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2 • Wednesday, October 19, 2016
The Graphic-Advocate
Williams reflects on changes to farming By Erin Sommers Graphic-Advocate Editor Billy Williams can remember his dad driving a team of horses on the family farm northwest of Lake City. Williams, 84, even had a chance to use horses to mow hay a few times himself. More recently, he checked out his son’s latest piece of large farming equipment, which is fully equipped with GPS and a miniature refrigerator. That right there, he said, sums up the biggest change to agriculture in his lifetime. “When I started farming, everything was two-row equipment,” he said. “The way things have gone it’s because of the technology and larger machinery.” Williams has seen corn yields jump form 80 to 100 bushels an acre to 240 bushels an acre. It would be hard to keep up these days without the fancy new equipment, but he admitted, the newest tractors are a little too fast for him. He’s seen other good changes, too, he said. “Technology has tried to keep safety built into all the changes,” he said, noting how combines and other machinery now shuts off automatically when farmers leave the driver’s seat. The bigger equipment can mean bigger accidents, though, when the safety measures fail. “Because the machinery was smaller (in the past), you didn’t really have a big accident,” Williams said. As a farm kid, Williams said he was always helping on the family’s century farm. First, he helped his mom feed chickens and other livestock. “I was kind of born to be a farmer,” he said, adding he was 12 years younger than his older brother, who fought in World War II and never returned to farming. “I always was interested in my ancestors that came here to farm and were always farmers.” Were it not for a recent health scare, Williams said he would have been out on the
family farm, checking on the crops and his son’s progress this fall, too, he said. His years of farming and watching others’ ag fortunes come and go have taught him a few important lessons. “Pay as you go,” is the biggest bit of advice Williams wanted to share with fellow farmers. “Don’t buy unless you can pay for it.” Williams and his son farmed through the farm crisis of the 1980s. The family’s hog barns kept the family af loat financially during that lean decade, Williams said. “Hogs were a good price all the time,” he said. The family farm always has had enough work to keep Williams and his son busy, until Williams was ready to slow down. One of the best parts of farming, Williams said, was harvest time. “I like all seasons,” he said. “Harvest season was my favorite.” He also enjoyed the solitary nature of the work. “Unless it’s planting or harvest – I grew up most of the time working by myself until my son got big enough to help,” Williams said, adding farming lends itself to having “your own work to show” at the end of the day. He feels a little sorry for children growing up today in towns and cities who won’t have the childhood experiences he did – no chance to watch hundreds of chicks grow into chickens or watch calves and pigs being born. Today’s kids don’t know what they’re missing. Growing up on a rural farm, Williams and his brother and sister were responsible for making their own entertainment, occasionally with near disastrous results. There was the time Williams started putting sand in the fuel tank on his family’s property – thankfully, he said, the sand only went into the fill pipe and not all the way into the tank. Then there was the time a relative caught Williams’ siblings preparing to send the farm cat flying from a windmill, with a towel tied to be a parachute. “Kids had to amuse themselves,” he said. “They couldn’t go to town.”
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Wednesday, October 19, 2016 • 3
The Graphic-Advocate
South Central Calhoun FFA ready for another busy year By Erin Sommers Graphic-Advocate Editor The 2016 South Central Calhoun FFA officers have one message they want to share with their fellow students – that FFA isn’t just for farm kids. It’s a message FFA students have shared for years, but one that students don’t always seem to pick up on, the officers said. A related goal, they said, is to open their classmates’ eyes to the value of learning about agriculture. “Ag’s something that’s part of our everyday lives,” Vice President Kelsi Carlson said. “That’s one of our main goals – to get Americans more involved in agriculture. It’s something we all need.” The number of agriculture-related jobs just keeps growing, especially as more farmers retire or leave their fields permanently, Carlson said. “Farmers are starting to quit,” she said. “Farming feeds the world. We need more people to join agriculture. We always need a strong agriculture community.” But again, they said, don’t think FFA is just about farming. Vice President Brooklin McKinney’s favorite part of FFA are the Career Development Events. “You get to have an experience away from
your local FFA,” she said. McKinney has participated in parliamentary procedure and conduct of meetings events, as well as soil judging – she recently took first place at a multi-school soil judging competition. Carlson said she has participated in creed speaking, conduct of meetings and parliamentary procedures. And she has picked up tips on how to plan ahead and how to be organized. Megan Hardy, the FFA reporter this year, said FFA is giving her valuable skills to use outside of club events. “It helps you with speaking,” she said. “You have to be a leader.” Hardy offered one more reason to participate in the group. “We’re all just like a little ag family,” she said. Cody Schumacher, club sentinel, agreed that FFA instills good public speaking skills. SCC FFA has already sponsored one fundraiser, collecting money for SCC sophomore Jacy McAlexander, who is battling cancer. The group organized a fun run and meal last month and presented McAlexander with the proceeds earlier this month. Up next on their agenda is a haunted trail in Lohrville and the annual fruit sales, which have recently began, they said.
