Greene County Farm Bureau postponed its annual farm tour for all county fourth graders due to cold, wet weather, but it was a beautiful morning on Tuesday, April 24, when 109 students and their teachers and chaperones arrived at the Highland Township farm of Cale and Connor Juergensen. It was a new location for the long-standing event, as Tim and Vicky Robbins had hosted the special day for more than two decades at their Kendrick Township farm.
The Juergensen brothers welcomed everyone and explained a little about their farming and livestock operation. The five classes of students were then divided into 10 groups to rotate through 10 learning stations that had been set up around the farm.
Greene County Farm Bureau’s goal in having the farm tour is to help youth understand the impact agriculture has on their daily lives. As fewer and fewer kids live on farms, this day on the farm allows students an opportunity to see firsthand how their food is grown and harvested, how animals are raised and taken care of, and how a farm works. Farm Bureau members hope that kids will make a connection on the importance of agriculture.
The ten learning stations and presenters at this year’s tour were as follows:
*Electricity & Solar Energy – board member Bill Sutton
*Conservation – board member Schyler Bardole
*Corn – Janelle Kracht of Iowa Corn Growers Association and board member Perry Parker
*Drones – Chance Paup, Channel Seed, and Cody Paup
*Hogs – Allyson Ladd and John Andersen, Iowa Select Farms
*Sheep – board member Jason Reedy
*Farm Equipment Safety – board member Mark Naberhaus; FFA students Johnathan Moore,
Matt Saddoris, Will Funcke, and Brandon Carstens; Sam Naberhaus
*Cow/Calf – Connor Juergensen and Tim Towers
*Value Added Products & Minute to Win It Ag Games – Lauren Britton, Boone County Farm
Bureau Ag in the Classroom coordinator
*Ethanol – Jay Nelson, Commercial Manager, Louis Dreyfus Commodities
After spending 15 minutes at each station, students went on a short walk around the farm before lunch. When the students returned from their walk, Greene County Cattlemen Mike Holden, Tanner Lawton, and Justin Robbins had hot burgers off the grill and ready to eat. Kathy Schechinger, Maria Blair, Andy Carman, Joel Mortenson, and Mark Miller from Farm Credit – Carroll office served the kids bottled water, chips, and a cookie along with their hamburger.
Each student received a 2018 Greene County Farm Bureau ag tour t-shirt compliments of Greene County Farm Bureau, and Farm Credit – Carroll office gave each student an ag day activity book.
Greene County Farm Bureau thanked everyone involved in making this farm tour such a great success again this year. “It takes many volunteers to produce such fantastic results for our county students to benefit from. Thank you and we look forward to doing it again next year,” said a Farm Bureau spokesperson.
