I N T H I S I S S U E
4-5 Annual Mtg Agenda & Workshops
5 Sustainable Ag. Achievement Award
6 PFI Membership Renewal
6 Shared Visions News
Updates on Shared Visions Groups
Description of New Materials
IFS Hub Network Visits Iowa
IFS Visit Eldora Group
Clark Bredahl Talk to IFS in Greenfield
7 Flora Joins Rural Dev. Center
7 Group Updates
9 Materials Development
11 IFS Networking Conference
11 Farmers Meet, Share Concerns
Rebecca Peterson
13 Community Presentation
Clark BreDahl
16 Notes and Notices
IPM Cooperators Sought
CRP and Communities Mtg.
Soil Health Conference
IFGA Annual Meeting
Large-Scale Hog Meeting
1995 Farm Bill Meeting
Grazing Workshop
Forestry Meeting
New ICM Video Available
ICM Conference
PFI Summer Camp Completed
19 VISION 2020
Ann M. Schultz and Bill Silag
19 PFI Profiles: Mark and Connie Tjelmeland
Gary Huber
22 A Visit to the Swedish Hog System
Dan Wilson
22 PFI Sustainable Projects 1995
26 Buying Iowa-Grown Food
Kamyar Enshayan
28 Unnecessary Fertilization
Alfred M. Blackmer
29 Conserving Communities
Wendell Berry
32 Footprints of a Grass Farmer
Tom Frantzen
33 From the Kitchen
Marj Stonecypher
33 PFI Membership Application Form
34 PFI Board of Directors and Staff Listing
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CELEBRATE PFI S TEN YEARS JAN. 6-8!
Don t look now, but it s going to be a decade since Practical
Farmers of Iowa came into being. On January 6-8, the annual
PFI get-together will both celebrate the accomplishments of
those ten years and look to the future. There will be
presentations from nationally known figures, an old-time
community dance, child care and youth activities, posters
from PFI members, workshops, and more! Please pre-register
by December 1 to secure your place in the anniversary
festivities (see form on page 3).
National Figures to Participate
Some old friends will be returning to share their views and
information. Featured speaker for the weekend is Wendell
Berry, a writer of books and poetry that touch on
agriculture, rural culture and values. His books include
What Are People For?, The Unsettling of America, and many
works of poetry and fiction (see page 29). His poems
appeared in the first issue of this newsletter, in 1986.
Wendell Berry farms near Port Elizabeth, Kentucky, with his
wife Tanya, and he teaches at the University of Kentucky.
He agreed to return to Iowa at the invitation of PFI members
Richard and Sharon Thompson, who have known Berry for some
years. His formal talk is to be on Conserving Communities.
Along with rural sociologist Cornelia Flora, Wendell Berry
will also take part in a workshop on sustainable rural
communities, and he will be part of the ecumenical service
Sunday morning.
Paul Johnson is Chief of the United States Soil Conservation
Service (soon to be the Natural Resources Conservation
Service). Before taking that post he farmed and served in
the Iowa House of Representatives, where he was instrumental
in developing the consensus that led to passage of the Iowa
Groundwater Protection Act of 1987. That legislation has
been a model nationally for its emphasis on research,
education, and voluntary approaches to water quality.
Johnson has been a PFI member since 1990. Mr. Johnson
believes one of the most important challenges of our time is
to learn to live in harmony with the land.
Paul Johnson will give the Saturday morning address. He
will also lead a morning workshop on the future of the
Conservation Reserve Program, and he will sit in on Dr. Doug
Karlen s afternoon workshop on soil quality.
Alan Henning is a grazing consultant who, with his wife
Gerardine, runs a 120-acre demonstration dairy farm near
Madison, Wisconsin. Henning, who is originally from
Illinois, learned the art of controlled grazing before it
gained popularity in this country. After studying
grass-based dairying in New Zealand, Asia, Russia, and
Europe under a Fulbright Grant, Alan Henning farmed in New
Zealand for sixteen years.
In 1988 Henning returned to the United States to promote
grassland farming and low-cost ideas through on-farm
consulting. Henning has done work for several PFI farmers
in northeast Iowa and was featured at the 1993 field day of
Lynn and Linda Stock, near Waukon. His presentation is
Creating Healthy Pastures. He will also lead the controlled
grazing workshop.
A Group Effort
This PFI annual meeting is more ambitious than anything
we ve undertaken before. It is only possible because of the
wide membership involvement in planning and organization.
There are people working on publicity, posters, youth
activities, the dance, preregistration, and the ecumenical
service, to name a few. Contact Donna Bauer (712-563-4084)
if you want to lend a hand with the anniversary celebration.
Donna has graciously agreed to serve as planning
coordinator.
Call for Camcorders
Speaking of assistance, maybe you can help us record the
talks and workshops. Videos of last year s featured speaker
have been popular, and we would like to record all of this
year s sessions if possible. If you have a camcorder and
tripod that you would be willing to bring to the winter
meeting, please give Donna a call.
PFI Scrapbook Invites Contributions
Do you have a PFI memory you would be willing to share?
Over lunch on Saturday, we d like to show a few slides that
recall the early days and development of Practical Farmers
of Iowa. If you have a print photograph, we can have it
made into a projection slide. Please contact Rick Exner
(2104 Agronmy Hall, ISU, Ames, IA, 50011, 515-294-1923).
A Family Affair!
PFI is making this an event for every member of the family.
Workshops include topics of broad interest. On Saturday,
child care and youth activities will be provided for infant
through high school. (When you preregister for youth
activities you will receive more information on options for
different ages.) On Saturday evening, the Pretty Good Band
will play for a community dance, with caller Mary Jo
Brearley teaching each dance. The Sunday morning ecumenical
service will provide a space for everyone to join together
before hitting the road
Posters
This year there will be an expanded poster session that will
bring in PFI cooperators, Sustainable Projects participants,
young people, and any other PFI member who has something to
share. There will be a special hour for viewing posters and
talking to poster presenters. If you would like to bring a
poster, contact Gayle Olson (319-257-6967).
Sustainable Agriculture Achievement Award
This recognition has been awarded annually since 1989 to
someone whose work has advanced the cause of profitable,
environmentally-sound farming in Iowa. Past recipients have
been Alfred Blackmer ( 89), John Pesek ( 90), Jerry DeWitt
( 91), Larry Kallem ( 92), and Richard Cruse ( 93).
The Sustainable Ag Achievement Award was conceived as a way
for PFI to honor those outside of the organization not as a
way for the organization to pat itself on the back.
However, as the tenth anniversary of PFI s founding
approaches, the board of directors has unanimously made an
exception to this policy in order to recognize the two
people who, more than anyone else, deserve credit for
Practical Farmers of Iowa and the farmer-based sustainable
agriculture movement that we have in this state. Richard
and Sharon Thompson, of Boone, will be the 1994 recipients
of the Sustainable Agriculture Achievement Award. They
served on the provisional board of directors of PFI, which
met in their home. Dick was the organization s first
president, and he now serves as treasurer and Executive Vice
President.
Please Pre-register by December 1!
This is the most ambitious meeting we have ever organized,
so we need to have a good idea who s coming. To make it
easier on the PFI volunteers and save you time (and money)
at the door, please send in your pre-registration before
December 1!
WEEKEND AGENDA
Place: Ames, Starlite Village Best Western, 13th & Dayton
Rd.
FRIDAY (January 6)
Evening: (Check-in)
7:00 Reception, grazing videos
Saturday (January 7)
7:30 Registration Opens
8:30 9:15: Welcome by PFI President Vic Madsen
9:15 9:30: Sustainable Ag Achievement Award
9:30 10:30: Paul Johnson, Morning Address
10:30 11:00: Break
11:00 12:00: Workshops (select one)
12:00 1:30: Lunch and Retrospective
1:30 2:30: Alan Henning
2:30 3:30: Posters and Displays
3:30 5:00: Workshops (select one)
5:00 6:00: Break
6:00 7:00: Dinner
7:00 8:00: Wendell Berry, Featured Speaker
8:30 10:30: Community Dance
SUNDAY (January 8)
8:30 10:00: Brunch on Your Own
10:00 11:00: Ecumenical Service
11:00 12:00: Business Meeting
WORKSHOP SCHEDULE
A Decade of CRP: Paul Johnson (moderator: Ron Rosmann)
As the first Conservation Reserve Program contracts approach
expiration, questions surround the program. How was it
good? How was it harmful? Will it be continued in some
form? As Chief of the SCS, Johnson oversees the agency that
administers the CRP. He will share his insights and discuss
with participants their own experiences.
Sustainable Communities: Wendell Berry, Cornelia Flora
(moderator: Gary Huber)
How do communities build on their strengths to make a
future? What are Iowans doing to strengthen their community
through the Shared Visions program? Wendell Berry is a
national voice for rural life. Cornelia Flora is a rural
sociologist who has helped place the issue of community
viability into the context of sustainable agriculture (see
page 6). Gary Huber is PFI project director for Shared
Visions: Farming for Better Communities.
Cropping Systems for Integrated Farming: Mohammed
Ghaffarzadeh, Rick Cruse (moderator: Rick Exner)
Mo Ghaffarzadeh and Rick Cruse have been among the Midwest s
most visible researchers, conducting on-farm research into
berseem clover, narrow strip intercropping, and other
technologies that reward the management and skills of Iowa
producers. Come join them for a cutting edge, update and
offer your own experiences and discoveries.
Transition to Sustainable Farming Systems: Women s
Experiences Regina Striegel, Irene Frantzen, Pam Cowles,
Sheryl Wilson (moderator: Margaret Smith)
What different roles do women assume when families make
changes to alternative farming systems? How do these
changes affect family relationships, personal stress levels,
women s involvement in the farming operation, and
interactions within the community?
Controlled Grazing: Alan Henning (moderator: Tom Frantzen)
Grazing can benefit almost any kind of stock. Alan Henning
says whatever your livestock, the principles of good grazing
are much the same. Come and discuss the ins and outs of
putting pasture to work.
