- LLC, Carbondale Jack Erisman, Goldmine Farms, Pana Harvest.org): Brian and Anita Poeppel, Broad Branch Farm, Katie Kenney, Stone Court Farm, Mahomet Wyoming Lisa Haynes, Tomahnous Farm, Mahomet Randy Hoovey, Let Us Farm Inc, Geneseo Jane Heim, Willow Creek Organic Farm, StewMichele Wander and Jon Cherniss, Blue Moon ard Farm LLC, Urbana Rebecca Fischer, Renewal Acres, Quincy David Woodruff, W&M Land Corp., Woodstock Gregory Smith, Sun Powered Food, Champaign Cliff McConville, Barrington Natural Farms, Barrington Dave Bishop, PrairiErth Farm, Atlanta Harold Wilken, Janie’s Farm, Darforthe Gail Record, Clarewood Farm and Bakery, Springfield Wes Jarrell and Leslie Cooperband, Prairie Fruits Farm and Creamery, Champaign Jim and Mary Burrus, Indian Creek Beef Farm, Jacksonville
September 2016 | FARM FOCUS | 10
Spence Farm firmly planted in the past
Organic From 9
Springfield. “I tell my patients to eat like you matter. They are often encouraged to eat what is easy and inexpensive. If that is how you feel like you matter, then you need to work on that. That’s why an organic farm can be so important. These farmers care about what you eat.” Rebecca Huston, program manager for the state’s Ag Invest program, said the treasurer’s office partners with approved financial institutions across the state to provide qualified farmers and agriculture professionals below-market interest rate loans to start or enhance their farm operations. Loans have been approved for fisheries, pumpkin farms, apple orchards, grain bins, barns and equipment, she said. “We can also refinance debt,” she said. “We invest in communities as it was meant to be. We work through financial institutions. We are working to find solutions for the farmer and particularly those who have different crops than corn and beans. They have infrastructure they can use as collateral. It’s tougher with startup farms and organic farms that may not have as much. We can get you lower interest rates and help you get on your feet.” Bishop understood firsthand how interest rates can make or break a farm. “Back in the mid 1980s, I paid 24 percent interest on a loan once,” he said. “That gets your attention, and even though rates aren’t that
FAIRBURY — Spence Farm in Fairbury, settled in 1830, is believed to be the oldest family farm in Livingston County. Through the generations, much has changed, but the Spence family continues to preserve the rich heritage and history of the farm. Visitors come from all over the world to experience some of the crops and animals found on the farm. Each month brings a new focus. The farm was formed by Valentine Darnall who came to Illinois from Kentucky and purchased 160 acres from the government for $1.25 per acre. By the turn of the century, his grandson, Malachi Martin Spence, was in charge and the farm had expanded to about 1,000 acres. Barns, sheds, milk houses, chicken houses and tenant houses were among the 36 buildings on the property.
In 2005, the Spence Farm Foundation was created as a not-for-profit organization to oversee educational programs on the farm. Executive Director Erin Meyer said the foundation is committed to education and helping the community. The foundation developed the Grow and Give Garden on Route 24, near Fairbury Fastener and Supply. “The initiative is to have a beautiful garden that could produce food we could share with local food pantries and churches,” Meyer said. “We had over 700 pounds of produce this year from a garden that is 35 by 50 feet.” Tomatoes, peppers, beets, radishes, green beans, cantaloupes and honeydews were harvested in August, she said. February and March are harvest time for maple syrup. In April, it’s wildflowers, wild onions and basswood leaves. May is for mushrooms and June is known for nettles and cattails. Tomatoes and squash blossoms are ready for harvest in July and August.
In the fall, pawpaws (which resemble a mango with a banana/strawberry/citrus flavor) are ready. November is when the field crops are harvested and the family cuts firewood for the winter season. In making sure the farm keeps a connection to the past, the stewards of the farm – Marty, Kris and Will Travis – continue to use equipment from past generations. That includes a 1940s Allis Chalmer combine, a 1940s Allis Chalmers ‘G’ tractor to plant and cultivate, and old-style wagons and carts. “We focus on the four legs of sustainability which are cultural, social, environmental and economic,” Meyer said. “We want to create a resilient community and we involved various children’s groups, as well as families to participate. Our goal is for everyone to be more involved in growing, producing and sharing.”
high now, any help you can get is beneficial.” State Rep. Tim Butler, R-Springfield, discussed legislative support for local food systems; University of Illinois professor Tony Yannarell discussed farm research, cover crops and soil biology; Richard Ritter, senior vice president at Flanagan State Bank, talked about
ag lending; and Rebecca Osland of the Illinois Stewardship Alliance talked about legislative and legal issues of federal agriculture programs. “By trade, I’m a lawyer and not a farmer, but I specialize in agriculture-related issues,” Osland said. “It’s so diverse because each situation is so unique and every farmer has their own
personal issue, but working collectively, we can all improve situations for everyone.” Vendors included Bean Sprouts, a proposed Lincoln restaurant that will feature locally grown foods, such as items found on Bishop’s farm.
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PHOTOS BY JIM BOWLING, LEE NEWS SERVICE
The soils and fertility class mix seeds into the soil while learning how to plant cover crops at Richland Community College next to Progress City.
Community colleges offer students chance to grow CHRIS LUSVARDI Lee News Service Writer
Laura Hitchcock was trying to decide what to focus on while studying at Richland Community College in Decatur when she figured out she really wanted to learn about how plants grow. After taking a horticulture class, she changed her major with aspirations to make what she grows part of a business. Hitchcock, 44, doesn’t have much land, but is learning how to grow the most from it. “I fell in love with it,” Hitchcock said. “I liked growing things and when you do, you’ve got to know what you’re doing is right.” Hitchcock likely wouldn’t have made that discovery if not for being able to take one of the classes offered at Richland. About 1.5 acres is set aside for the Richland Student Farms where students can apply what they learn and operate plots for various types of purposes, said David McLaughlin, agribusiness/horticulture program director.
They can learn how to operate a piece of equipment on a small piece of land before applying what they learned on a larger scale, McLaughlin said. He said students find out what it’s like to plant various crops, including cover crops, which are part of the latest widespread trend in the agriculture industry. “We will get dirty,” Hitchcock said. “We know not to wear nice clothes to class.” Some of the students are working in a field for the first time, McLaughlin said. “If they want to farm, this is farming,” McLaughlin said. “They’re growing a crop. It’s becoming a way of life. They’re making it happen.” Students can see what it’s like to turn what they grow into part of a business with an outlet through the Saturday Produce Market, which operates throughout the summer. It started in 2010 with four vendors and now has 26 vendors who take part in it throughout the season, McLaughlin said. Please see Students, Page 13
From left, students Ben Frazier, Paul Shultz, Cameron Yoder, Bill Hutchins and instructor Nancy Schultz discuss seeds in preparation for planting cover crops.
