Logan, Mason, Menard, & Sangamon County Agriculture Education Partnership hosts Teacher Tours

 

[July 15, 2016]  Twenty-seven teachers took part in this year’s Logan, Mason, Menard, & Sangamon County Summer Agriculture Institute. The 2016 institute marks the 15th year training of this type has been offered for teachers. Teachers are taken to farms in each of the four counties to learn about the broad range of farms and farmers who operate in our area. We also bring teachers into the classroom to share curriculum that will help them use their new knowledge in the classrooms. The ability to teach a teacher is a way to share knowledge, not just with them, but with the hundreds of youth they will impact in their careers.

The tour began in Logan County and started with classroom presentations from Ag Literacy Coordinator Carrie Winkelmann. Speakers from the St. Louis Dairy Association and the Illinois Soybean Association came to pass on information about cattle and soybeans before the group made trips out to see the business in action.

Keith Birnbaum at Remington Seed hosted the group and gave a great explanation of the seed business, even allowing access to the process of bagging and palletizing done by their robot and assembly line system.

From there it was on to Irwin’s Dairy Farm and the group enjoyed speaking with the entire Irwin family, who took time to give us a tour of their milking parlor and to speak about their cattle.

We ended the day at Gail’s Pumpkin Patch, in Beason, IL, where Dave and Gail Sasse told us about their pumpkin patch and the agritourism business.

The second day of the institute we moved to Sangamon County where we visited Ramsey Grain to learn about grain elevators and the way farmers market their products. Rich Ramsey was also kind enough while we were on site to share information about his bees and bee hives. We moved on to Randy and Toni Krones’ farm to learn more about growing Christmas Trees and raising pigs and finished the day thankful to be in air conditioned comfort listening to Kevin Daugherty of the State Ag in the Classroom Program instruct the teachers on all the resources available to them through the Farm Bureau.

The class resumed, after a weekend break, in Mason County where we stopped first to learn about the Mahomet Aquifer that supplies so many irrigation systems in that area. Jeff Smith hosted and let the group see first-hand how an irrigation system runs, as well as giving great information about the aquifer. We moved on to ADM in Havana, where we saw the process for loading barges and talked about the movement of grain on Illinois’ River System. We finished the day at the Hill Prairie Winery where Mark Lounsberry told us all about growing, harvesting, and processing his grape crop and running his business.
 

The last day of our tour took us to Menard County and participants spent time with Doug, Dee Dee, & John Gellerman learning about their herd of Shorthorn cattle. They spoke with the group about raising beef cattle and also about showing cattle. We moved on to learn about the advances in farm machinery technology and were hosted by Kyle Winkelmann at his farm in Tallula. He spoke about the use of GPS and mapping systems which aid farmers in many aspects. He also spoke about the Nutrient Loss Reduction Strategy that farmers are using to mitigate their impact on the environment and how technology is helping with that endeavor. After lunch in Petersburg we traveled to Greenview where Angela Dowell of Dowell Quarter horses told us all about horses, boarding horses, showing horses, and the riding lesson she gives. The group got to see a riding demonstration and spoke with riding students who taught the teachers about the animals in their care. Lastly we stopped in to speak with Roy Seaney about his sweet corn production and produce stand, as well as his beautiful greenhouse operation.

Teachers received 28 Professional Development Units for completing the course and went home with a new appreciation of farms and farmers that they will be sharing with their students for years to come. Many thanks to all of the farms and farmers who took the time out of their busy schedule to host the group.

[Amy Hyde, Logan County Extension]