Alternative Pork Production Systems: Dave Stender, Dan
Wilson (moderator: Vic Madsen)
Dave Stender is an Extension swine field specialist in
northwest Iowa. His comments appeared recently in National
Hog Farmer Magazine. Dan Wilson is a PFI member who pasture
farrows in O Brien County. In September he travelled to
Sweden to learn about low-stress confinement systems used
there (see page 22).
Soil Quality: Doug Karlen (moderator: Jeff Olson)
The term soil quality is heard a good deal, but what do we
really mean by it? What do we know about the benefits of
soil microbial life, earthworms, and tilth, and how can we
manage to achieve those benefits? Dr. Doug Karlen is a soil
scientist with the USDA National Soil Tilth Laboratory who
has worked on studies comparing farming systems including
one that involved PFI members Dick and Sharon Thompson. He
will describe what the Tilth Lab is learning about soil
quality.
PLEASE PRE-REGISTER BY DECEMBER 1! (please print)
Name __________________________________________
Address ________________________________
City _________________________ State ______
Zip ______________ Phone ____________________
Pre-registration Fee: $5.00 per person or $10.00 per family
=__________
(Registration at the door will be $10.00 per person & $15.00
per family.)
Annual Membership Fee: $10.00 per person or family
=__________
(There will be the usual $10 door charge for nonmembers and
PFI memberships not current.)
Please pay in advance for the meals you wish to eat at the
Starlite Best Western Motel:
Adults Children
Sat. Noon Buffet _________ x $7.00 + _________ x $4.00
=__________
Sat. Pork Dinner _________ x $12.00 + _________ x $8.00
=__________
(Children under three eat free.)
Check enclosed for Total
=__________
Send this form to: Sharon Thompson, 2035 190th St., Boone,
IA, 50036.
For more information call: Sharon Thompson (515) 432-1560,
or Rick Exner or Gary Huber (515) 294-1923.
Motel Reservations (by Dec. 15): Starlite Village, Ames
(515) 232-9260 or (800) 903-0009. (Request PFI group rate.)
Check if interested in bringing a poster or display
illustrating a sustainable agriculture idea or
project: _________
If you will be bringing childen or are just interested in
helping with youth activities or daycare, see the following:
YOUTH ACTIVITIES REGISTRATION FORM
Ages Infant through High School *
Youth Activities on Saturday, Jan. 7 include:Farm Safety,
Field Trips, Swimming, Craft and Activity Tables, Games,
Snacks, Pizza Party, Youth Poster Presentations and
Roundtable Talks, Skits, and Movies.
* Child care will be provided for infants and toddlers on
Saturday, 8:00 am 5:00 pm.
We will send you more information about the youth activities
and poster exhibit.
Name and ages of youth:
____________________________________________________________
Name, address, and phone number of parents:
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
_________ I would like to help with youth activities and/or
child care. (You need not be a parent yourself to help.)
_________ I will be bringing a poster or display for the
youth exhibit.
PFI FALL MEMBERSHIP RENEWAL!
You will soon receive a letter from the President! Vic
Madsen, PFI president, will be inviting PFI members to
update their membership information and, if necessary,
renew. Why is that information important? Well, did you
get a look at the new PFI Member Directory? It s our newest
networking tool for those who choose to take part 36 pages
of who s doing what in sustainable farming. The contents
come from the Membership Agreement and Information forms
returned by PFI members.
PFI still costs just $10 for a year s membership, or $25 for
three years. Three years is a good renewal option for those
of us who tend to be forgetful. But even if Vic s letter
says you re current, you can still send in the information
form and tell us to put you down for the next member
directory. Don t forget!
SHARED VISIONS
This section of the newsletter includes:
* updates on Shared Visions groups;
* a description of Shared Visions materials;
* a report on the Integrated Farming Systems (IFS)
networking conference held in Iowa this summer;
* an article on a visit by IFS conference participants to
the Eldora area; and
* a transcript of a talk by Clark BreDahl during a visit by
IFS conference participants to Greenfield.
GROUP UPDATES (Internet readers, see also graphics file
svioamap.pcx)
AG2020 Group (Poweshiek County)
During meetings last February and March, the AG2020 group
identified these areas of interest: 1) helping beginning
farmers, 2) developing farm-community relationships, and 3)
incorporating livestock into farming systems using
alternative practices, such as rotational grazing.
The group also identified the 46,646 acres in the
Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) in Poweshiek County as an
opportunity to bring these areas of intrest together in a
project. A goal for the group, subsequently noted in a
letter to CRP owners, is to build a system in which
Poweshiek CRP owners, new farmers, current farmers, and town
and business people can work together to further the use of
this land for pasture, hay, livestock, and organic crops,
and to further the service and marketing of these products.
This letter was sent in advance of a survey that was funded
as a first step for the group s project. Of the 511 surveys
sent to owners of CRP land in Poweshiek County, 356 were
returned for a response rate of 70 percent. Sixty-three
percent of respondents want information on alternative uses
of their CRP land, and 9 percent, or 30 respondents, were
interested in talking with beginning farmers.
Survey responses provided information on the status of
facilities needed to support livestock on CRP land in the
county. For example, 71 percent have water sources on their
CRP land, while 66 percent have livestock fences and 20
percent have useable livestock buildings.
The group will use these data, other information from the
survey, and input from resource persons to determine next
steps. One possibility is to bring retired, soon to be
retired, and non-farming landowners together with beginning
or expanding small farmers to explore mutually beneficial
options for the use of this land.
Ag Committee, Davis County Development Corporation
The Davis County group, which formed as an agriculture
committee of the Davis County Development Corporation,
submitted a project application to the PFI board at the end
of July.
The application described educational initiatives to be
conducted throughout the year: 1) sponsoring speakers on
livestock production at the second annual Fall Classic
Round-Up at the Davis County Fairgrounds in Bloomfield; 2)
coordinating speakers and farm tours with the local high
school vocational agriculture program; and 3) conducting a
farmer mentoring program.
The board reviewed the application at their September
meeting and decided not to fund the project as submitted.
The board recommended that the project be more focused and
that the application specify the kinds of farming systems
and practices to be encouraged. The group plans to meet
with Shared Visions staff after harvest to consider the
board s recommendations and determine next steps.
Grundy-Hardin County Group
The PFI board approved the Grundy-Hardin County group's
project application for a community-based beginning farmer
initiative in July. The group has begun developing the
operational details of their initiative.
The group has shifted its focus from finding owners of land
who are interested in making their land available to a
beginner to developing a process that will help insure the
success of the beginners, thus increasing the comfort level
of owners of land so that it is easier for them to become
involved.
Insuring the success of beginners requires careful selection
and screening of candidates. Development plans for
beginners will identify needed skills and outline steps to
acquire these skills.
Part of the process will involve documentating beginners
resources and experiences for use during the matching
process. Where a beginner is in terms of resources and
experiences will affect the possible arrangements, ranging
from working as hired help to entering into some kind of
agreement to buy land.
A multi-step matching process will involve identifying the
goals of both parties, assessing compatibility on a personal
level, and developing an agreeable business plan. Farming
practices that will generate adequate income while keeping
input costs under control will be detailed. Another
component of the matching process may involve a mechanism to
insure on-going communication between participants occurs so
that matches proceed smoothly.
Once these processs have been outlined, the group will
approach others in the community for input in order to: 1)
further refine the process; 2) get others in the community
involved; and, 3) identify resources in the community that
can be mobilized for the initiative. This step will be part
of a Community Awareness Campaign.
The group will next put their work into action through a
Pilot Operation to prove the initiative in a real-life
situation. Documenting the experience will allow for
necessary adjustments in the initiative.
These adjustments will help insure the achievement of the
ultimate goal of the group the establishment of a system
of opportunities and supports for beginning farmers that
will become a normal part of the area s economic and social
vitality.
Neely-Kinyon Farm Project Committee (Adair County)
The Neely-Kinyon Farm Project Committee was accepted into
Shared Visions at the April 9 PFI board meeting. The group
has initially been involved as a cooperator in the on-farm
research network. The group will move from the Shared
Visions on-farm research network into the community groups
network at the end of this year s growing season.
|
SHARED VISIONS MATERIALS DEVELOPMENT
Tamara Pfantz is currently assisting Shared Visions while a
search is being conducted for a Community Groups
Coordinator. Tamara has been developing three sets of
materials a Program Manual, a Facilitator s Guide to
Group and Project Development, and a Project Planning
Workbook to further the implementation of Shared Visions.
The Program Manual is a compendium of information about
Shared Visions. Tamara has also developed flow charts for
the Program Manual to clarify the processes involved,
including the one on the top of the next page (Internet
readers: graphics file proglink.pcx) titled, Shared Visions
Program Linkages.
Note that the lines connecting various groups and
individuals in this chart are not lines of authority, as is
typically the case with organizational charts, but represent
linkages.
At the top are the three collaborating organizations.
Connected to PFI is the Shared Visions Advisory Council,
which provides input on program operations and makes
recommendations to the PFI Board on selecting groups and
group projects.
Arrows from each collaborating organization point to the
Implementation Team, which is where the main work of the
collaboration takes place. Immediately below the three
collaborators and the Implementation Team are program staff.
Gary Huber works half-time for PFI as the Program Director.
Rick Exner works full-time for ISU Extension as the Farming
Systems Coordinator. The Community Group Coordinator is a
full-time position with ISU Extension for which a search is
being conducted. Tamara Pfantz will begin work as the
Program Evaluator when the Community Groups Coordinator
position is filled, with this being a quarter-time position.
Immediately below program staff are two large boxes
representing the two networks being supported through Shared
Visions. One represents the On-Farm Research Network, which
has been the foundation of PFI almost since its inception.
The fifteen boxes here represent the fifteen cooperators
being supported through Shared Visions.
The other large box represents the Community Groups Network,
which is new. The four boxes at the top represent the
groups now involved in Shared Visions, and the two sets of
six boxes represent the sets of groups that are planned for
1995 and 1996.