September 2016 | FARM FOCUS | 13
Students From 12
“It keeps getting bigger,” McLaughlin said. “The community has supported it quite well.” Richland, like other community colleges in Central Illinois, is adapting its agriculture-related programs in an effort to meet the needs of an ever-changing industry. “They’re starting to see a value,” McLaughlin said. “There is a lot of interest in local foods. Everything we’ve got here is practical.” Heartland Community College started offering face-to-face agriculture classes last year after providing an online program, said Lauren Denofrio-Corrales, the school’s instructional chair of science. The distance learning was part of a partnership with the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences at the University of Illinois, she said. Students have been becoming increasingly interested in being part of the agriculture industry, so Denofrio-Corrales said Heartland formed an Ag Advisory Board made of local professionals to provide input on what should be offered. Heartland currently offers five introductory courses so students can transfer to a 4-year university, Denofrio-Corrales said. She said the courses include ag economics, horticulture, agronomy, soil science and animal science.
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From left, students Paul Shultz, Chris Modlin, Bill Hutchins, Ben Frazier observe as instructor Nancy Schultz shows them how to break up the soil for planting cover crops. Having Illinois State University nearby offers opportunities to benefit students at both schools with the ability for Heartland students to transfer to complete their degrees, Denofrio-Corrales said. Not everybody needs to live or work on a farm to be considered part of the industry,
training its students with that idea in mind, said Ryan Orrick, agriculture division chair and instructor. It has more than 300 agriculture students, he said. “We want to expose them to different aspects,” Orrick said. “We have such a great production area. You look around and see all the corn, beans and livestock.” The setting provides opportunities for students to get out of the classroom and learn about what they’re interested in, Orrick said. A 174-acre farm provides opportunities for research right on campus, he said. “Agriculture is not something to learn about just in textbooks,” Orrick said. “Hands on is a really important aspect.” Students aren’t the only ones that Lake Land educates about the agriculture industry, Orrick said. He said it offers a summer ag institute for area teachers who can apply what they learn in their classrooms. “We take them different places,” Orrick said. “Agriculture is so much more than the production piece.” One of the more unique programs Lake Land offers is its John Deere Tech training, Orrick said. “They usually end up in their hometown doing what they love,” he said. “It’s one we’re really proud of.” Orrick said students are trained to diagnose problems and repair equipment with strong job possibilities after completing the training.
either, she said. “They can find a career somewhere in the pipeline,” Denofrio-Corrales said. “It takes so many operations to complete the from field to table process. They encounter many types of positions. Hiring is great right now.” Lake Land College in Mattoon has been clusvardi@herald-review.com|(217) 421-7972
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How the TPP benefits rural, urban America alike RICHARD GUEBERT JR. Illinois Farm Bureau
he Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) has T become a hot topic over the last few months. It has been hotly debated by political pundits and presidential candidates, and dissected and discussed in newspaper editorials and letters to the editor. And, unfortunately, most of the rhetoric around TPP is negative. But as nearly any farmer will tell you, with harvest already under way and farmers grappling with the third straight year of plummeting commodity prices, opening new trade markets would be anything but negative. Rural America has a lot to gain from the agreement, but it wouldn’t be the only beneficiary. For consumers like you, free trade means greater choices Guebert and lower prices. If you bought a television in 2012, you paid 86 percent less for it than you would have paid in 2002. During the same time period, the price for a personal computer fell 75 percent. The savings are thanks to our ability to import goods from other countries. Policies that increase trade and foreign investment in the U.S. save the average American family more than $10,000 per year. For small business owners, farmers and nonfarmers alike, trade agreements like TPP can be a
products among the 500 million consumers percent of the world’s population lives outside in the 11 Asian-Pacific partner nations in the of the U.S., and 70 percent of the world’s purchasing power lies beyond our borders. When agreement. And leveling the playing field is especially im- other countries lower tariffs on U.S. goods, our portant for Illinois farmers trying to combat low exports are more competitive. We benefit by acprices by selling to new markets, especially when cess to new markets, demand for our products, you consider that 33 percent of Illinois farm in- American jobs and economic growth. come is attributable to agricultural exports. In a nutshell, TPP would give U.S. agriculture In Illinois alone, the fully implemented trade greater access to some of the fastest-growing agreement would add $300 million per year to markets in the world at a time when market agricultural cash receipts and $127 million per expansion is badly needed. boon for business. In 2014, more than 11,000 Il- year in net agricultural exports from Illinois. linois-based companies exported goods to TPP What’s more, TPP would actually help to Guebert, of Ellis Grove, is president of the Illinois countries. About 90 percent were small- and boost job growth in the states. Ninety-five Farm Bureau. medium-sized companies. And the benefits aren’t limited to companies that make products. The service sector also would benefit under TPP, including people who work in information and communication technologies, finance, insurCentral Illinois Auctions ance, marketing, architecture and engineering. “AUCTIONEERS THAT WORK FOR YOU” And, of course, large Illinois-based companies stand to benefit, too. Companies like John Deere, Caterpillar, Pilkington North America and Archer Daniels Midland all create well-paying jobs by exporting their products. But it’s farmers who are quick to recognize the Dean Rhoades Lester Crandall greatest benefits of TPP. After all, for them, the Lic #040.000395 Lic #041.0001347 stakes are even higher. Essentially, TPP would help level the playing field for American farmers Home 217-864-5394 Home 217-864-0468 by requiring trading partners to reduce tariffs on Cell 217-855-6277 Cell 217-620-4827 U.S. agricultural and other exports. Additionally, it would boost demand for U.S. agri-food WWW.CENTRALILLINOISAUCTIONS.NET
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Stevenson School students in Decatur assist 4-H leader Kendra Knox with the assembly of an enzyme experiment with fruit during an Ag in the Classroom after-school program in March 2015. JULIA EVELSIZER Lee News Service Writer
From The Nutcracker ballet to a box of crayons, teachers are using unique tools and conversations to incorporate agriculture education in Illinois classrooms. In her fourth-grade classroom at LeRoy Elementary School, Julie King has used resources from Illinois Agriculture in the Classroom, a 35-year-old education program led by the Illinois Farm Bureau. “I’m able to incorporate agriculture in every unit I teach,” said King. “When we learned about ‘The Nutcracker’ ballet, we discussed candy because of the sugar plum fairy dance. I explained to students how candy is made of sugar or corn syrup and where corn syrup comes from.” Kevin Daugherty is the education director for Illinois Ag in the Classroom, based in Bloomington. He said teaching agriculture in Illinois schools can be traced back to the 1920s. “It was a glorified petting zoo,” he said. “It started out because so many kids were familiar with farming but they were trying to show them how it goes beyond that.” The purpose of the program, said Daugherty, is to infuse agriculture into everyday subjects and use it as a springboard for teachers. “It offers supplemental resources for teachers including hands-on, minds-on activities,” said Daugherty. In her classroom, King uses videos, articles, lessons and activities from www.agintheclassroom.org, at no cost. The material is suited for students in pre-kindergarten
Sowing knowledge Teachers use Illinois Ag in the Classroom program to boost lessons
through high school. “We watched a video around Labor Day about the agriculture labor uprising brought about by the unions. When I use those talking points, we can jump into mini lessons,” she said. When her class studies insects and soil, King explains how glaciers left behind rich deposits in Illinois soil that is used for farming today. When students use crayons, she describes how some are made from beeswax or plant-based wax. “I don’t say, ‘Today, we’ll have a lesson on soybeans,’” said King. “I incorporate it into what we’re already discussing. Sometimes it’s serendipitous.” Last summer, King helped host the Summer Agricultural Institute, a program to inspire teachers to use more ag-related materials. She said more teachers should use resources online and that accessing the materials is “as simple as click and print.” “The Illinois Ag in the Classroom program is stellar. We are the gold standard in the country,” said King. “The resources are done well and expertly and they can be used with Common Core and STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) curriculum.”
