Illinois Farm Families Blog

Last season, Ron and I hosted the Field Moms’ Acre, where our Field Moms followed an acre of our soybeans through the season.  Recently, we had the privilege of delivering the profits from that acre, in the form of ground pork, to the Oak Park River Forest Food Pantry. More than 150 families will have pork on their tables thanks to the 2012 Field Moms.

Despite the drought last year, the Field Moms’ Acre earned a profit of $281. The Field Moms decided to donate that amount to the Oak Park River Forest Food Pantry, where Field Mom Amy Hansmann volunteers. We rounded the profits up a bit to buy more than 150 pounds of ground pork.

Amy and her son Kyle met us at the food pantry to present the donation. The executive director for the pantry, Michele Zurakowski, was very grateful for the donation. As you can see, we filled up their freezer!

This year, the Field Moms are following a pen of pigs to market and the growth of an acre of corn and an acre of soybeans. Follow along with the Field Moms’ Acre and Pen all season.

Deb Moore, Roseville

I've said it before and I'll say it again- I feel so fortunate to have been one of the inaugural members of the Field Moms program with the IL Farm Bureau.  What an incredible experience this has been!  Getting to talk with and ask questions of the people at the source of farming and food production in this country is an invaluable opportunity and one that I don't at all take for granted.  We had our third and final farm tour on June 9th and once again I am left with so much gratitude and awe but also some tough questions and things I need to think through.
 
This tour was in western IL, right near the Mississippi River and the Iowa border. Such pretty country!!  We had a lovely dinner with some local farmers and their wives on Friday night then headed to the hotel to get some sleep for a full day of farm touring on Saturday.  (sidenote:  although I didn't get to sleep very long, I DID get to sleep in a dark quiet room in a hotel bed all by myself...  heavenly!) 

 Our first stop on Saturday was the Twomey Company/CGB Enterprises.  They are a company that farmers hire to provide chemical fertilizers and herbicides and spray them in the farmers' fields.  The fertilizer they make is a mixture of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium (NPK) which are all elements found in soil naturally.  Twomey just adds stabilizers to keep the nutrients in the soil longer and mixes them at precise concentrations depending on the needs of the specific farmer and his soil.  I know that "chemical "is a trigger word for most of us.  It is for me.  I am leery of any chemicals that are sprayed on my food or the soil my food is grown in as I don't want them to end up in my body or my children's.  But these are the same ingredients in any manure a farmer may use as fertilizer, just a little more precise and specialized.  They do use anhydrous ammonia during the production of the chemicals which is a little  concerning to me.  I'm not thrilled about something that is potentially harmful to your skin, eyes, mucous membrances, etc..  if you are exposed being used to fertilize the food we are eating.  But Twomey and the farmers promise that it is safely metabolized by the plant during the growing process and is no longer present in any final food product of the plant.  I believe them, truly.  But I need to sit with this one for a little more before feeling totally secure.

Before moving to the next part of our day, they drove us to their barge loading facility (where grain corn gets shipped to all over the country and the world) on the Mississippi River and it was just beautiful.  For reasons I am not totally sure of, seeing the river made me miss the beach.
 
Part two was a visit to Ron and Deb Moore's farm in Roseville, IL.  There they grow corn and soybeans and raise some cattle.  We got to see our "Field Moms Acre" of soybeans which they are documenting and using to teach us all about the process of growing and harvesting soybeans.  The biggest take-away lesson for me from the Moore's farm was learning about all their soil conservation efforts.  They have built tow wall structures to prevent erosion and improve water quality.  On a hay wagon tour around their property, we learned about the grass waterways and filler strips and other major projects they built with some cost-sharing assistance from the government conservation reserve program.  All these things are intended to preserve the land they love and create improved homes and water quality for all the wildlife in the area and the human residents too.  It was truly impressive and inspiring to see how much effort/time/money they have put into giving back to land that is their source of life and income.