Finally, the boxes at the bottom left of the chart represent
ISU Extension Field Specialists and County Extension
Education Directors. ISU Extension is contributing
important support to Shared Visions, both with leadershipat
the state level and with the staff time of Extension Field
Staff. This support, as well as that being given by the
Leopold Center, demonstrate the commitment these
collaborators have made to Shared Visions.
|
SHARED VISIONS HOSTS NETWORKING CONFERENCE
Earlier this year the W.K. Kellogg Foundation added nine
projects to those that were funded through the Integrated
Farming Systems (IFS) Initiative last year (Internet
readers: see graphic file svnation.wmf). Three to four
representatives from each of these 18 projects participated
in a networking conference held in Ames during the first
week of August.
Networking conferences occur twice a year to encourage
mutual learning and the development of strategies and skills
for use in each of our projects. The conference last summer
in Montana focused on developing leadership skills. The
conference in Washington, D.C., last February focused on
policy issues.
This summer s conference focused on community building.
Participants used a variety of techniques to explore
community. Michael Cotter, a story teller and farmer from
Austin, Minnesota, helped the group understand the
importance of telling stories in exploring community. His
input led into an exercise where participants told stories
of their experiences with community.
Another powerful exercise involved letting people of
different voices talk among themselves about what it was
like to be a part of that voice while the rest of the
participants listened. Learning about what people faced by
virtue of who they were helped understanding the importance
of diversity for healthy community.
Participants also visited the Dick and Sharon Thompson farm
to learn about doing on-farm research and about developing
relationships between non-profit groups and land-grant
universities.
They next divided into three separate groups to visit Shared
Visions communities Greenfield, the Eldora area, and
Poweshiek County to learn more about the efforts of these
groups at community building. The Greenfield visit began
with a breakfast and a discussion among local leaders about
farming and rural communities. The group also visited the
Greenfield square and the Neely-Kinyon Research Farm.
The Eldora area visit involved a stop at the Hardin County
courthouse, a breakfast and discussion at a rural church in
the area, and a visit to the Glen Draper farm. (See the
following article for a description of this visit.) The
Poweshiek County visit included a stop at a local CRP
demonstration site, a breakfast at a local Bed & Breakfast
business, and a visit to the Russ Hughes farm.
|
FARMERS MEET, SHARE CONCERNS
by Rebecca Peterson
(Editors note: The following article is reprinted with
permission from the Saturday, August 6, 1994 edition of the
Iowa Falls Times-Citizen.)
Farmers from the southeast to the northwest, and everywhere
in between, have just one concern in mind: to be good
stewards of the land, feed the nation and earn a decent
living. Thursday, three dozen of them ate breakfast at the
Ivestor Church in rural Eldora, findin out just how alike
farmers are no matter what they produce.
Afterwards, they drew their chairs in a circle and discussed
shared concerns about trends in agriculture. It seems the
Arkansas rice growers are just as worried as Iowans about
the increasing age of the average farmer (over 50 in both
states).
The sweet corn and green bean farmers in Oregon are afraid
corporate farming will lay waste to small towns.
The Kentucky dairy and tobacco farmers aren t sure they can
earn a decent living any more producing traditional
products.
There were cattle ranchers from Washington, trout producers
from North Carolina and winegrape growers from California as
well, all trying to do something about the state of
agriculture in the breadbasket of the world.
They were three dozen farmers, representing 18 agriculture
groups which recently received W.K. Kellogg Foundation
grants, joined by representatives of the Kellogg Foundation
from Battle Creek Mich.
Other farmers from the Chesapeake Bay area of Massachusetts,
Ohio, Montana, Nebraska, and Georgia came, too. They were
among those who traveled to Ames to attend the Kellogg
Foundation s Building Community conference. As a
side-trip, one third of the conference-goers came to Hardin
County to share discussion, and also to hear more about a
group of Hardin County farmers and ag professionals who won
a Kellogg grant themselves.
Farmers from around the country were struck by the numbers
presented to them by Hardin County Extension Director Jim
Johnson. Between 1987 and 1992 the number of Hardin County
farms in the 260-499 acre range in size decreased from 265
to 206.
While large farms increased in numbers, the overall number
of farms here declined from 1,065 to 986. Just as alarming,
the number of farmers who list farming as their primary
source of income dropped by more than 10 percent in just
five years.
These farmers from the mountains and clay soils of other
regions of the nation had thought that Iowa and the cornbelt
represented the pinnacle of successful agriculture.
They were surprised to learn that the family farm is indeed
threatened here and beginning farmers find it nearly
impossible to find the capital for the huge start-up costs
associated with farming.
While there are government programs that offer financial
assistance to beginning farmers, a handful of Hardin County
farmers are trying to do more.
The goal of the group is to, first, develop a handbook for
new farmers that covers everything a newcomer needs to know
to be financially successful. Secondly, the group will try
to match young farmers with established farmers who might be
willing to share equipment in exchange for labor, or who
might sell a farm on contract, for example.
The group offered suggestions and took notes on the points
they might take home to their own organizations.
One final point farmers from around the country agreed upon
local ownership and preservation of family-farm lifestyle
is a community issue. It is a cause that all economic
development interests, merchants and residents must join if
they wish to preserve the small-town way of life,
representatives said.
And when they left, these varied farmers left gifts
representative of their farms apples from the 1994
Washington crop, rice from Arkansas, cherries and
blueberries from Michigan, Georgia pecans and mayhaw jelly,
smoked brown trout from North Carolina and wheat from
Montana.
Perhaps they took home a better understanding of the common
threads among U.S. farmers.
Location of Integrated Farming Systems Projects:
1. Arkansas - Grantee: Arkansas Land & Farm Development
Corporation
2. California (California Alliance for Sustainable
Agriculture) - Grantee: University of California-Santa
Cruz
3. Kansas (The Heartland Network) - Grantee: Kansas Rural
Center
4. Montana/Idaho (Ag Options Network) - Grantee:
Alternative Energy Resources Organization
5. Pennsylvania (Regional Infrastructure for Sustaining
Agriculture) - Grantee: Rodale Institute Research
Center
6. Iowa (Shared Visions: Farming for Better Communities) -
Grantee: Practical Farmers of Iowa
7. Minnesota (Stewardship Farming Program) - Grantee: Land
Stewardship Project
8. Ohio (The Darby Project) - Grantee: The Nature
Conservancy
9. Wisconsin (Wisconsin Integrated Cropping Systems Trial)
- Grantee: The University of Wisconsin
10. Nebraska - Grantee: Center for Rural Affairs
11. Maryland (Future Harvest: Farming for Profit and
Sustainability) - Grantee: Cheasapeake Bay Foundation
12. Massachusetts (Conneticut River Valley Community
Initiative for Sustainable Agriculture) - Grantee:
Hampshire College
13. Kentucky (Kentucky Leadership for Agricultural and
Environmental Sustainability) - Grantee: Community Farm
Alliance
14. North Carolina - Grantee: North Carolina Association of
Black Lawyers
15. Oregon (Marketing and Production Alliance for
Sustainable Agriculture) - Grantee: Oregon State
University
16. Michigan (Michigan Integrated Food and Farming Systems)
- Grantee: Michigan Agricultural Stewardship
Association
17. Georgia (The Southwest Georgia Alternative Agriculture
Project) - Grantee: University of Georgia
18. Washington (A Holistic Decision-Making Model for the
Development of Sustainable Crop/Livestock and Natural
Resource Systems) - Grantee: Washinton State
University
SHARED VISIONS COMMUNITY WORKSHOP PRESENTATION GREENFIELD,
IOWA AUGUST 4, 1994
Clark BreDahl
(Editors' note: This is text from a presntation by Clark
BreDahl during the visit to Greenfield. Clark farms and is
on the Neely-Kinyon Farm Project Committee.)
To share a vision, each of us must first have a vision of
our own; a vision of where we would like our business to be
a few years hence; a vision of what we would like our
community to look like, and a perspective as to where our
community will fit into the grand scheme of things years
down the road. Finally, after we have planted those visions
clearly in our minds, we need a plan as to how we will
achieve our goals....Without a plan, our visions will never
become realities.
>From an agricultural perspective, life has perhaps changed
more in the past twenty years than it did in the previous
two hundred of our nation s existence. And though
technology has been frequently mentioned as the culprit, I
think it has to be viewed as a two-edged sword that can
either help or hinder us. One thing is certain. Technology
will not go away. If we do not use it, others will.
The key is getting technology and research to solve problems
for us, rather than create new ones. It follows then that
to come up with the right answers, we must first ask the
right questions. That is where a Shared Visions approach
can help.
When I survey the changes that have occurred in farming
since I came back to the area in 1974, I don t notice the
technological or mechanical differences nearly as much as I
do the structural changes. When we talk about ninety
percent of all fresh vegetables consumed in the United
States now being grown in the San Juaquin Valley of
California, rather than on scattered farms throughout each
state in the Union, that is a fundamental, structural change
of overwhelming proportions.
When we talk about chicken surpassing pork and beef to
become the most popular meat in the U.S., and six huge
conglomerates producing seventy-five percent of all
consumption and controlling all facets of production and
processing from hatch to retail meat counter that is
fundamental.
When we talk about California taking over as the leading
dairy producing state, and over 50 percent of all dairy
production in this country now coming from herds of five
hundred head or more that s fundamental.
How many farmers in Adair County still raise chickens? How
many farmers in Adair County still milk cows? And how many
of you came from farm homes like mine where forty years ago
the egg check and cream check used to provide the lion s
share of our family s spending money? That s fundamental
change.
How many times in recent years have you heard someone say,
Somebody s going to farm the land and raise the
livestock...What difference does it make who it is? To me
it makes all the difference in the world regarding the
quality of life we in rural Iowa will have. For us, people
and prosperity may be inseparable. I think we will not have
one without the other.