Charleston and Mattoon fourth-graders enjoy the Coles County Soil and Water Conservation District Conservation Field Days at Lincoln Log Cabin in June 2015. The annual event was made possible in part by Ag in the Classroom. to the program, administered by the Illinois Corn Marketing Board. “As there are fewer and fewer of us actively engaged in farming, it becomes even more important to provide quality, science-based education resources to youth so they might grow up with a more robust understanding of how their food gets to their table,” said Tom Mueller, chairman of Illinois Corn Marketing Board. Ag in the Classroom is even used on the college level. Linda Sherwood teaches education at Eastern Illinois University and uses the program as training for her students who will become teachers. “Many pre-service teachers may end up teaching in rural Illinois and their knowledge base is minimal about farming and the opportunities afforded by agriculture,” said Sherwood, adding it is equally important for urban teachers to provide children with ag knowledge. The projects and activities taught through the program are engaging and compliant with Common Core standards, said Sherwood. “College students are amazed at the vast amount of information and thrilled with the materials provided by Ag in the Classroom,” she said. “The wide range of material covered explains how important agriculture is to everyone by defining how it is an integral part of our lives.” To learn more about the program, teachers can contact their county agricultural literacy coordinator at www.agintheclassroom. org.
She said watching her students dissect and interpret new information about Illinois ag is gratifying. “Children will take a piece of knowledge and savor it if they know and understand why it’s important,” said King. “We are all consumers and we need to make intelligent decisions when we go to the grocery store or vote. Knowledge is power.” Bridget Caldwell, Ag in the Classroom literacy coordinator for the McLean County Farm Bureau, develops lessons and activities to share with teachers regarding agriculture. She said teachers have made butter to teach lessons about dairy cows, built miniature windmills like those dotted through the Midwest and studied GPS tracking similar to what farmers use to map fields. “Many teachers don’t have the resources to make hands-on activities. I learn what teachers need, find a few activities suitable for their grade level and put everything together in a tub for the teacher to use,” said Caldwell. Illinois Ag in the Classroom will continue to provide free ag education resources to teachers, especially after the Illinois Corn Checkoff made a recent $90,000 donation jevelsizer@pantagraph.com
20 | FARM FOCUS | September 2016
Roots run deep on this Coles County farm Groniger family has farmed land for more than 100 years DAWN JAMES Lee News Service Writer
MATTOON — Jerry Groniger’s family farm received the designation as a Centennial Farm by the Illinois Department of Agriculture in 1995. The Groniger farm is the lone state-registered Centennial Farm in Coles County’s LaFayette Township. Jerry, 82, after working in sales for more than 40 years, continues to manage the farm in retirement. The farm, where he grew up, is located on the northeast side of Mattoon. The Groniger family has been in Coles County for more than 160 years, he said. “My grandfather (Alvin Hugh Groniger) bought the farm in 1894,” he said. Alvin, the son of Jacob and Elizabeth Groniger, was born on March 16, 1852, in Pickaway, Ohio, near Circleville and also 20 miles south of Columbus. The couple had six children — four girls followed by the birth of two sons: Lymon and the youngest, Alvin. When Jacob died about 1870, his will stated that the farm in Ohio should be sold and the proceeds divided among the chilA sign proclaiming the Groniger dren. His wife, Liz, Farm was established in 1894 is filled up a wagon with attached to a barn that was rebuilt furniture and their beby Harlan and Lymon Groniger in longings and — with 1917 after it was demolished by a two oxen pulling the tornado on May 26, 1917. wagon — headed to Pana. He said he assumes the others rode horses. They were only in that area for about a year, Jerry said. Lymon and Alvin formed a partnership and bought a farm near Cooks Mills in Coles County and later acquired another 320 acres in LaFayette Township. The farm near Cooks Mills was sold at auction in 1935 in the midst of the Great Depression, Jerry said. The LaFayette Township farm when purchased was in a swampy area. So when the Groniger sons purchased it, they, along with a hired hand, spent a year digging trenches and laying tile. The drainage settled to the north and formed Riley Creek. Jerry said his grandfather Alvin died in 1898 and his Great-Uncle Lymon managed the farm after that. When Lymon died, he left the farm to Alvin’s children, Harlan and Florence, with each of them receiving 160 acres. Harlan is Jerry’s father. And this is the farm where he was raised. He can remember his father having 16 milking cows and especially remembers growing tired of the arduous task of milking twice a day. They had nine sows and one boar. He said he can remember feeding more than 100 piglets. It was his job to feed them three bushels of corn. “When I was a kid, I had a pony,” he said. The pony was kept in the barn. But, he said, one day under his watch the pony got loose. The pony went to the hen house where there were 200 hens and the pony started eating their feed. He
SUBMITTED PHOTOS
This photo, courtesy of Jerry Groniger, shows a woman and a mule team on the Groniger farm in Coles County circa 1910.