After an amazing lunch of ribeye steaks (you don't get much fresher than eating a delicious grilled steak on site at a cattle farm!), we headed off to the Monsanto Learning Center and research fields and Monmouth,IL.  We have all heard of GMOs (genetically modified organisms) and probably have strong opinions either way.  I tried to go in with an open mind, anxious to hear what they had to say and to learn about their role in this whole picture of where my food comes from. 
At Monsanto, they specialize in hybrid breeding of seeds.  They call it "genomics"- genetic marker assisted breeding in  order to increase crop yield and crop quality.  Their goal is to be able to produce the same amount of food using less land and less resources and less water.  And they do this by creating plants that can withstand stress better: insects, drought, wind, etc...  They are using scientific knowledge gained through research to help the farmers in the fields grow better, stronger crops so that they in turn can produce healthy, high-yield crops used to feed America and people around the globe. 

A specific example of their work: the Monsanto researchers have taken BT (Bacillus thuringiensis), a bacteria found in soil that is toxic to the root worm, a common pest to corn plants, and found a way to incorporate this bacteria into the corn plant itself.  This "GMO" corn is now resistant to this pest and can grow stronger and healthier in the field.  According to them, BT is non-toxic to mammals due to our acidic stomach so any amount (which they say is minimal) that we ingest when eating this corn is insignificant. They are doing things like this with almost any crop you can think of- improving they way the seeds grow and use resources so that the farmer can get higher yields and we can get better food.

I get what they are doing.  And I even get why they are doing it.  The folks at Monsanto, along with EVERY OTHER PERSON I have met during this Field Moms gig, are very concerned with the task before them to provide enough food to feed 9billion people by the year 2050.  The average farm today feeds 155people for a year compared to 26people/year in 1950.  But that's not enough.  They have to do more, and often times be able to produce more with less resources.  The farmers and everyone involved in the business of agriculture are always busy at trying to improve their processes, increase their gains, produce more food using less resources.  All with this goal in mind of being able to keep up with the growing global population.  They are mindful growers, not just farmers.  No one is simply throwing some seed on a field and hoping for the best.  They are analyzing every step to see how they can improve and do what they do better and safer and more economical.  And you cannot help but look at all that goes into farming (soil, seed, animals, research, business, ...) and be amazed at the passion and skill with which they do their jobs.  It is awe-inspiring and everyone needs to know how lucky we are that we have them behind the scenes doing all that they do. 

But the other side of the story is this- while I am deeply grateful for how mindfully they grow/produce food for my family and for the world, I too am mindful.  I am very mindful of what I eat and where it comes from.  And there are things that people are afraid of because they don't know about them and there are things that we should genuinely be concerned about.  And in all honesty, I am not 100% sure where this whole GMO thing lands on that spectrum.  I think I can truthfully listen to the folks that make the fertilizers and herbicides that are sprayed on the crops and be a little concerned but mostly feel content with their explanation of the needs of a healthy plant and why what they do is both best for the plant AND safe for my family. I can listen to the presentation by the researchers at Monsanto and understand both the heart and the goal of what they do and appreciate both for their sincerity.  They are good people with good goals.  But at the end of the day, I have to mindfully consider all I have heard and make the best choice for my family.  And I am not sure exactly what that is yet, but being willing to hear without judgement is the first step. 

That is what this program has been all about.  It has been my opportunity to take my questions about hormones and chemicals and GMOs to the source- to the farmers and researchers themselves- and give them the chance to answer honestly and dispel any myths that may be running rampant amongst us non-agricultural people.  And then it is my job to bring what I have learned back to my community and tell honestly the truth that I learned and my reaction to it.  We should not be afraid simply because we don't know.  And we should never let rumor or one person's side make up our mind on anything.  We have to give the farming community back their voice in all this debate over the safety of our food. And from what I have seen this year, our food is not just safe.  It is amazing.  And these farmers are amazing.  Do I still have some questions and reservations about different things?? Yes.  But if this Field Moms program has taught me anything, it has taught me that being a mindful eater means finding out the truth from the source and not listening to hype.  I am a mindful eater who appreciates the hard work and the fruits of the efforts of the mindful growers that I have been blessed to spend time with.  

Farrah Brown
Field Mom

 

In an effort to enhance the understanding of where the food that citizens are eating comes from, a collaborative effort has been established by the Illinois Farm Bureau and Illinois corn, soybean, beef and pork producers. Field Moms is comprised of mothers from urban areas such as Chicago and surrounding suburbs.