If I am still a farmer 20 years from now perhaps by some
stroke of luck even a wealthy farmer but my wife has to
drive thirty miles for groceries, sixty miles to buy parts
for my tractor, twenty miles to the nearest church or
school, seventy-five miles to the nearest doctor, hospital
or movie theater, or five miles down the road to the nearest
neighbor s house, then our own personal financial success
will have been a mighty hollow victory. If at that time the
local retirement home is the largest employer in town, as
it is already in some, we will know we have probably passed
the point of no return as a viable economic community.
Our federal government has struggled for fifty years to
implement policies to aid in the conservation of our soil
and water resources. And regardless of how effective you
think those programs have been, it seems to me they hve
continually overlooked the most obvious solution the pride
involved in maintaining families on the land. I continually
marvel that where there is a plan to hand the land down from
generation to the next, there is also a plan, usually well
implemented, to hand the land down in as good or better
shape than it was received.
I heard it once said that, the difference between family
farms and corporate agriculture is that corporations don t
have grandkids! It s a simplistic definition, but it s a
profound impact statement.
No question about it, our most valuable crop or resource is
not our corn, beans, hogs or cattle, or even our rich
fertile soil. It is our young people. And unfortunately
they are also our biggest export. We raise bright kids
around here. We have good schools, dedicated teachers;
parents, friends and churches who teach real values, and
communities where a strong work ethic is ingrained early as
part of our heritage.
Talk about producing a product the market wants....The big
cities gobble up our best and brightest as fast as we can
ship them out and usually pay a handsome premium for
quality!
I m convinced some of those young people would like to stay
or return to this area s farms and small business
communities. Many, I think, would even take a substantial
pay cut to do it. But when you tell a young couple that in
addition, they are going to have to each hold down two full
time jobs (as some economists have suggested as a route to
get into farming), the city usually wins the competition
hands down.
Environmental concerns and interest from outside as well as
within farming about sustainable agriculture could have a
tremendous impact on the survival of family farms and rural
communities. I think we need to make our plans accordingly.
What started out as low input farming didn t stay that way
very long. People came to quickly realize there is no such
thing as low input farming. The best we can do is
substitute inputs: labor for capital, management for
capital, marketing skills for production volume. The list
could be lengthy. The exciting part is that there are
countless ways we can foster economic growth and efficiency
on family farms and in small communities without investing
millions of dollars at a time to do it. Maybe it shows my
conservative streak, but I like that approach much better
than the more common corporate philosophy these days of
substituting capital for virtually every other tool in the
production chain.
I am very excited about the prospects for research,
education and demonstration at both the Neely and Armstrong
farms here in southwest Iowa. We have strong individual and
community support, combined with Iowa State University s
technology and strong financial commitment. These farms and
their accompanying facilities will be powerful tools to give
us all the right answers. Hopefully a powerful vision for
the future of this area s farms and communities will first
help us ask all the right questions. |
CORNELIA FLORA JOINS RURAL DEVELOPMENT CENTER
Cornelia Flora is the new Director of the North Central
Regional Center for Rural Development, located at Iowa State
University. This is one of four such centers and covers the
twelve North Central states. Previously she was head of the
Sociology Department at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and
State University, a University Distinguished Professor at
Kansas State University, and a program officer for the Ford
Foundation. She has consulted for the Northwest Area
Foundation s sustainable agriculture initiative, in which
PFI has been involved the last five years. As past
president of the Rural Sociological Society, she is author
and editor of a number of recent books, including Rural
Communities: Legacy and Change, Rural Policies for the
1990s, and Sustainable Agriculture in Temperate Zones.
Flora was instrumental in developing the 13-part PBS video
course on rural America and was also part of the course team
for the PBS series Americas, which focused on Latin America.
She is currently chair of the Technical Committee of the
Sustainable Agricultural and Natural Resource Management
Collaborative Research Support Project. She has published
over 150 book chapters and articles, primarily on rural
development in the United States and developing countries,
is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement
of Science, and serves as the American Sociological
Society s liaison to that orgnization. Her current research
addresses alternative strategies of community development
and the relation of those strategies to different forms of
community organization and leadership. Cornelia Flora will
take part in the workshop on sustainable communities at the
PFI winter meeting.
The mission of the North Central Regional Center for Rural
Development (NCRCRD) is to encourage rural development
research and education programs to improve the social and
economic well-being of rural people in the 12-state north
central region of the U.S. The NCRCRD also provides
leadership by identifying, developing, and supporting
programs on the vanguard of emerging
issues. |
NOTES AND NOTICES
IPM Cooperators Sought
If you re bugged by bugs, then take note. As reported in
the summer newsletter, PFI will cary out on-farm research
and demonstration of Integrated Pest Management in corn and
alfalfa. There are still openings for cooperators in this
project. Contact Rick Exner at 515-294-1923.
Conference Set for Dec. 2-3: The CRP and the Future of Iowa
Communities
Farmers and other rural citizens who are concerned about the
future of their communities will be gathering in southwest
Iowa for a two-day grassroots conference this December. The
conference, entitled: The Conservation Reserve Program and
The Future of Rural Communities, is being sponsored by Iowa
Citizens for Community Improvement (Iowa CCI) and
Southwestern Community College (SWCC). It will be held on
the campus of SWCC in Creston, IA (the northwest part of
town) on Friday and Saturday, December 2 and 3, 1994. The
public is encouraged to attend.
In addition to attending workshops on farm practices and
government policies, participants in the conference will
have the opportunity to give input on the 1995 Farm Bill,
President Clinton s Ag Summit, and The National Campaign for
Sustainable Agriculture during an open-microphone session on
Friday evening.
Several of the conference workshops will be about practical
alternatives for highly erodible land, such as that enrolled
in the Conservation Reserve Program. They include:
Rotational Grazing, Low-input Cropping Systems, Organic
Farming, and government farm programs that enable farmers to
start a crop rotation without losing program benefits. The
conference will also feature workshops on Sustainable
Start-Up Strategies for Beginning Farmers, Future
Legislation Regarding Corporate Hog Facilities, Family Farm
Loan Programs, and Policy Recommendations for Government
Agencies. The workshop speakers and panelists represent a
variety of organizations, networks, and institutions.
For more information about the conferece, including a
brochure, registration materials, and a list of featured
speakers, people can contact Iowa CCI at (515) 266-5213.
Conference fees for those who register by November 23rd are
$6 per person and $10 per family. After November 23rd, the
fees are $10 per person and $15 per family.
Soil Health Conference Set
Soil Health: The Basis of Current and Future Production is
the title of a Conference to be held December 6-7, in
Decatur, Illinois. Researchers and farmers will address a
variety of topics and issues in presentations and panel
discussions. The program is designed to help participants
understand the challenges of measuring soil health and the
practical opportunities for improving soil health.
Keynote speakers are Tom Frantzen, past president of
Practical Farmers of Iowa, and Pete Nowak, professor in the
Department of Rural Sociology at the University of
Wisconsin Madison and a soil and water conservation
specialist. Jim Kinsella, an Illinois no-till farmer will
speak at the Tuesday dinner. Other presenters include
microbiologist John Doran, inventor of the soil health test
kit, and earthworm researcher Eileen Kladivko. The
conference will conclude with a demonstration and discussion
of the soil health test kit on Wednesday afternoon.
Registration is requested by November 18. Cost is $45 per
person until the 18th, and $65 thereafter. To register,
send your check to: Deborah Cavanaugh-Grant, ISAN, P.O. Box
410, Greenview, IL 62642 (217-968-5512). You must make
your own arrangements for overnight accommodations. The
conference will take place at the Holiday Inn Conference
Hotel, U.S. Route 36 West & Wycles Rd., Decatur, IL 62522
(217-422-8800).
IFGC Annual Meeting November 29 in Des Moines
The annual meeting of the Iowa Forage & Grasslands Council
will be November 29, 1994, at the Crystal Inn in Des Moines,
which is located directly across from the airport on Fleur
Drive. Some presentation titles include Early Challenges
of Short Duration Grazing and Preventing Livestock Losses
to Predators. The registration fee is $15. For more
information call Joan O Brien at 1-800-383-1682.
November 30 Conference on Large-Scale Hog Production in Des
Moines
The Church Land Project is sponsoring a conference titled
Community, Church, and Large-Scale Hog Production: Theology
and Resolution of Hog Production Conflicts in Rural
Communities in Des Moines on November 30, 1994. The
conference is intended to give pastors, church workers, and
others tools to address the issue of intensive hog
production constructively. Limited space is available. The
registration fee is $9 until November 18, which includes
meals, and $15 at the door, which does not include meals.
For information call Joe Dever at 515-270-2634.
December 7 Conference on 1995 Farm Bill in Mason City
Changes and Choices for Agriculture and Rural Communities:
Impacts of the 1995 Farm Bill will be held Wednesday,
December 7, 1994, at North Iowa Area Community College
(NIACC) in Mason City. Speakers include: Bob Nsh, USDA
Under Secretary for Community/Rural Development; Marty
Strange, Center for Rural Affairs; Merlin Plagge, Iowa Farm
Bureau Federation; Ann Robinson, Midwest Sustainable
Agriculture Working Group.
Sponsors include the Leopold Center for Sustainable
Agriculture, the Center for Agricultural and Rural
Development (CARD), ISU Extension, and the ISU Outreach
Center on the NIACC campus. Registration fee is $35 through
November 28 and $40 thereafter. For questions about the
program agenda, call Judith Gildner (515-294-6257) or Rich
Pirog (515-294-1854). For questions about registration,
call the NIACC registration desk (515-421-4358).
January 11 Grazing Workshop Set for Dordt College in Sioux
Center
Dordt College is the location of a grazing workshop to be
held January 11, 1995. Ben Bartlett, a district
dairy/livestock specialist for Michigan State University,
will be the keynote speaker and will discuss his experiences
with grazing management in Michigan s upper peninsula.
There will be a $15 registration fee. For more information
call Joel DeJong at 712-276-2157.