This photo shows a man feeding the ducks on the Groniger farm This photo shows an Allis-Chalmers tractor at bean harvest on the Groniger farm in Coles County circa 1910. in Coles County circa 1910. said it ruined their feed. By 1960, he said, the Groniger farm no longer had dairy cows, pigs or chickens. It was strictly a grain farm, as it is today. Jerry said his dad, Harlan, who died in 1972, shared a memory of the May 26, 1917, tornado that hit Coles County and how it knocked down the farm house and barn at the Groniger LaFayette Township farm. Harlan was standing in
the lobby of Byer’s Hotel, which sat on the southeast corner of Broadway and 17th (where Progress Square is now) in Mattoon, when the winds started. He started seeing through the windows Model T cars flying down the street. Once the winds died down, he ran to his home on Marshall Avenue at the time and checked on Please see Groniger, Page 21
21 | FARM FOCUS | September 2016 he wouldn’t be able to go up and down the stairs. So he moved to town and bought a house on 14th Street. Jerry remodeled the house and lives there today. Jerry said he is proud of the Centennial Farm designation. It was a process to complete all the paperwork, but he is proud of the family farm legacy. The Illinois Department of Ag started recognizing Centennial Farms, those farms that have been in the same family for more than 100 years, in 1972, according to their website, www.agr.state.il.us/. To date there are more than 9,500 Centennial Farms registered with the department and there is at least one Centennial Farm in every county, according to the website. Champaign County has the most with
200, the website states. Coles County has more than 100 registered as Centennial Farms and six registered as Sesquicentennial. Sesquicentennial Farms registered statewide exceed 600. To earn the designation of Centennial Farm, a farm that has been in the same family for at least 100 years, or the Sesquicentennial Farm label of 150 years, an application process (including a $50 fee) is required. Farms receiving the designation receive a plaque and a certificate with signatures of the governor of Illinois and the director of the Illinois Department of Agriculture, according to information on Centennial Farms listed at www.agr.state.il.us/. dawn.james@lee.net
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SUBMITTED PHOTOS
This photo, courtesy of Jerry Groniger, shows a harvester on the Groniger farm in Coles County circa 1910.
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barn lay flattened. Along with his brother Lymon and a hired From 20 hand, Harlan rebuilt the home and the barn on the remaining foundations. his mother, Jesse, and his sister, Florence. Harlan had a heart attack in 1968, Jerry Fortunately, they hadn’t been hurt. He then said, and the farm house only had a restroom ran to the farm, where the farm house and on the second floor. His doctors told him
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Scarce cash in the land of plenty Farmers adjust as crop prices can’t keep up with costs MAXWELL, Iowa (AP) — Pale green and 8 feet tall, tightly packed corn stalks reach to the horizon throughout the Midwest in what is likely to be the biggest harvest the U.S. has ever seen. Aside from a sense of pride in breaking the previous record by nearly a billion bushels, farmers won’t benefit. They’ll lose money on virtually every cob. It’ll be the third consecutive year in which most corn farmers will spend more than they’ll earn. The growing has been too good and the resulting glut of corn depressed prices to a decade-low. It’s a similar story for soybeans, the second most common Midwest crop. As a result, farmers are cutting costs, dipping into savings or going further into debt. Federal crop insurance and payments that help protect farmers when prices fall too low offer some protection, yet many farmers and their spouses supplement income with off-the-farm jobs. The drop in farm profits raises questions about agriculture’s boom-and-bust cycles and why people adhere to what at times is seemingly not a sustainable business model. “I am 67 years old and when we examined my Social Security records recently, I had a 12year stretch when I didn’t pay myself one single dime,” said Wayne Humphreys, who grows corn and soybeans and raises hogs in southwest Iowa. “We lived on my wife’s salary. Everything else went to the farm.” Corn and soybean prices reached their height in 2012 but have since plunged, resulting in a 42 percent drop in farm income. For the nation’s roughly 2 million family farms, the average household income will be $118,890, but only about a fifth will come from the farm itself, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said recently. “Typically this time of year the dealership would be talking to me about getting a new planter, and they have talked to us and we told them we’re going to pass,” said Joe Steinkamp who farms corn, soybean and occasionally wheat near Evansville, Ind. “Obviously we’re concerned and we’re watching our pennies as we go.” To get by, nearly a third of U.S. farms have to borrow money, and borrowing has increased because farmers need to finance operating costs and near-historic low interest rates make borrowing inexpensive. But banks are reporting an increase of past-due loans, an indication that borrowers are struggling to repay in a time of tight profit margins. The current situation isn’t like the 1980s, when foreclosures contributed to the loss of 292,000 farms over a 10-year period. Some of that was caused by farmers who borrowed heavily during the 1970s’ low-interest rates then defaulted due to the combination of higher interest rates and collapsed crop prices. The less-established farmers who rent expensive farmland or went into debt to purchase land or new equipment are “the ones I worry about,” said Harold Wolle, a fifth-generation family farmer from south-central
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTOS
Central Illinois farmers harvest their corn crops in Loami. The men and women who grew what’s expected to be the biggest corn crop the United States has ever seen won’t benefit from the milestone. Prices are so low that for the third consecutive year, most corn farmers will spend more than they earn. Minnesota. But sixth-generation Iowa farmer Grant Kimberley, who farms with his father, cautions that all is not well for those who’ve been doing this for a while, either. “It’s getting to a tougher stage even for farms that are more established. Everybody’s feeling it now, especially guys like my dad. He’s 65 years old and has done really well and built things up, but we hope this doesn’t last forever because you hate to see a lot of those gains they’ve made over the years virtually get eroded,” Kimberley said. To protect themselves, many farmers have diversified their operations — and sometimes, their crops — so when corn and soybeans aren’t profitable, other aspects of the farm may be. “To be a good farmer, you have to be a good agronomist, you have to be a good marketer and you have to be basically good at farm business management,” said Chad Hart, an agriculture economist at Iowa State University. “You can’t just specialize and be a good producer and not be good at the others.” Nebraska farmer Ben Steffen knows this: He milks 140 dairy cows in addition to growing corn, soybeans and wheat. The increased demand for cheese and improved milk prices has improved his bottom line. And Kirby Hettver has sold a Monsanto-brand seed and precision planter parts for a few years in addition to helping his dad and brother grow corn, soybean and alfalfa in west-central Minnesota. “It has added a revenue stream for us, but more importantly, I’ve become a much better agronomist for our own farm with the knowledge I’ve learned from both of those businesses,” he said.