Members of the South Central Calhoun FFA perform a skit during Homecoming in September. GRAPHIC-ADVOCATE PHOTO/ERIN SOMMERS
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The South Central Calhoun FFA performed a skit that involved a live pig during the 2016 Homecoming Pep Rally. GRAPHIC-ADVOCATE PHOTO/ERIN SOMMERS
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4 • Wednesday, October 19, 2016
The Graphic-Advocate
Bees are seen on a superframe at Mike and Jane Moellers’ beehives near Lake City. GRAPHIC-ADVOCATE PHOTO/ERIN SOMMERS
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Wednesday, October 19, 2016 • 5
The Graphic-Advocate
Moellers grow bees for honey, to benefit native wildlife By Erin Sommers Graphic-Advocate Editor Mike and Jane Moeller of Lake City both have a family history of beekeeping. So, a few years ago, when the couple expressed interest in caring for their own beehives, Mike Moeller’s dad provided them with some of his wooden hive equipment, and the couple set up the small, squat boxes on a farmstead they own northeast of Lake City. Last summer, Jane Moeller walked through the stacks of hives, explaining how the bees populate their hives and how she and her husband collect the honey. She stopped at the first hive, noting the relatively low number of bees inside. “These guys we probably won’t get honey from this year,” she said. “It’s a pretty small group.” From a few feet away, the sounds of bees buzzing is clear, but the bees don’t land on visitors who keep away from the hives. Jane Moeller’s task that day was to see if any of the superframes in the hives were in need of repair, and to check on honey production. She donned protective gear – a white jacket and a netted hat – then approached the hives with a can producing smoke. “The smoke confuses their sense of smell,” Mike Moeller said. “They gorge on the honey to save it.” While the bees are thinking of the honey, they aren’t thinking about the person who opens the hive and pulls out the piece of the hive on which the bees create their honeycombs. The location of the hives is specific, Jane Moeller said. Her hives are facing southeast, with a building behind them to provide a windbreak. A mix of sun and shade is best, with good ventilation also being important, she said. Though honey bees can fly in a three- to six-mile radius in search of the flowering plants they like best, the Moellers’ land has another advantage – acres of native prairie, which the couple has been working to restore.
“When I was a little boy, (I would see) bees all over the clover,” Mike Moeller said. “Now you just don’t see them.” The couple will sell honey to friends, but a vision of bee-filled pastures is a bigger goal. “We’re not doing it to make money,” he said. “We’re doing it for the prairie and the honey and for the bees.” Jane Moeller enjoys the time she spends outside with the bees. “I like to be in nature,” she said. “I grew up on a farm.” The bees, mostly an Italian variety, live about 42 days, Moeller said. At the end of winter, only about 6,000 bees will survive – a hive needs about 50,000 to begin producing honey. The farm will house four to seven hives each year. The worker bees will visit 5 million flowers for one pint of honey; the type of flower can change the color and flavor of the honey. The Moellers have seen nearly colorless honey and incredibly dark honey, often depending on the time of year and which flowers are in bloom. Honey, the Moellers pointed out, doesn’t expire or go bad. Naturally sterile, honey doesn’t allow bacteria to grow in it, allowing honey to be safely kept on the shelves for years. One big challenge to beekeepers across the country has been a change in the pesticides used in corn crops. “Ninety percent of the seed corn sold has a coating on it and that coating is the pesticide,” Jane Moeller said. “When the plant grows, the plant itself becomes a pesticide.” That’s great for corn growers – few pests are found in the corn fields with those protections for the corn. But it’s a challenge for bees, which might come into contact with the corn pollen that also has the characteristics of the pesticides. Pollinators – honey bees among them – are responsible for helping to create one out of every three bites of food consumed, Jane Moeller said. Pollinators are also responsible for $15 million in crop production. Threefourths of native plants require the service of pollinators, she said. The potential loss of pollinators threatens agricultural production, she said.