January 17 Forestry Meeting for Farmers in Ames
The Iowa Association of Soil and Water Conservation District
Commissioners, in cooperation with a variety of agencies and
organizations, will sponsor a forestry shortcourse for
farmers on January 17, 1995, titled Alternative
Opportunities for Farmers: Opening New Markets. The
shortcourse, which will be held in the Scheman Building at
the Iowa State Center in Ames, will feature a variety of
concurrent sessions and keynote presentations. Registration
fee is $28 through January 10 and $35 thereafter. For
program information, call Eldon Weber (515-294-0893). For
registration information, call Deb Schmidt (515-294-5961).
New ISU Video on Integrated Crop Management Available
A new 18-minute video on Integrated Crop Management (ICM) is
available from Iowa State University. The video provides an
overview of ICM and is aimed at producers, crop consultants,
and agribusiness retailers. Although the video is free,
there is a shipping charge of $2.19 for in-state orders and
$2.85 for out-of-state orders. Send a check with orders to
ISU Extension Distribution Center, 119 Printing and
Publication Building, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa,
50011-3171.
Two-Day ICM Conference Set for Ames
An Integrated Crop Management (ICM) conference is set for
Nov. 30 and Dec. 1 in the Scheman Building at the Iowa State
Center in Ames. The general session will focus on site
specific management. Workshops will cover results of
innovative research and provide hands-on laboratory
sessions. Audiences are agribusiness personnel, crop
consultants, soil conservationists, farm managers,
agronomists, and persons interested in crop production and
protection.
Sponsors are Iowa State University Extension and the
departments of Agronomy, Entomology, Plant Pathology, and
Agricultural & Biosystems Engineering. Fees, which include
refreshments and lunch for both days, are $100 if postmarked
by November 18 and $110 thereafter. For information call
Elaine Hall (515-294-6329).
Ponds, Prairies, and PFI Summer Camp a Success
Twenty-four youth and six parents attended the three-day
Ponds, Prairies and PFI camp at the Iowa 4-H Education and
Natural Resources Center in August. Comments from boththe
parents and the youth were positive. For example, one adult
noted, Even as a farmer, I learned things I never learned
in school about agriculture and how things are
interrelated. Most of the young people simply noted, It
was fun. Special thanks to Shelly Gradwell, Molly Havlik,
Mike Abbas, and Dan Brouse for making the camp a success.
|
VISION 2020
Ann M. Schultz and Bill Silag
(Editors note: Ann Schultz is Project Coordinator and Bill
Silag is Associate Coordinator of VISION 2020, which is part
of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation s Food Systems Professions
Education Initiative.)
VISION 2020 started over a year ago when Kellogg challenged
all universities with Colleges of Agricultures to accept
their request for proposals for creating a new vision for
Food Systems Professions Education (FSPE). Each proposal
had to include a design for the visioning process and a
partner institution. Iowa State University established a
partnership with the Iowa Community Colleges and their
partnership was ultimately selected to receive the grant, as
well as eleven other land-grant institutions.
Practical Farmers of Iowa was asked to become involved with
the project as an external member. Maria Vakulskas Rosmann,
as a representative of PFI, attended a symposium in
Bloomington, MN, where all twelve institutions met to
discuss the project. A Steering Committee made up of twenty
members, including Mark Tjelmeland of PFI, will act as an
advisory board and a link to their representative groups.
Mark farms near McCallsburg in central Iowa. (See the PFI
Profile that follows.)
VISION 2020 is designing a visioning process and encourages
all interested entities to participate in this process. In
order to be a valid vision, we need your help and support.
Opportunities to help include forums at each of Iowa s
fifteen community colleges from 7:00 to 9:30 pm on Monday,
January 9, 1995, as well as a focus group interview of PFI
members that will occur sometime next February.
We will be working with the PFI leadership to facilitate
your involvement in these forums and the focus group
interview. Also, you can contact Ann Schultz or Bill Silag
directly for more information by writing to VISION 2020 at
1126 Agronomy Hall, ISU, Ames, IA, 50011, or by calling
515-294-2092. |
PFI PROFILES: MARK, CONNIE AND JOHNNY TJELMELAND
Gary Huber
The first thing that comes to mind is Johnny, Mark
Tjelmeland said, glancing to the bright, happy toddler
playing on the kitchen floor. I wonder what the future will
hold for him and other kids. Mark s thoughts of children
were in response to a question about why he is involved with
VISION 2020, a project aimed at planning an education system
to prepare people for the food systems of the next century.
(See the previous article.)
Mark and Connie Tjelmeland clearly feel that family is an
important part of the farming life they have chosen. A
whole lot of life s lessons can be learned by working
alongside mom and dad on the farm, Connie noted. For
example, our chickens are a good teaching tool, she
continued. They re safe for children to be around, and
when Johnny is with me when I take care of them, there are
so many things he learns about.
Johnny s fondness for the chickens was obvious as we walked
around yard. Mine, he noted with the innocence of a
two-year-old as he pointed to the hens near the fenceline.
Connie continued, For example, he is learning to count. As
I pick eggs I count them out loud, and he repeats after me,
six, two, four . The chickens are also a nice way to teach
a child about working together as a family, as well as about
appreciating animals.
Mark and Connie farm 600 acres of row crops near
McCallsburg, which is about 20 miles northeast of Ames.
They have been PFI members since the group started ten years
ago, though Mark noted, We re not nearly as far along as a
lot of the PFI farmers.
Our biggest success, Mark continued, and the thing we are
most proud of is our efforts at nitrogen management. We ve
been using the late spring nitrate test ever since it came
out. We put on half about 70 pounds pre-plant with the
herbicide, and we use the test to see if we need to
sidedress.
In the seven years they ve used the test, twice no
additional nitrogen was needed and twice the nitrogen they
applied pre-plant was essentially gone, meaning they needed
to sidedress at a full rate. It works both ways, Mark
noted. In wet years it tells you if you need to up your
sidedress rates, and in dry years it tells you if you don t
need any additional nitrogen.
As a check, the Tjelmeland s have put on additional nitrogen
even though the test said none was needed, and they were
unable to find any yield differences. I have a major
degree if confidence in the test, Mark continued, and it
has lots of potential, but it is way underutilized.
Other row crop practices are fairly typical of Iowa farmers.
Tillage involves chisel plowing or disking depending on the
field, using a pre-plant herbicide for grass control, and
banding or broadcasting for broadleaf weeds depending on the
situation.
Mark and Connie also have 20 acres in CRP, and their
long-term plans for this land are not as typical. A small
area near their buildings was bid into CRP under the
wetlands provisions, and here they want to restore a
wetland. One tile through the pothole has already been
plugged. They have since identified another, which they
plan to replace with solid tile.
The hoped-for result would be a nice, easily observable
wildlife area. An additional hope of Connie s, which
probably is an outgrowth of her work in environmental
education, is to see the wetland used for educational
purposes for local young people. An appreciation for the
environment and the importance of creating wildlife habitat
should be encouraged in young people she noted, as well as
an understanding of why it is important not to use every
square inch of land for production.
The Tjelmelands other CRP land is in switchgrass, and for
this Mark and Connie are thinking about grazing options.
They ve bought some holstein steers to get some experience
with cattle, and their goal is to maintain these CRP acres
in forage through grazing. As Mark noted, With all the
enjoyment we ve had out of these CRP acres, we d like to try
to maintain some of that diversity.
The Tjelmelands have added diversity to their operation this
year with 100 laying hens. They are selling eggs to local
customers, and they are giving some thought to marketing
eggs on a wider basis, taking advantage of the fact that
their chickens are free-range and are not fed antibiotics.
They ve done some investigating of USDA requirements for
marketing through area retail outlets. However, Connie
noted, We need to see if there is a market that would
support the extra work required.
Connie and Mark, like a lot of Iowa farmers, are uncertain
about the future of raising hogs. They typically buy feeder
pigs twice a year in early March and again in July or
August and finish them out. For the group they have now,
they figured they needed $36 per hundredweight to get a $7
return to labor and management per head. Right now it
doesn t look like they ll recover their costs. They aren t
sure what they ll do next spring, though Mark notes that the
facilities they have can be used fo something else if buying
feeder pigs doesn t pencil out.
Mark and Connie both pointed to the key role their parents
have played in helping them get established in farming, as
well as the continuing role they play. They noted that
there were five adults involved in the harvest this fall
Mark and Connie, Mark s mom and dad, and Connie s mom.
There is something about having all those people involved
that is pleasing, Connie explained. Mark continued by
noting, Intergenerational farming is a real valuable asset,
but it s often lost because of difficulties in working out
relationships.
Mark noted how he and his dad had gone to a seminar on
intergenerational farming where the speaker told how time
and again former students would come to talk, sometimes
nearly in tears, about how they had gone home to farm, but
things didn t work out. The speaker went on to note the
importance of realistic expectations involving matters such
as shared management and meshing the new knowledge of the
sons or daughters into the practices of the operation.
Careful listening was also stressed as a key need for
successful intergenerational farming. We and our parents
have taken what he said to heart, Mark noted, and it has
really been a help.
The Tjelmeland s recognize this is a time of transition for
farming, but they find many pleasures in their chosen way of
life. Farming will probably never be real profitable,
Mark noted, but benefits like the enjoyment of nature and
the environment make up for some of what it lacks in terms
of money.
Mark and Connie also feel strongly about being engaged in
efforts to try to shape a better future for the next
generation of farmers. The university has an important
role in helping enhance some of the better aspects of life
in rural Iowa, added Mark in response to why he is involved
in VISION 2020. |
A VISIT TO THE SWEDISH HOG SYSTEM
Dan Wilson, Paullina
(Editors note: Brothers Dan and Colin Wilson and their
wives Lorna and Carla farm in O Brien County, in northwest
Iowa, where they raise hogs using both pasture farrowing and
some confinement.)
On Sept. 19, 1994, nine farmers and university personnel
from Iowa and Minnesota, along with our tour organizer,
Marlene Halverson, flew out of Minneapolis on our way to
Stockholm, Sweden. Why were we going to Sweden? First of
all we were going to see what the Vstgtamodel hog system
was all about. We were also going to see what the Swedish
hog industry as a whole looked like after not being able to
use feed grade antibiotics or growth promotants since 1986.