Grant Kimberley checks soybean plants on his farm near Maxwell, Iowa. Farmers go out of business every year for a variety of reasons but “we’re going to see more of that than we do in a typical year,” Hart said. Some have walked away from rented land or sold off some land in a last-ditch effort to generate cash, Kimberley said. Crop insurance and farm support programs designed to step in when commodity prices fall too low or revenue plummets will help. Direct government payments to farmers are expected to increase nearly 25 percent to $13.5 billion this year, the USDA estimated, though that also includes money for disaster relief. Debt and losses are an acceptable part of the cycle for farmers who crave the intangibles: the unpredictability of farming and the renewed hope that comes with every spring planting.
All it takes is a drought, flood or other natural disaster in another part of the world to disrupt a crop and prices could jump, creating profit potential. “If you don’t mind a little heartburn and lost sleep and a little hard work, it’s fun,” Steffen said. But down cycles can shake even the hardiest of farmers, said Kimberley, who’s also employed by the Iowa Soybean Association and leads the Iowa Biodiesel Board. “It does make you think twice. Do I really want to deal with this kind of life where fourout of 10 years I’m most likely going to lose money?” he said. “It’s a great life. It’s beena good business on and off, but, man, I wish there was a little bit more consistency to it.”
23 | FARM FOCUS | September 2016
“We’re pig farmers, sure, but first and foremost, we’re good people whose principles and morals are the same in the pig barn as they are at home. I will be the best pig farmer I can be. Anything less is not acceptable.”
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Edgar County | 161,700 42+/- Acre Farm. Located just south of Paris, IL. There is an old farmhouse that would make a great hunting cabin there is also a couple out buildings. This farm offers great for deer and turkey hunting. Schuyler County | $470,000 158 +/- acres of Illinois River bottom located in rural Browning Illinois. 125 acres is in the CREP program with an old duck hole in it. Several great food plot locations and approximately 7 acres tillable. Clark County | $179,800 40 Acre Farm. This farm has 40 acres with 14 acres that is tillable and the rest is woods with marketable timber. Clark County | $1,365,000 285+/- Acre Farm. This property is located in Martinsville Illinois. There’s a 3 bedroom fully furnished cabin on the middle track that’s 47 acres. A total of 77.5 +/- acres of tillable and approximately $160,000 of select cut mature timber. There are 2 small ponds and food plots behind the cabin. There has been very little hunting pressure on this farm for the last several years. Clark County | $841,000 152.5+/- Acre Farm with an Exquisite Log Home. This property is located in Marshall Illinois. This property has a 4,608 Sq Ft Fireside Log Home that sits on 152.5 +/- acres. The farm is a mix of tillable, open hardwoods, and CRP which add additional income for the new owner. The farm offers great whitetail and turkey hunting with several locations for food plots.
Clark County | $399,900 72+/- Acre Farm. This property is a hunter’s dream located East of Marshall in, Clark County Illinois. Clark County | $332,500 95+/- Acre Farm. This farm had deer and turkey hunting with 20+/- tillable acres. This property is located in Marshall, Illinois. Clark County | $345,995 Marshall Illinois Home with 40+/- acres. This is a must see four-bedroom house that sits on 40+/- acres with three outbuildings and 13 +/- acres of tillable land. Clark County | $333,998 76+/- Acre Farm. This hunting property is located in Martinsville Illinois and has 76+/- acres with a pole barn with living quarters.
Building Site Menard County | $21,000 14 Bally Castle Petersburg. This beautiful wooded lot is in one of historic Petersburg’s premier subdivisions. Located at the end of a cul-de-sac lane. This lot has a perfect building sight for walk out basement. Gorgeous setting.
Commercial Sangamon County | $3,300,00 Commercial building. Located in Springfield Illinois. Industrial Property with 20 acres off of I-55 & I-72 Menard County Lease | Call 217-622-5833 For Details Building Lease with Great Location in Petersburg Illinois; 12,000 sq ft on Highway 97. This property has endless possibilities; current layout of the property is a fully outfitted body shop. The building can be divided. Menard County | 199,000 7.7 +/- Acres. Commercial property located on State Highway 29 in Athens Illinois. This property has a great location with high visibility along Highway 29 with water and sewer. Consists of 2 parcels, a 5 acre tract and a 2.7 acre tract, owner will divide.
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26 | FARM FOCUS | September 2016
Water quality, ethanol among Corn Growers priorities JEFF JARBOE Illinois Corn Growers Association
The Illinois Corn Growers Association is funded through membership dues and the Illinois Corn Marketing Board. The ICMB collects the checkoff dollars for education purposes from corn sales in the state. My group is charged with lobbying. I have been asked to discuss some of the main issues ICGA is working this year. One of our biggest concerns is the topic of water quality. ICGA worked with more than 30 partners in putting together a program called Precision Conservation Management. We were Jarboe able to convince the U.S. Department of Agriculture to release more than $5 million to fire up this project. Precision Conservation Management is designed to prove voluntary conservation measures used on farms keeps nutrients out of rivers and lakes while making sound financial business sense. Government overreach is also a concern. We have a couple of issues which concern the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. We have been focusing on its attempt to take away the licensing of the herbicide Atrazine. The product has been proved in more than
7,000 tests to be safe for the environment, including tests conducted by the EPA’s own scientists. Atrazine is used in many tank mixes to combat difficult weed species. Atrazine in our toolbox helps keep costs lower for the farmer as well as the consumer. Our second issue with the U.S. EPA is its use of outdated data concerning the carbon footprint of corn ethanol. Contrary to what the American Petroleum Institute has been saying in its huge advertising campaign, ethanol is actually quite friendly to the environment. We have provided studies showing corn ethanol’s tremendously improved sustainability score with the efficiency of new ethanol plants and improved sustainability of corn production. While on the topic of ethanol, ICGA has tried to convince Springfield to change the tax incentive from E10 to E15. If gasoline hits $3.50 a gallon, this move would provide $110 million extra dollars to the state government annually. Guess they don’t need the money? One perpetual project we push is the updating of the Upper Mississippi Locks and Dams. The locks along the Upper Mississippi and Illinois rivers were built in the
percentage of the products moved by the Upper Miss (approximately 50 percent), but coal, aviation fuel and concrete materials are also part of the mix. We finally have the bill passed in Washington, D.C., but engineering funding is now a problem. ICGA will continue to push this issue. One interesting fact: 50 percent of the money collected for these lock improvements will be used for ecological projects ensuring environmentally friendly construction. These ecological pieces to the project would include some extra wetlands for aquatic life, since the river projects would take away some shelter for the fish. The current 2014 Farm Bill ends in 2018. We are beginning to talk with legislators on the ag committees about subject matter in the new 2018 Farm Bill. Budgets will be tight, so we discuss ways to use funding to get the best bang for the buck from federal dollars. We in agriculture need to do our part, but want to make certain that a proper safety net is in place in the event of natural or world events that threaten producer existence. Farming is a wonderful way of life, but there are many hurdles to profitability. The ASSOCIATED PRESS ICGA is here to help Illinois corn farmers continue to produce a safe and sustainable 1930s and ‘40s during the Works Progress product for now and for future generations. Administration. The importance of this river system is generally underestimated. Yes, Jarboe is president of the Illinois Corn Growgrain transportation does account for a large ers Association, Bloomington.
