Thursday, September 08, 2011
 
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Cycling farmers bring ag message to Central School

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[September 08, 2011]  How many times have you seen a farmer in a bicyclist's Speedo? Never? Well, on Wednesday morning there were 20 farmers dressed in full riding gear at Central School in Lincoln, so the fourth-graders who met the group now have everyone beat on that question. Where were the overalls, work boots and caps with seed company logos?

The farmers are part of an initiative called Illinois Agriculture in the Classroom, a program sponsored by the Illinois Farm Bureau. The mission is to teach students about agriculture products -- where they are grown and what they are used for. The group also presents fourth-grade teachers with free resources so they can teach students where food comes from. 

On Wednesday, a panel of "expert farmers" monitored a game show, "Commodity Cash Challenge," to give the fourth-grade classes the opportunity to earn learning resources for the classrooms. Two students, Landon Lessen and Morgan Chaudoin, were chosen to represent the classes and put cash blocks into the lettered bin that represented the audience's answer to an agriculture question.  The categories were commodities, beef, pork, airy, corn and soybeans.

Some questions were easy: What is a baby cow called? (No trick question here; it's a calf). But others were more difficult for the town-dwelling students: How many times is a cow milked each day? It took some coaxing from the emcee and some nudging from the expert farmers before the audience responded with the correct answer: two times.

One farmer-cyclist, Paul Roney, from Moultrie County, explained the parts of his bicycle and gave the students some rules to follow when riding their bikes.

"Wearing a helmet is important," Roney told the students, "and that is why we are giving the school several, so students can learn how to wear them. They make riding much safer.

"I also have a reflector behind my seat that helps people see me on the road," Roney continued. "Mine has a battery, but you can use any kind of reflector, as long as it can be seen from behind."

He also pointed out the importance of traveling in the same direction as traffic, and not riding in and out between cars.

Roney is a corn and soybean farmer, but he and his wife also raise goats. She recently began making cheese with the goats' milk.

He told the students he has ridden bikes all his life but was a jogger for a few years. Several years ago he decided to cycle more seriously.

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"I ride everywhere," Roney said in an interview after the program. "I ride to visit the neighbors and to get out and away for awhile.

"When you jog, one or two miles and you're done," he said, "but you can ride your bike 10, 20, 30 miles and not really think about it. You just keep riding."

The bike-riding farmers had a kickoff dinner on Labor Day and will spend three days riding 60 miles around central Illinois. They will visit 30 schools and speak to almost 5,000 students. Groups are created from farmers as they are free to travel. Some cycling groups number 50-75, and there are 30- and 100-mile circuits, in three different routes.

Meals and lodging are provided. Local farm bureaus assist in coordinating the cyclists' accommodations in the area where they visit. The Logan County Farm Bureau was instrumental in making plans and arrangements for the bicycling farmers and their support team. Lunch was at Sorrento's in downtown Lincoln. And then, they were peddling down the road.

[By MARLA BLAIR]

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