Sweden also has much stricter animal rights and
environmental laws than we have in this country.
So what is the Vstgtamodel system? This system is
commonly referred to as the family pen. There are two
versions of the system: the Ljungstrm version and the
Thorstensson version. In the Thorstensson version, sows
farrow in temporary wooden pens that are about 6 ft. by 8
ft. and 4 ft. high, with a door in the short side. The pen
doors have thresholds that are aout 14 inches high, with a
roller on top to protect the sow s udder. These pens are
set up along the outside walls of the nursery rooms. These
rooms provide 70 to 80 square feet of floor space per sow
and litter (family). In each room there are 8 to 16
families. We did see one farm where they had 22 sows per
room, which was too many sows in one group, so they had
divided the room into an area for 10 families and an area
for 12 families.
Even numbers of sows seem to work better than odd numbers
per group. The sows are introduced to the farrowing boxes
(pens) about five days before they are to farrow. When the
sows are first introduced to the boxes, the boxes are the
only area of the room that has been bedded. The boxes are
bedded quite deeply by our standards, eight to ten inches of
straw to start with. Along one side of the room there is a
five-foot-wide raised platform where the sow feeders and a
creep for the pigs is located. When all sows in one room
have farrowed, the en-tire pen is bedded. The farrowing
period per room should never be longer than one week. When
the pigs are ten to fourteen days old, or when the pigs
start to jump out of the boxes, the boxes are removed and
the families have access to the entire room.
Each room receives one or two (depending on room size) 800
lb. round bales of straw per week until the pigs are removed
from the room. No manure is removed from the room until the
room is cleaned between groups. Each room is operated on an
all-in\all-out basis.
The sows stay with their pigs for five to six weeks, at
which time the pigs are weaned. When the pigs are weaned,
the sows are removed and the pigs stay where they are until
they reach 50 lbs. One of the ladies whose farm we visited
told us it is very easy to wean pigs in this system; you
simply let the sow feeders go empty, and when the sows get
hungry you open the door, sprinkle some feed in the walkway,
the sows come out after the feed, and the pigs stay where
they are a very easy way to move sows.
In the Ljungstrm version, the farrowing takes place in a
separate room, where the sows farrow in permanent pens or
farrowing stalls. The families are then moved into the
family rooms when the pigs are about 14 days old. Where the
sows farrow is the only difference between the two versions;
other than that they are identical.
Most gestating sows in Sweden are housed in large,
deep-bedded pens because gestation stalls are outlawed. In
the family pen system all sows and boars are also kept in
deep-bedded pens, with anywhere from eight to 35 sows per
pen. There are different parities of sows kept in the same
pen. This is done on purpose, because the Swedes feel the
older sows teach the younger ones the ways of the system.
Along one side of the sow pens there are feeding stalls; all
of the gestating sows that we saw were fed in stalls.
That is a brief description of the physical layout of the
facilities. Now let me give you some personal observations
and opinions about the family pen system. There were
several things that really caught my attention when I first
walked into each of the different buildings. In the
Thorstensson version the first thing that impressed me was
how quiet it was. There were no rattling gates and no fan
noise (the fans were in the attic so there would be no
noise). The only sounds that you heard were sows talking to
their pigs and the occasional sound of a sow eating at the
feeder or drinking.
In all the buildings the hogs seemed very contented and very
thrifty. All of the sows were very tame. I walked into one
of the family rooms, and an old sow walked up to me and
leaned against me. She wanted to have her ears scratched.
We saw very little fighting in the sow pens, even though
there were eighth parity sows and second parity sows in the
same pen. There also was very little dust in any of the
buildings. But the thing that really caught your attention
was that there was NO SMELL in any of the buildings. Ask
anyone that was there, and they will agree there was no
smell. We went from the hog barns into a restaurant no
shower in between and no one could tell were we had been.
So can this system he used in the U.S.? I think so, if you
do some adapting. First of all, we cannot spend as much on
building costs as the Swedes do because we do not have the
profit margins that they have. The place where I think this
system will work the best is where you have older buildings
that can be remodeled. We saw two older dairy barns where
this system fit in nicely and was working well. If you are
going to build new, you are going to have to be very
creative in keeping your building as inexpensive as possible
(hoop houses might work for everything from farrowing to
finishing).
The gestating part of the system would probably be where you
could use the most creativity in building design and pen
layout. Planning the pens so more than one group of sows
could use each feeding stall would be one way to cut
expense. Another hurdle that has to be crossed is the whole
area of where do you get enough bedding. In Sweden they
figure two tons of straw per sow per year in a feeder
pig-producing operation. In the Midwest we can probably
substitute cornstalks or maybe paper. If you live in an
area where there are lots of small grains grown, straw is no
problem. It may even be beneficial for all of our farms if
we just planned on growing more small
grains.
So why even try to make the family pen system work in this
country? Because if you can make it work you have a system
that is VERY FRIENDLY to the herdsman, the pig, the
environment, the neighbors, and, hopefully, your pocket
book.
If this article raises more questions than it answers, come
to the PFI annual meeting, where there will be a panel
discussion on alternative methods of raising hogs. The
family pen system will be presented as one of the options.
|
PFI SUSTAINABLE PROJECTS 1995 TO FUND GOOD IDEAS
Good ideas are seldom in short supply on PFI farms, but
sometimes they need a little nudge to turn them into
reality. That is where PFI Sustainable Projects is designed
to help. The program makes small grants to Iowans with
ideas ideas for projects, educational efforts, on-farm
trials, and so on. About the only thing off limits in the
program is major input and equipment purchases (see
guidelines on the application form, opposite).
Sustainable Projects will accept proposals until Feb. 1,
1995. (You won t get a reminder before then, so put this
application form somewhere handy!) A committee of PFI
members and ISU collaborators will review these proposals
and determine by March 1 which ones will be accepted. Since
1990, Sustainable Projects has approved 34 project proposals
from Iowans. In 1994, seven projects were accepted, for a
total of $3,150. Here are the 1994 projects:
* Dan Specht, McGregor Prairie Legume Nursery
* John and Rosie Wurpts, Ogden Biological vs.
Conventional Fertilizer
* Dordt College, Sioux Center Controlled Grazing vs.
Feedlot
* Richard and Sharon Thompson, Boone Night Planting to
Reduce Weeds
* Steve Hopkins and Sarah Andreasen, Decorah Intensive
Rotational Grazing Study
* Jeff and Gayle Olson, Winfield Management Intensive
Grazing in Narrow Strip Intercropping
* Jim Green, Riceville Community Schools Corn Population
and Soybean Tillage Comparisons
SUSTAINABLE PROJECTS 1995 PROPOSAL FORM
PRACTICAL FARMERS OF IOWA
Sustainable Projects is designed to help citizens of Iowa
carry out activities that focus on agriculture and the
environment. Sustainable agriculture has been described as
preserving the soil and water resources as well as the
people involved in agriculture. What could a Sustainable
Project be? Maybe you want to undertake an on-farm trial
like those used by the farmer cooperators in Practical
Farmers of Iowa. Maybe you would like to create a specific
program for the local school or FFA that teaches about the
relationship of farming to the environment. Perhaps you are
part of a group that needs some support to have an
educational booth at the county fair. Maybe you could use
some funding to bring your community leaders together on a
related issue. Be creative!
Proposals for up to several hundred dollars will be
accepted. (PFI cooperators, for example, receive up to $400
for an on-farm trial.) It is legitimate to include in the
proposal payment for your own time. Itemize labor and other
costs in the budget you submit. Large equipment purchases
will not be funded; however, equipment leasing may be used
in proposals to defray equipment costs.
In return for funding your Sustainable Project, we ask that
you agree to share both the results and the process that you
went through carrying out the project. That will help us to
build on past experience and share the successes of the
program. A credible feedback, or reporting plan is one of
the criteria on which proposals will be evaluated! Plan on
sharing your project with a poster or display at the PFI
annual meeting.
Projects will be chosen by a committee consisting of PFI
members and board representatives, the PFI coordinators, and
representatives of ISU and the Leopold Center for
Sustainable Agriculture. Proposals for 1995 are due by Feb.
1. Committee decisions will be announced by March 1.
Project reimbursement will be made upon receipt of a final
report.
Please return this proposal form to: Practical Farmers of
Iowa, 2104 Agronomy Hall, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa
50011.
Name of Project ___________________________________________
Name Submitting ____________________________________________
Address_____________________________________________________
Zip Code _________________________
Telephone _______________________________
Please print or type. Use additional paper if needed.
Please include an itemized budget.
Please describe the problem that this project will address
and why there is a need for the project.
Please describe what you will do in the planned project. Be
specific.
How will you communicate to the public about the project?
What kind of reporting to Sustainable Projects will you
carry out?
What is the amount of money you need to carry out the
proposed project? Please itemize.
|
THE IMPORTANCE OF BUYING IOWA-GROWN FOOD
Kamyar Enshayan, Cedar Falls
(Editors note: Kamyar Enshayan, a PFI member, teaches at
the University of Northern Iowa.)
I remember my childhood years in a small town in northern
Iran, I rode my bicycle to the market two or three times a
week to buy food for our family. Almost all of the produce
and other food sold at the market were locally-grown,
in-season, and very delicious. The money spent on food
circulated in the community and supported local farmers and
other local businesses.
Until a few years ago, when I worked as a farm apprentice at
a vegetable farm in Maine, I used to think that our food
choices were limited to what was shipped in from distant
places. I now know that it is possible to grow a wide
variety of fruit, vegetables, and other food right here in
Iowa, even with minimal or no need for agrochemicals,
>From mid-May to early November, Iowa farmers markets offer a
vast array of fresh food: asparagus, peas, lettuce,
radishes, rhubarb, spinach, maple syrup, and all kinds of
flower and vegetable seedlings early in the season to
pumpkins, winter squash, apples and a fall crop of greens in
late October.