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West Texas A&M researchers work on cloned beef CANYON, Texas (AP)— At the end of a dirt road 20 miles outside of Canyon, a stretch of the Texas Panhandle so flat you can watch your dog run away for three days, four scientists in cowboy hats and boots stand watch over a very special bull. Alpha, a 2½-ton clone, impatiently charges at his pen. Nearby, his calves discover the energy to play as the scorched day gives way to dusk. The summer days are long here at Nance Ranch, teetering on the edge of Central time. It’s 9:30 p.m. and the sun still hasn’t set. Dean Hawkins, who despite the heat is wearing his long-sleeved West Texas A&M University shirt, leans on the paddock’s white fence as he describes his researchers’ 6-yearlong quest to scientifically manufacture a more perfect steak. “This is biotech at its best,” says Hawkins, who heads the agriculture and natural sciences school here. “At little WT, and it’s meaningful.” Alpha was cloned in 2010 from DNA plucked from one of the most exclusive and tastiest steaks money can buy. These cattlemen scientists hope he has superior genes that can be passed onto his calves, and their calves, and so on, until someday, the highest-quality beef available can end up on your plate at a fraction of what you’d pay today. For WT, the revenue and prestige gained from even just attempting to create a better great American steak could be priceless. An exclusive group of Texans will taste the first batch of results. Alpha is far too valuable to be on the menu. On campus, students are in the school’s meat lab slicing Alpha’s offspring into hamburger patties. Dru Lust, 20, is in the meat locker, wearing an extra layer under his white lab coat. The junior, a nephew of one of the team’s lead scientists, talks excitedly about being involved in his Uncle David’s project. “If he blows everything else out of the water, this thing will get very big, very fast,” he says, smiling under the hairnet that covers his thick, black beard. He turns back to the meat. Alpha is a clone, a genetic twin, derived from a Prime 1 rib-eye. If you’ve ever had a Prime 1 steak, odds are you paid a pretty penny. Such beef is rich in tasty fat and replete with savory meat but lacks the inedible back fat the butcher cuts off and throws away. Just three in 10,000 cows produce beef that good. Those are the same odds that a high school basketball player has of being drafted to the NBA. “Choice” beef, the quality grade just below prime, ends up in lesser chain steakhouses and some nicer markets. Below that is “select,” the kind of meat you probably pick up for less than $10 at your local store. Meat from cloned animals is OK for humans to eat, the Food and Drug Administration says, but it’s unlikely you’ve ever had any because it’s far too expensive to clone an animal to make it practical to mass produce it. Plus, past polls have shown most people are wary of eating cloned animals, a stigma that has stuck around even as Americans don’t bat an eye at consuming other commonly cloned foods, such
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Ranch manager Landon Canterbury brushes Alpha, a 2.5-ton cloned bull at the West Texas A&M University Nance Ranch east of Canyon, Texas. as wine from cloned grapes. In a backroom next to the lab’s meat locker, Trent McEvers pulls out the captive bolt pistol that renders an animal unconscious before the slaughter. He teaches an animal welfare class here when he’s not helping run the lab. “My gosh, no one wants to cause pain,” McEvers says, explaining how slaughterhouses can face fines or worse if their workers fail to render an animal unconscious the first time, every time. As for the cloning project, and any other research the school undertakes, he says, “Welfare is the No. 1 concern.” Seven of the offspring Alpha sired hang nearby, stamped with the blue FDA choice and prime grades. McEvers spins the carcass slowly to show off the marbled fat before pointing to a literal mountain of steaks on a nearby table. Some of them will be eaten by the VIPs — McEvers will swap his lab coat for a chef’s hat that day — and the rest will be grilled up and fed to other prominent donors and industry representatives over the next several months. The public, for now, can buy only the hamburgers. Six years ago, Ty Lawrence stood in a different slaughterhouse grading carcasses. It was late — all of his research students had already left — and he was about to clock out. Then he stopped short. In rapid succession, Lawrence saw two of the best prime cuts he’d ever seen go by, one after another. It was like watching lightning strike the same place twice in the same night. In that moment, his career took a sudden
turn. He called up Hawkins, then Lawrence’s department head, and told him his idea. “He wanted to clone the steer,” said Hawkins. “And I said, no, let’s clone a heifer and a steer.” With the help of ViaGen, a Cedar Parkbased company that holds the cloning patent, local rancher Jason Abraham and veterinarian Gregg Veneklasen, the team from West Texas used the same technology used to clone the world-famous Dolly the Sheep in 1996 to reverse-engineer Alpha and his female counterpart, Gamma, from two of the best steaks in the country. By mating two cows they knew had quality meat under their hides, they hope to produce higher-quality offspring that grow faster naturally and require less energy — food, water and other resources. In short, a cow with the fuel economy of a Prius but the looks of a Cadillac. If this quality is due to genetics that can be passed on, Lawrence hopes a better breed of cow could result within decades, a wish even he admits is a bit out there. Until then, the team is in America’s slaughterhouses on the hunt for the next Alpha, and for now, they may soon start selling the bull’s semen and Gamma’s eggs to cattlemen as a way to boost the quality of their herds — that is, if they can prove there’s something special about them. The basic idea isn’t unique. Breeders have been trying to breed higher quality, more efficient cows for generations, and some have used cloned bulls to do it. But the team at West Texas says they’re the first to mate two Prime
1 clones and judge the results. Mark Westhusin, an A&M professor who was instrumental in several cloning breakthroughs, said many scientists think breeding better cows through cloning is old hat, and too expensive, and have moved on to genetic modification in the quest to create a better steak. “I’ll be interested to see the data, but there’s nothing really new or innovative about it,” said Westhusin, who added he wasn’t upset he didn’t know about the project because he had “bigger, better things to do.” “Cool” was the word geneticist Darrh Bullock of the University of Kentucky used to describe the project, but he said he needed to see hard data to know whether the team at West Texas was doing something a regular breeder could not do on his own. Such a study is coming, maybe next year. The scientists will have more data then, when they see how Alpha’s other offspring — he’s been mated with other non-clone cow populations elsewhere — stack up to those of three of the country’s top bulls. For now, the sample size is small, but the results good, the team says. All seven of Alpha’s calves had high choice or prime meat, with 16 percent less of that bad back fat that goes to waste. The rib-eye cuts were 9 percent bigger than an average cow — even though these were smaller when they were slaughtered — and there was a whopping 45 percent more marbling. They didn’t get a Prime 1 calf, which Lawrence said disappointed some on the project. But they’re not done, not by a long shot.