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Bees are seen after being removed from a beehive. GRAPHIC-ADVOCATE PHOTO/ERIN SOMMERS
Jane Moeller directs smoke into a beehive. GRAPHIC-ADVOCATE PHOTO/ ERIN SOMMERS
6 • Wednesday, October 19, 2016
The Graphic-Advocate
Jane Moeller, right, and friend Eileen Miller, left, approach Moellers’ beehives. GRAPHIC-ADVOCATE PHOTO/ERIN SOMMER
Jane Moeller directs smoke into a beehive. GRAPHIC-ADVOCATE PHOTO/ERIN SOMMERS
Honey can be safely kept, once removed from the hive, for years because it is naturally sterile. GRAPHIC-ADVOCATE PHOTO/ERIN SOMMERS
Jane Moeller, right, and friend Eileen Miller, left, look at frames taken from a beehive. GRAPHIC-ADVOCATE PHOTO/ERIN SOMMERS
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Wednesday, October 19, 2016 • 7
The Graphic-Advocate
Staying safe on Iowa’s rural roads • Statewide partnerships address the dangers of rural crashes. By Brandi Janssen Iowaʟs Center for Agricultural Safety and Health Director Iowa’s Center for Agricultural Safety and Health, based at the University of Iowa, is a consortium of the University of Iowa, Iowa State University, the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, and the Iowa Department of Public Health. The organization has a network of active producers who provide input as to their safety concerns and guidance on activities to achieve our mission to help keep farmers alive and well in Iowa. Rural roadway safety is one of the most common safety concerns we hear from them. They often recount stories of near misses while they’re on the road with a tractor, combine or utility ATV. They fear that car drivers do not understand how to drive safely with farm implements on the road. Car operators often approach from the rear too fast or pass on hills and cross solid painted lines. They do not anticipate when a tractor or combine might turn into a field or driveway, or even more risky, to the left. According to the Iowa Department of Transportation statistics, between 2004 and 2013, there were 1,947 crashes between farm equipment and farm vehicles, resulting in 1,076 injuries and 72 deaths. Rural roads are especially risky for the teenage drivers of our producers. Forty percent of all Iowa teen fatalities are a result of car crashes and teen drivers are of much higher risk of crashes on rural roads compared to the general population. Looking ahead, it is unlikely that statis-
tics will improve without some cooperation among all who share Iowa’s rural roads. Farm machinery is getting larger, taking up more of the roadway. Individual producers are farming more land, requiring them to travel further from field to field meaning more time on the road. Increasing acreage in corn can lead to corn being planted close to intersection, blocking cross-traffic vision prior to harvest. In addition, more non-farm people are visiting and moving to rural areas; they are often unaccustomed to sharing the road with farm equipment. Rural roadways are not always in the best of condition, creating additional risks of crashes.
You might have guessed that the operator of the motor vehicle is at higher risk for serious injury in a crash involving farm equipment. Statistics also show that the motor vehicle operator is more often the one “at fault� in the crash. For anyone driving on rural roads during the harvest season, it is important to be prepared to slow down for farmers on the road. They produce our food; let’s give them the space they need to do their jobs! We also encourage all producers to follow the law and make sure that any equipment they operate on the roads has a visible, reflective Slow Moving Vehicle emblem and working lights. Both automobile and farm equipment op-
erators have a responsibility to ensure safe sharing of the road. To help convey this information, we have prepared a rural roadways safety tips card to help point out both the car drivers’ and the equipment operators’ responsibilities. I encourage you to distribute these materials to your families, friends, farm groups, church, neighbors or anywhere you feel that producers will read and pay attention. You can download this information at: www. dps.state.ia.us/commis/gtsb/pdfs/2010_ ItsPreventable.pdf Also, the Governor’s Traffic Safety Bureau in Des Moines will send them to you: call 515-725-6123.
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8 • Wednesday, October 19, 2016
The Graphic-Advocate
Agronomy in the Field meetings will resume this fall Women landowners, farmers, and ag retailers will be meeting once again starting Oct. 18 for the Agronomy in the Field program, hosted by Angie Rieck-Hinz, Iowa State University Extension and Outreach. Agronomy in the Field for women is in its second year and currently serves nearly 60 women in north central Iowa. The goal of the program is to increase agronomic knowledge from planting through harvest by spending time in the field. Sessions for Agronomy in the Field were postponed for the last six weeks due to harvest preparation, but were to resume Oct. 18 and continue through March 2017. Meetings will occur on the third Tuesday of each month at 6 p.m. at the ISU Webster County Extension Office in Fort Dodge, Iowa. For the first time, the sessions will also be offered by a web-conferencing program for those who are unable to travel to the meeting location. “It can be hard to travel in the fall and winter months with the harvest season and weather challenges, so hopefully the web-conferencing technology will allow women across the state to still be a part of the program, even if they are unable to physically be in the same location,� said Rieck-Hinz. This spring and summer, women from across the state traveled to the Smeltzer Iowa Learning Farm near Otho and to the
Northern Iowa Research Farm in Kanawha, Iowa for the Agronomy in the Field program. Information and resources about crop growth and development, seed treatments, weed identification and conservation practices were some of the topics discussed at the meetings. Guest speakers were also invited to present information on insect and weed identification and water quality. The groups also spent time in the field, learning about corn and soybean growth stages and conducting population counts. Planned learning sessions for this fall and winter include: soil sampling, phosphorus and potassium management for soil fertility; pH, lime and micronutrients; nitrogen management; managing for herbicide resistant weeds; a GMO discussion; and other topics chosen by the current Agronomy in the Field participants. Any interested women landowners, farmers and service providers who would like to participate in upcoming sessions should contact ISU Extension and Outreach Field Agronomist, Angie Rieck-Hinz, at 515231-2830 or amrieck@iastate.edu prior to Oct.18, so accommodations can made for in-person or via web-conferencing. Agronomy in the Field is sponsored by Iowa State University Extension and Outreach and the Webster County Extension Office.
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