The variety, freshness, nutritional quality and taste of
these fresh-picked, locally grown foods cannot be matched.
There is no substitute for locally grown food. Artificially
cheap, subsidized oil has made it possible for us to ignore
our local food economy in favor of shipped-in food.
Students who take my class at University of Northern Iowa
keep track of what they eat and where it comes from. They
quickly discover that very little of what they eat comes
from Iowa. An average food item served in our homes in Iowa
has travelled some 2,000 miles, by-passing the local food
economy.
When we buy locally grown food, we support our local and
regional farms, farmers, and rural communities. Our food
dollars are circulated in our region. Let s asume that some
50,000 households in Blackhawk County and surrounding
counties decided to spend $20 (of their weekly $70 grocery
expenditure) buying locally grown food. That would be
$1,000,000 every week poured into the local economy,
supporting farmers, businesses and communities.
That is $1,000,000 which does not leak out of northeast Iowa
and instead circulates in our local economy every week. In
addition, if hospitals, churches, colleges, restaurants and
other institutional food buyers make a point of buying
Iowa-grown food as much possible, we will have even more
wealth and support for our local food economy. At a time
when our communities are reduced to accepting various forms
of gambling (including assembly-line hog factories) as
economic development, keeping our food dollars in our
community seems far more attractive and logical than bingo.
There are many ways that we Iowans can support and
strengthen our regional food economy:
* As much as you can, buy locally-grown food at our many
farmers markets.
* Get to know some of your local farmers and buy eggs,
meat, and produce directly from them.
* When possible, you may wish to buy larger quantities of
fresh produce from farmers markets for canning or
freezing and enjoy them in winter months.
If you can, grow a garden to develop a connection to soil
and plants and to nurture your spirit while growing fresh
produce of your own.
But what sort-of Iowa-grown food could we eat here in winter
months? A partial list of fresh, Iowa-grown food for
October through April could include: potatoes, sweet
potatoes, carrots and a host of other root crops, dry beans,
onions, garlic, dried fruit, dried herbs, chickens, pork,
beef, lamb, wheat, eggs, milk, cheese, . . . a modest list
indeed. Needless to say, home canning and freezing can
extend the season for regionally grown food.
Re-establishment of small-scale, local canneries can help us
strengthen our regional food economy by allowing farmers and
home gardeners to market their products beyond the growing
season.
When we support regional food production, we in a direct way
encourage a more diversified form of agriculture which is
not entirely dependent on corn, soybeans and hogs with their
vulnerable markets controlled by absentee corporations. A
diversified agriculture that produces a wide variety of food
(not just feed) is a practical necessity for our region. It
would be good for Iowa, good for our health, good for our
land and our communities, and therefore good for our
economy. |
UNNECESSARY FERTILIZATION: A SILENT DRAIN OF DOLLARS FROM
FARM COMMUNITIES
Alfred M. Blackmer
(Editors note: This article by ISU professor of agronomy
Fred Blackmer continues our series on the study coordinated
by the Northwest Area Foundation. Blackmer s team did much
of the on-farm data collection for the Iowa component of the
project. This essay will appear in a book summarizing the
study results, Planting the Future: Developing an
Agriculture That Sustains Land and Community (ISU Press,
$14.95, available after January).
Recent agronomic studies in Iowa showthat most corn
producers could increase their profits by applying less
commercial fertilizer. The studies utilized new soil and
plant tissue tests calibrated to objectively determine the
extent to which nutrient availability exceeds crop needs.
Surveys of randomly selected fields have documented the
frequency and magnitude of the problem. About half of the
cornfields sampled had soil nitrate concentrations greater
than twice those needed to attain maximum yields.
Integration of the new soil and tissue tests into on-farm
experiments revealed that farmers tend to apply commercial
fertilizer in situations where none is needed. Most farmers
are surprised to learn that it is not profitable to apply
commercially prepared nitrogen fertilizers for corn grown
after alfalfa or to soils receiving normal applications of
animal manures.
Implementation of the new tests into production agriculture
would enable Iowa corn producers to increase their profits
while reducing inputs of nitrogen fertilizers by at least
$100 million per year. No change in cropping systems would
be required. Inputs of phosphorus and potassium fertilizers
could be reduced by tens of millions of dollars per year in
Iowa alone.
It could be argued that the savings on fertilizer are
relatively unimportant, especially if farmers must pay the
costs for the soil and tissue tests. However, dollars spent
for local consulting services tend to remain and circulate
in farm communities. Dollars spent for fertilizer materials
tend to flow from farm communities to large corporations
outside of farm communities.
The new soil and tissue tests should promote changes in
farming systems, as farmers gain the ability to determine
fertilizer needs in alternative systems on their fields.
For example, farmers who learn that manured cornfields
require little or no commercial fertilizer may reconsider
the merits of integrating crop and animal production.
Perhaps the most important information provided by studies
with the new tests is that farmers do not know the amounts
of fertilizer needed on their fields. Without diagnostic
tools like the new soil and tissue tests, farmers have no
reasonable means of detecting when unnecessary fertilizers
are applied. Unnecessary fertilization cannot be seen or
heard by farmers.
Current perceptions concerning fertilizer needs are the
product of several decades of cooperation between government
and industry to develop new fertilizers and promote their
use. These programs have been very effective and have
greatly increased the amounts of fertilizer used. The
potential beneficial effects of fertilizers on farm
productivity and profitability have been widely touted.
Relatively little effort has been directed toward evaluating
the extent of unnecessary fertilization or assessing its
costs to farm communities.
Widespread concern about environmental pollution has
generated support for publicly funded programs to improve
fertilization practices. These programs have helped farmers
recognize the problems caused by inefficient fertilization
practices. Much of the effort, however, has been directed
toward developing and promoting products that can be sold to
farmers. Examples include chemical additives designed to
inhibit transformations of the fertilizer in soils. Use of
these products often increases the cost of crop production
and accelerates the flow of dollars from farm communities.
Many local fertilizer dealers and consultants in Iowa have
demonstrated great willingness to offer the new soil and
tissue tests as a service to their customers. Recent
reports indicate that average rates of nitrogen
fertilization in Iowa have decreased by 19% during the past
few years. However, most farmers still prefer to pay for
extra fertilizer rather than for the tests. The large
corporations that manufacture fertilizers have shown little
interest in developing or promoting such tests.
The results of the studies point to a clear need for
redirecting publicly funded programs toward developing and
promoting tools that enable better management decisions on
farms. Although itis extremely difficult for farmers and
small businesses to develop and promote new technologies
that effectively reduce sales of fertilizers and chemicals,
they can utilize and advance these new technologies after
they are developed and accepted.
The flow of information and technologies made available to
farmers clearly has great impact on how dollars flow through
farms and farm communities. Continued lack of public
funding for programs that target unnecessary fertilization
will undoubtedly result in a continuing silent drain of
dollars from farm communities.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
Blackmer, A. M., T. F. Morris, and G. D. Binford. 1992.
Predicting N [nitrogen] fertilizer needs for corn in humid
regions: Advances in Iowa. In Predicting N fertilizer needs
in humid regions, ed. B.R. Bock and K.R. Kelley. Bulletin
V226. National Fertilizer and Environmental Research Center,
Tennessee Valley Authority, Muscle Shoals, AL 35660. |
CONSERVING COMMUNITIES
Wendell Berry
(Editors note: The following is from a talk entitled
Conserving Communities, given by Wendell Berry at the 1994
campout at Seed Savers Exchange, in Decorah. We reprint it
here with their kind permission. The entire address appears
in the Seed Savers 1994 Harvest Edition.)
. . . the old opposition of country and city, which was
never useful, is now more useless than ever. It is, in
fact, damaging to everybody involved, as is the opposition
of producers and consumers. These are not differences but
divisions divisions that ought not to exist because they
are to a considerable extent artificial, trumped up for the
sake of illegitimate advantages. The so-called urban
economy has been just as hard on urban communities as it has
been on rural ones.
These conventional affiliations are now meaningless, useful
only to those in a position to profit from public
bewilderment. A new political scheme of opposed parties,
however, is beginning to take form. This is essentially a
two-party system, and it divides over the fundamental issue
of community. One of these parties holds that community has
no value, the other holds that it does. One is the party of
the global economy; the other I would call simply the party
of local community. The global party is large, though not
populous, immensely powerful and wealthy, self-aware,
purposeful and tightly organized. The community party is
only now becoming aware of itself, it is widely scattered,
highly diverse, small though potentially numerous, weak
though latently powerful, and poor though by no means
without resources.
We know pretty well the makeup of the party of the global
economy, but who are the members of the party of local
community? They are people who take a generous and
neighborly view of self-preservation; they do not believe
that they can survive and flourish by the rule of
dog-eat-dog; they do not believe that they can succeed by
defeating or destroying or using up everything but
themselves. They want to preserve the precious things of
nature and of human culture, and pass them on to their
children. They want the world s fields and forests to be
productive; they do not want them to be destroyed for the
sake of production. They know you cannot be a democrat
(small d) or a conservationist and at the same time a
proponent of the supranational corporate economy. They
believe they know from their experience that the
neighborhood, the local community, is the proper place and
reference of responsible life and work. They see that no
commonwealth or community of interest can be defined by
greed. They know that things connect that farming, for
example, is connected to nature, and food to farming, and
heath to food and they want to preserve the connections.
They know that a healthy local community cannot be replaced
by a market or an entertainment industry or an information
highway. They know that, contrary to all the unmeaning and
unmeant political talk about job creation, work ought not
to be merely a bone thrown to the otherwise unemployed.
They know that work ought to be necessary it ought to be
good, it ought to be satisfying and dignifying to the people
who do it, and genuinely useful and pleasing to the people
for whom it is done.
The party of local community, then, is a real party with a
real platform and an agenda of real and doable work. And it
has, we might add, a respectable history in the hundreds of
efforts, over several decades, to preserve local nature or
local health or to sell local products to local consumers.