30 | FARM FOCUS | September 2016
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32 | FARM FOCUS | September 2016
Researchers shine light on food waste, freshness ANDREA HAHN Southern Illinois University
CARBONDALE – From the turnip that falls off the truck to the yucky stuff we scrape off our plates, food waste in the United States accounts for 30 percent to 40 percent of the food supply. That’s about 133 billion pounds of food or approximately $161 billion annually. Ruplal Choudhary, a bioprocess engineer and associate professor of plant, soil and agricultural systems, and other researchers at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale are working at several stages of the farm to table (and beyond) cycle to find ways to reduce waste without sacrificing nutrition and taste.
Infrared light
Choudhary began looking at uses for infrared light in food processing when he was still a graduate student. Near-infrared (NIR) and mid-infrared (MIR) spectroscopes are becoming more common to determine fats, proteins and carbohydrates in nutritional analysis, but Choudhary also uses the spectroscopes to determine the phytochemical, antioxidant and carotenoid protein make-up of the produce. Phytonutrients are health-boosting qualities of food occurring naturally in plants that have particular health effects. For example, glucosinolates, a class of phytonutrient, appear in cruciferous (green leaf) vegetables and give those vegetables their odor and flavor. Research suggests that glucosinolates are useful in slowing or stopping the development and growth of cancer. Recently he was part of a research team funded with an Illinois Department of Agriculture specialty crop block grant to study Asian greens. Other researchers focused on growing 35 different varieties, including bok choy, bekana and Komatsuna, to determine which greens will grow best in southern Illinois and which would prove most appealing to the local palate. Choudhary and a team of graduate student researchers handled the phytonutrient and antioxidant analysis of the greens. He’s building a database of known analyses to “train” the spectroscopes in his lab. As the database grows, use of the spectrometer becomes more efficient. In addition to the spectroscopes, he uses a camera to record the color and texture of fresh produce. Together with the spectroscope, he can even predict taste qualities such as sweetness or crispness. He hopes that the technology he’s using in his lab will find its way to food processing, making sorting fresh produce more efficient. In a study conducted with Alan Walters, professor of plant, soil and agricultural systems, he used the spectroscope in the nutrition lab to help the research team determine how harvest-time affects the nutritional value of produce. The team harvested produce at various stages of ripeness and found that the more ripe the fruit or vegetable when harvested, the better its nutritional value. In addition, the team checked nutritional levels after harvest at same day, next day, and after a week. They found that post-harvest nutritional levels declined over time. This study clearly indicates that for optimum
RUSTY BAILEY, SOUTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY
AG Nutrition Assessment Lab professor Raplal Chaudhary and his lab assistant measure nutritional value through a light reflective value test of Asian greens grown on the university farms. nutritional value, produce should not be harvested early nor should it sit around for a long time in storage. However, that’s a problem for major retailers of fruits and vegetables. It takes time to harvest produce and ship it — which is why some produce is harvested early and allowed to finish ripening post-harvest. In addition, for a grocery store, quantity and choice is part of marketing – but that can contribute to fresh produce staying in the store longer than a day, two days or even a week. The problem goes beyond declining nutritional benefits. The longer produce sits, the more likely it is to spoil. And that contributes to food waste. Chaudhary is part of a team of SIU researchers that is seeing a different kind of light when it comes to preserving food freshness.
Ultra-violet light
Ultra-violet light seems an unlikely ally in the quest to preserve the freshness of fruits and vegetables. However, UV sterilization or UV irradiation can kill a list of things that lead to food spoilage, including viruses, bacteria, molds and yeasts. Ultraviolet light is classified by wavelength. UV-C has the shortest wavelength and is germicidal. It deactivates the DNA of pathogens, which prevents them from multiplying and spreading disease. Irradiation is already a common application to disinfect and sanitize drinking water and even to disinfect the air and
food contact surfaces. Food processors have been applying UV-C lights to reduce dangerous pathogens in food and beverages as well, particularly in dairy products and fruit juices, for some time. Researchers are finding applications with a wide range of other foods, including fresh produce. UV-C light, which kills E. coli and salmonella among other well-known bacteria, can also contribute to preserving freshness. However, the technology can be costly and the research is far from complete. Choudhary and Dennis Watson, associate professor of plant, soil and agricultural systems, are working now on cost-effective “smart technology” ways to implement UV-C irradiation at the retail level for fresh produce. They’ve tested the effectiveness of UV light on blueberries and strawberries and they know it works to kill the bacteria and germs that lead to fruit spoilage. But there’s a problem – UV light is hot. Using UV light to keep berries fresh ends up cooking or drying them. The team began working on a cooler that would use UV light to keep the produce fresh but also neutralize the heat the light generates. To make the cooler more energy efficient, Watson is working to build in smart technology. High humidity makes it easier for bacteria and other food nasties to grow. Watson wants the cooler to chill extra when humidity is high, and to take it easy when humidity is lower. He’s
working on a humidity and temperature sensor that will automatically adjust cooling in relation to humidity. Choudhary and Watson hope this combination of UV light and smart cooling will eventually be available to grocery retailers to use in their storage areas. If they can keep food fresh longer, certainly that ought to contribute to a reduction in food waste. And if the technology works well enough to allow for later harvest, consumers wouldn’t miss out on the enhanced nutritional value of in-the-field ripening. Meanwhile, Choudhary is exploring natural phenolic compounds to use with the UV light for freshness. In an experiment with strawberries and blueberries kept fresh longer under UV light, he also used limonene, a citrus-based compound that works as a natural anti-microbial. The limonene discourages fungus-growth on the post-harvest berries. With the UV light and limonene combination, the team kept berries fresh for two weeks and edible with some shrinkage for three weeks. This compares favorably to the one week of freshness for nontreated berries that is typical. Choudhary hopes to see the UV light coolers and natural food treatments applied to large scale grocery store short-term food storage. He may be able to assist artisan food producers now. Choudhary said he has helped local food producers meet FDA labeling requirements with proper nutrition analysis.
