Published: April 11, 2008 11:21 am            

Farmers teaching ag, food message to young students

Originally published in the April 4, 2008, print edition.

How often in “farm talk” about food production do you hear that “nobody knows, or seems to care, where their food comes from.”

That glaring lack of knowledge is even more evident among children. Microwave packages, fast-food restaurants and specially concocted “made for TV viewing” foods from the local grocery store have become the “food source” background for most youngsters.

That all changed in a hurry for the approximately 250 students who participated in the Ag In The Classroom event March 26 at the Clarkfield public school. When these students finished their various classes that day they knew exactly where their food came from, and even what it cost to produce. Why? Because their teachers were farmers.

For example students sitting in on the pork class learned the difference between a boar and a sow. And the fact that baby pigs are called “piglets.” And a new family of baby pigs is called a litter. And how much feed it takes to raise a baby pig to market weight. And what kind of feed pigs eat, both when little babies and when they get older. And how many days it takes to raise a pig. And when that pig goes to market, where does bacon come from, where does ham come from, what is a pork chop and where does it come from.

The students see the actual pork food products.

In 30 minutes students learned more about making pigs, pork production, pork nutrition, proper care and housing, even how to keep pigs healthy and happy. That’s because the instructors where Jonathan and Carolyn Olson, Lyon County pork producers and organic crop producers farming about 6 miles south of Cottonwood.

The Olsons don’t do just a talking show. They use charts, pictures, even a few pieces of equipment used in swine production. To get the students immediately involved, they hand out signboards to various class members as the class begins.

Jonathan would ask, “What is a baby pig called?” That was the cue for the youngster with the “PIGLET” sign to raise his banner. Carolyn then asked, “What is a daddy pig called? The “BOAR” sign went up. Suffice to say students leaving this class likely knew more about pigs and pork production than their parents.

The Olsons are 10-year teaching veterans of Ag in the Classroom. Their commitment for the importance of teaching youth about food production got reinforced again this year when a young lad asked, “If you’re just going to kill the pigs anyway, why do they need a barn?”

Questions like that are why the Olsons put the emphasis on the importance of raising pigs that are healthy and comfortable. Their point to the youngsters being that a healthy, happy pig produces healthy pork.

Their teaching aids of special signs, display items and colorful graphics have evolved over time. Carolyn related that when the show “How To Become A Millionaire” was such a hit, she and Jonathan hitched on the teaching theme of “How to Become a Pig Billionaire.”

“We use so much ‘farmer lingo’ as we talk about pork production so some special aids help tell the story,” Carolyn said. She senses that youth are more tuned in to the phenomena of food production because they are asking more “interesting” questions about the whole process.

Jane Remiger, Yellow Medicine County 100-cow dairy farmer with husband, Steve, and family, is the dairy instructor in this Ag Classroom event and enjoys the interaction with the youth.

“The day goes fast; even the last group had so many questions. I wonder sometimes after seven successive classes if the kids still have interest, or if I completely forgot to share something.

“My whole concept for this day is sharing with the kids how we take care of our animals. So they ask particular questions about baby calves, what do we do when a calf gets sick?, how long do cows live?, when do cows sleep?, why do cows chew even when they’re not eating? I cover the entire life cycle of a dairy cow with the emphasis on care and comfort. I tell them how important it is to take good care of cows if we want them to perform for us. Kids seem to understand that tender care is important for livestock, just as it is for children,” Remiger said.

You quickly sense the special care cows get in the Remiger operation. Every cow has its own name and Jane admits she pretty much knows each name as cows enter their “swinging six” milk parlor. “So teaching kids about dairying is pretty much just an extension of our daily life here on the farm.

Yellow Medicine County’s Ag In The Classroom is now into its 15th year. Fourth and fifth graders from 10 area schools congregate at the Clarkfield school for the 9:30 a.m. start with buses reloading at 2 p.m. to return students to their respective schools.

This year the farmer-teachers hosted seven stations: beef, conservation, corn, dairy, farm safety, soybeans and swine.

Students are split into seven different groups with a 30-minute teaching session at each station. The students get treated well with a 10:45 milk and snack break featuring freshly bake chocolate chip cookies made with soy flour, and sack lunches at noon with the final two sessions wrapping up at 1:45 p.m.

“We couldn’t make this work without tremendous participation by the various farmers and agricultural specialists. By the same token, this wouldn’t work without the good sponsorship we get from the Yellow Medicine County Farm Bureau, corn growers and soybean growers. These are the organizations that foot the bill for the T-shirts given to each student, plus the milk and cookie break,” said Roger Dale, Hanley Falls area farmer and active member in Minnesota Corn Growers Association, Minnesota Soybean Growers Association, Minnesota Farm Bureau and Minnesota Ag in the Classroom.

Dale also credits the Clarkfield School as being the key cog in this entire program. Clarkfield is centrally located, convenient for the other participating schools: Clarkfield Area Charter School, Clarkfield Public School, Dawson-Boyd, Madison-Marietta-Nassau, Appleton-Milan, Canby Public, St. Peter’s at Canby, Echo Charter and H.A. Hagg school in Clarkfield. Lakeview Public School at Cottonwood usually attends but because of the school bus accident earlier this year, they declined this year.

Marlys O’Neal, Clarkfield School secretary, and Liz Bratsch, Yellow Medicine County Farm Bureau office manager, plus teachers, custodians and kitchen crew were especially helpful, Dale said. “You couldn’t ask for more cooperation. That’s what really makes this fun.”

Minnesota Agriculture in the Classroom is an educational function of the Minnesota Department of Agriculture. Participating schools receive Ag Mag, a colorful, vividly illustrated magazine. Teachers get a Teacher Guide that accompanies each issue of Ag Mag.

For more information about the Minnesota Agriculture in the Classroom program log on to www.mda.state.mn.us/maitc. You can also visit the National Agriculture in the Classroom website at www.agclassroom.org.

However, for students wanting direct teaching from farmers who really know their topics, you’d be hard pressed to find a better learning environment than the farmers who taught youth at Clarkfield on March 26.

Teachers were: Mitch Brusven, Harvey Swenson, Shannon Johnson Steve Rupp, Carl Louwagie and Bob Stevens on corn; Jill Pesek on beef; Steve Brusven, Dave Lanners, Curt Hoffman, Michael Prokop, Derek Buesing and Dale on soybeans; Remiger on dairy; Jim Muchlinski on conservation; the Olsons on pork; and Mark Laechelt, Tim Louwagie and Amanda Revier, Southwest Minnesota Farm Bureau program director, on safety. Students also got a quick lesson on the 911 Emergency System from two Clarkfield EMTs, Nicole Melbostad and Melinda Hedman.

Each student received a fluorescent green T-shirt with the renewable energy theme “Food • Fuel • Fiber, From Our Farm to You. Making Your Life Better Every Day, Every Way.”

        

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