Now such efforts appear to be coming into their own,
attracting interest and energy in a way they have not done
before. People are seeing more clearly all the time the
connections between conservation and economics. They are
seeing that a community s health is largely determined by
the way it makes its living. The natural membership of the
community party consists of small farmers, ranchers and
market gardeners, worried consumers, owners and employees of
small shops, stores and other small businesses, community
banks, self-employed people, religious people and
conservationists. The aims of this party really are only
two: the preservation of ecological diversity and integrity,
and the renewal, on sound cultural and ecological
principles, of local economies and local communities.
And now we must ask how a sustainable local community (which
is to say a sustainable local economy) might function. I am
going to suggest a set of rules that I think such a
community would have to follow. And I hasten to say that I
do not understand these rules as predictions; I am not
interested in foretelling the future. If these rules have
any validity, that is because they apply now.
Supposing that the members of a local community wanted their
community to cohere, to flourish, and to last, they would:
(1) Always ask of any proposed change or innovation: What,
will this do to our community? How will this affect
our common wealth?
(2) Always include local nature the land, the water, the
air, the native creatures within the membership of
the community.
(3) Always ask how local needs might be supplied from local
sources, including the mutual help of neighbors.
(4) Always supply local needs FIRST, and only then think of
exporting products.
(5) The community must understand the ultimate unsoundness
of the industrial doctrine of labor saving if that
implies poor work, unemployment, or any kind of
pollution or contamination.
(6) If it is not to be merely a colony of the national or
the global economy, the community must develop properly
scaled value-adding industries for local products.
(7) It must also develop small-scale industries and
businesses to support the local farm and/or forest
economy.
(8) It must strive to produce as much of its own energy as
possible.
(9) It must strive to increase earnings (in whatever form)
within the community, and decrease expenditures outside
the community.
(10) Money paid into the local economy should circulate
within the community for as long as possible before it
is paid out.
(11) If it is to last, a community must be able to afford
to invest in itself it must maintain its properties,
keep itself clean (without dirtying some other place),
care for its old people, teach its children.
(12) The old and the young must take care of one another.
The young must learn from the old, not necessarily and
not always in school. There must be no
institutionalized child care and homes for the aged.
The community knows and remembers itself by the
assciation of old and young.
(13) Costs now conventionally hidden or externalized must
be accounted for. Whenever possible they must be
debited against monetary income.
(14) Community members must look into the possible uses of
local currency, community-funded loan programs, systems
of barter, and the like.
(15) They should always be aware of the economic value of
neighborliness as help, insurance, and so on. They
must realize that in our time the costs of living are
greatly increased by the loss of neighborhood, leaving
people to face their calamities alone.
(16) A rural community should always be acquainted with,
and complexly connected with, community-minded people
in nearby towns and cities.
(17) A sustainable rural economy will be dependent on urban
consumers loyal to local products. Therefore, we are
talking about an economy that will always be more coop-
erative than competitive.
These rules are derived from western political and religious
traditions, from the promptings of ecologists and certain
agriculturists, and from common sense. They may seem
radical, but only because the modern, national and global
economies have been formed in almost perfect disregard of
community and ecological interests. A community economy is
not an economy in which well-placed persons can make a
killing. It is not a killer economy. It is an economy
whose aim is generosity and a well distributed and
safeguarded abundance. If it seems unusual for modern
people to hope and work for such an economy, then we must
remind ourselves that a willingness to put the good of the
community ahead of profit is hardly unprecedented among
community business people and local banks. |
FOOTPRINTS OF A GRASS FARMER
Thinking About the Weak Link
Tom Frantzen, Alta Vista
In my last Footprints article, the value of using a positive
mental attitude in developing a sustainable agriculture was
highlighted. This positive attitude enables us to vision a
sustainable farm as a tract of land that captures the energy
of the sun and somehow converts it into saleable products in
a lasting fashion. This concept can become a valuable
management tool for farmers.
When sunlight falls upon our rich soil, plants grow.
Whether these plants are traditional crops, like corn and
soybeans, forages, woody crops, or even weeds, this growing
process is energy conversion. (Internet readers: see
graphic sunchain.wmf) Two important points should be kept
in mind. One is that the sun is our only truly sustainable
energy form. The other is that when the sun falls upon bare
soil during the growing season, energy is lost forever.
Energy conversion from the sunlight is the first link in the
solar chain. This chain can eventually lead to a saleable
product.
Upon reaching a certain stage of maturity, plants are ready
for us to harvest them. Forage plants can be converted
directly into meat or milk production by the animal. Grain
crops are usually mechanically harvested, then either fed to
livestock (product conversion) or sold as a cash crop.
Efficient conversion of bulk plant growth into a saleable
product is the central link in any profitable fam.
Marketing is the third link in this process. Our best
efforts to grow and convert bulk grains and forages into
saleable products fall short when we cannot market this
production at enough of a profit to sustain our families.
In addition to our family financial needs, enough profit
must be generated to allow for reinvestment.
These connected chain links now form a complete production
circle. A more detailed explanation of this concept can be
found in Alan Savory s Holistic Resource Management (Island
Press, 1988). We can observe our farming activities and
measure their performance with this concept.
How can we use this model to develop the sustainable
agriculture that we want on our farms? We can begin by
examining our farm s sunlight-to-reinvestment chain for its
weak link. Any chain is only as strong as its weakest link.
Investments of our capital and our labor must be directed
towards this weakest link once it has been uncovered. For
example, an investment to grow higher yielding crops would
do little good if these crops were not efficiently converted
into a product that can be sold. Here the weak link would
be product conversion.
On our farm, the weak link has been converting grown crops
into products. We identified this characteristic of our
operation shortly after completing the basic course in
Holistic Resource Management (HRM) three years ago. To
address this weak link, we improved feed efficiency with
better swine genetics, reduced processing cost be
eliminating the grinding of sow feed, and began routine
weight checks of growing pigs to track their performance.
Co-mingled, planned grazing of purchased stocker cattle with
the gestating sow herd also improved the conversion of
existing forages into livestock product.
Attention to this weak link improved the financial
performance of our farm. However, a basic principle of HRM
is that a weak link can shift. During the past months,
there is little doubt in my mind that it has definitely
shifted to marketing. We are currently directing our
resources to address this situation. My next column will
detail this more. |
FROM THE KITCHEN
Marj Stonecypher, Floyd, Iowa
Beans are harvested and now we are full swing into
harvesting our corn. Tony is hauling corn for me, so I can
give you all a couple of my busy farm wife recipes.
CHICKEN or SIRLOIN STEAK CASSEROLE
1 can chicken noodle soup
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can Swanson Chicken or 1 to 1 1/2 cup left-over chicken
1 cup evaporated milk or cream
2 cups chow mein noodles
For sirloin steak I use 1 1/2 cup of baked or grilled sirlon
steak in place of chicken and 1 can cream of mushroom soup
in place of cream of chicken.
Mix all together and put on casserole. Sprinkle with
desired melted butter mix in seasoned bread crumbs.
Bake 350 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes or until set in
center.
Microwave: CRAZY MIXED UP CAKE
1 1/3 cup flour
1 cup sugar
3 Tbsp. cocoa
1 tsp. soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 cup oil
1 Tbsp. vinegar
3/4 cup water or coffee
Sift dry ingredients into round baking dish. Make 3 holes.
Pour vanilla in one, oil in one and vinegar in third. Pour
water or coffee overall. Stir very well with fork till
blended. Smooth batter higher toward outside edges (I place
a shot glass in the center to conduct the heat more
evenly). Bake on half power 4-5 minutes, then full power
2-3 minutes or till top springs back when touched. (time
depends on the power of your microwave). Serve plain, dust
with powered sugar, whip cream or a la mode.
Have a safe harvest. Take a break, go to the house for
meals. We do. |
PFI MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION AND RENEWAL FORM
Name _______________________________________
Address ______________________________________
City _________________________________________
County ______________________________________
State _________________________________________
Zip Code ____________________________________
Phone # _________________________________________
This is a _____ new membership
_____ renewal
Do you derive a significant part of your income directly
from
farming in Iowa?
_____ yes _____ no
Please enclose check or money order ($10 for one year, $25
for
three years) payable to "Practical Farmers of Iowa" and mail
to:
Practical Farmers of Iowa
2035 190th St.
Boone, IA 50036
CORRESPONDENCE
Correspondence to the PFI directors' addresses is always
welcome. Member contributions to the Practical Farmer are
also welcome and will be reviewed by the PFI board of
directors.
District 1 (Northwest): Paul Mugge, 6190 470th St.,
Sutherland, 51058. (712) 446-2414.
District 2 (North Central): Raymond Stonecypher, 1321 March
Ave., Floyd, IA, 50435-8058. (515) 398-2417.
District 3 (Northeast): Laura Krouse, 1346 Springville Rd.,
Mt. Vernon, IA 52314. (319) 895-6924.
District 4 (Southwest): Vic Madsen, PFI President, 2186
Goldfinch Ave., Audubon, 50025. (712) 563-3044.
District 5 (Southeast): Jeff Olson, PFI Vice President,
2273 140th St., Winfield, 52659. (319) 257-6967.
Associate board member for District 2: Don Davidson, RR 1,
Box 133, Grundy Center, 50638. (319) 824-6347.
Associate board member for District 3: Walter Ebert, RR 1,
Box 104, Plainfield, 50666. (319) 276-4444.
Associate board member for District 5: David Lubben, RR 3,
Box 128, Monticello, IA 52310. (319) 465-4717.
PFI Executive Vice President & Treasurer: Dick Thompson,
2035 190th St., Boone, 50036. (515) 432-1560.
Coordinators: Rick Exner, Gary Huber, Room 2104, Agronomy
Hall, ISU, Ames, Iowa, 50011. (515)
294-1923.Internet: dnexner@iastate.edu
x1ghuber@exnet.iastate.edu
Public Relations Coordinator: Maria Vakulskas Rosmann, 1222
Ironwood Rd., Harlan, 51537. (712) 627-4653.
|