September 2016 | FARM FOCUS | 33
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Climate change needs to be hot topic LAUREN QUINN University of Illinois
URBANA – Over the next 70 to 100 years, our climate is projected to change dramatically, with major impacts on a wide variety of economic sectors. But the sector that is most likely to be affected by these changes is agriculture. A number of studies support this assertion, but relatively few look at the effect of climate change on agriculture from a comprehensive economic perspective. An interdisciplinary team from the University of Illinois recently investigated the effects of climate change on farmland values in the southwestern United States. “We chose to look at farmland values because they reflect the sum of future expected profits and account for adaptation. And that’s exactly what climate change is about: long-term change and adaptation,” explains U of I economist Sandy Dall’Erba. The team focused on a single climate region, the U.S. Southwest, where climate changes are expected to make farming even more difficult than in other regions. The predictions say that places like Arizona will get hotter overall, with more frequent heat waves and more sudden and extreme rainfall events that could lead to periodic flooding. But even within that one climate zone, the team expected some variation. To capture that, they separated out the effects on lowland counties versus highland counties. What’s new about the work is that the team used an economic model that allowed them to look across production systems, so they could evaluate farmland values for soybean producers and cattle ranchers alike. The model, known as the Ricardian
approach, also allowed for adaptation on the part of the farmer. “Farmers are smart; you can’t assume that in 100 years they’re going to still be farming corn like they are now,” Dall’Erba says. “Climate is changing, new practices and new technologies develop, so they may switch to another production system. The Ricardian approach assumes farmers will adapt.” Further, they were able to integrate what they called “spillover” effects: the influence of one farmer’s practices on another. “A simple example is irrigation – the amount of water you get is very much dependent on how much the farmer upstream from you is
regional climate models. Taking all of these factors into account, the team found that irrigation, population density, and farm subsidies all increased farmland value, but subsidies had an effect in highland counties only. In addition, heat waves were found to hurt productivity. Their results also indicated that land values in one location are influenced by irrigation and climate conditions in neighboring locations due to water depletion, water run-off, and/or sudden floods that follow intense rainfall. “Counties are open economies, so elements beyond their boundaries have an influence on them,” Dall’Erba says. “Overall, and based on the set of future climate scenarios accounted for in our work, it seems that highland counties will be more affected by climate change than lowland counties.” The next step for the research team is to apply their approach to the rest of the country. Because they found variSTEVE SMEDLEY, LEE NEWS SERVICE ation between highland and lowland counties within a single climate zone, they’re expecting to find even more spataking away. That element has been pretty tial variation when they look at the country much overlooked in this framework so far,” as a whole. They also plan to incorporate the Dall’Erba notes. Another example of spill- role of trade of agricultural products into over is communication between farmers their system. about farm practices and the availability of “One element that has been overlooked certain subsidies. in the field is that one locality may experiFinally, the team evaluated multiple cli- ence a sudden drought and, as a result, may mate change scenarios. In most socioeco- import more corn or cotton from elsewhere. nomic research relating to climate change, a That kind of spillover due to unexpected single scenario is tested. Dall’Erba’s co-au- weather events outside your own locality thor, U of I atmospheric scientist Francina is something that deserves a lot more atDominguez, knew that it was important to tention. Several articles along these lines provide a range of what the future climate have already appeared, but they focus on will look like. As such, the researchers international trade. Much more needs to worked with seven scenarios of future cli- be done on the trade network taking place mate data derived from several global and within countries,” Dall’Erba says.
Oklahoma farms see agritourism industry grow OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Andy Wooliver would prefer to not haul his crop of pumpkins from the field by hand this season. Fortunately, he knows a lot of customers are willing to pay to do it themselves. “Our customers are always welcome to come pick any produce they’d like. It saves us a little bit of work,” Wooliver said. Meriruth Cohenour, the state Agriculture Department’s market development coordinator, said the aspect of agritourism referred to as U-Pick is picking up consumers as temperatures fall into fall. Farmers tell her they’re putting more effort into inviting people to participate in harvest, she said, and more consumers seem to be trying to connect with the source of their food. The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported slightly more than 33,000 farms nationwide offered agritourism and rec-
reational services such as farm or winery tours, hayrides and hunting in 2012, the latest farm census. Another census is due this year. Producers also add value to their agricultural commodities when they process them to produce items such as beef jerky, fruit jams, floral arrangements, cider and wine, and that often leads to on-site marketing and agritourism. Nationally, 94,799 farms produced and sold value-added products in 2012, and Oklahoma was identified as one of the top five states with 3,815 participants. Fruits at the end of summer are popular lures. Other examples of Oklahoma’s U-Pick attractions include blackberries, raspberries and strawberries at Buffalo Creek Berry Farm in Mustang; herbs, vegetables and blackberries at Crestview Inc. Farms in Arcadia; and honey and blueber-
“We like for them to see the growing practices we use to bring food to the table.” Andy Wooliver, pumpkin farmer
ries at Canyon Berry Farms in Claremore. The latter recently closed public operations for 2016, owner David Patterson said. Paul Brown at Brown Farm and Garden in Chickasha said agritourism is more labor-intensive than might be expected, particularly the U-Pick aspects. A farmer needs family or hired hands to help man-
age customers and play the part of happy host. He won’t be promoting his 40-acre pumpkin patch much this year. Wooliver is between U-Pick crops on his 80-acre farm right now. His strawberry patch drew hundreds of people this year, but pumpkins are still several weeks away. Wooliver said he doesn’t mind customers getting in the way of work or trampling his fields a little because they can’t do much harm compared with the revenue they produce—pumpkin vines are kaput anyway after they’re ready to yield their fruits. Over the years, Wooliver has added a corn maze to his agritourism attractions as well. “It’s important to attract the entire family out for the day with hayrides and other fun little activities,” he said. “We like for them to see the growing practices we use to bring food to the table.”
40 | FARM FOCUS | September 2016
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