This is the inaugural group of Field Moms, who’s nine members were given a tour Saturday of a soybean plot, a sweet corn plot and a first-hand observation of various conservation practices applied to farmland. Field Moms is a group open to any mother interested in learning more about agriculture and the work that goes into the meals they prepare for their families.

Many local farm families open their doors for the Field Moms to make a field trip to their operations. On Saturday, Field Moms met for the third time since the group was established. This time, the family having the tour was Ron and Deb Moore, whose farm is located just north of Roseville, making this tour the farthest journey thus far for the Field Moms.

Field Moms were given soybeans similar to those planted in the plot of the land they studied. They have been growing the beans in pots at their homes. Although the moms’ plants are unable to obtain as much sunlight as the field plants due to their urban location, many of the moms are happy to have seen growth from their beans.

The organizers of Field Moms hope to expand the program to encompass the entire state, as they have had much positive reception for the first year of the program.

According to Amy Thompson, president of the Farm Bureau for Warren and Henderson counties, “it is just as beneficial for us as it is for them. We also get to learn about Chicago life. It is a two-way street.”

Thompson said the program has calmed many of the fears the mothers had about their food, because it allows them to ask questions and receive answers from the actual people growing the food.

“These are educated women who have questions and make up their minds on their own,” said Thompson.

Organizers of Field Moms hope that after the group has completed its tours, they will return home and share the information they have gained with their friends and families. Those in charge of Field Moms wish to reach a much larger audience and expand the number of moms in the group. Eventually, they hope to create a similar group for fathers as well. One organizer said, “There are plenty of people in every county that do not know where their food comes from.”

The first tour Field Moms took in October was a trip to see cattle, raised for both beef and dairy. During the field trip, the moms also examined a corn field, and were given the chance to ride in a combine, an opportunity most city dwellers never receive.

The second tour in March brought the moms to a hog confinement operation to see the process that goes in to creating the pork they serve.

A vital asset for Field Moms is the blog which both the farmers and the moms write for after the tours end. The moms describe their impressions of the tours and any knowledge they acquired. The website of Field Moms program is www.watchusgrow.org.

Along with the blogs, it also contains biographies of the moms and the farming families, videos from past tours, topics of interest and the ability to ask any question about farm families, the moms or the agricultural process.

One mother, Amy Rossi, who is a stay-at-home mom with six children, ages 3 to 15, was interested in learning about agriculture technology.

“I also pictured farming as being simple, but I was wrong.” Rossi said. “The combine is able to drive itself.”

Rossi has already begun putting the knowledge she has acquired to use, as she is much more selective as to which products she purchases to feed her family.

 

 MATT DUTTON

The Register-Mail

As I sit down tonight to write this, there are exactly 10 days left before I embark on a journey across the state with the IL Farm Families Field Moms.  That is, 10 days to prepare for my journey.  Read:  10 days to prepare my husband for taking care of the kids and getting them where they need to be.  Can anyone else commiserate with me?  I have already begun the daunting task of listing out everything that I do with (but mainly for) the kids:  when medications need to be taken, what sorts of food are okay for breakfast, how much T.V. we should really be watching, where the sunscreen and bug spray are, where they need to be and when, etc., you know the drill.

All that aside, I am excited to get yet another chance to talk about all the amazing things that agriculture in IL is about.  I am so proud to be able to be part of the “soybean” focused tour because soy is such a vital part of my family’s livelihood, namely raising pigs.  I hope that I can bring some new information and another voice to the discussion.  I will be fresh home from World Pork Expo the three days prior, so I am hoping to be able to share some updated information on upcoming innovations in the Pork world, plus foster some more discussions about how closely knit the crop and animal sides of farming really are. 

What will be most exciting about our journey is that it will connect all of the previous tours together.  We will have the opportunity to learn about the soybean planting process (which the Field Moms have already begun at home!) and “in the field” views of how soybeans are grown.  Our tour will also take us to the river to view a barge terminal and learn about where our corn and beans go from here.  In addition, we will be discussing how much of the corn and soybean crops are used in feeding livestock here in ILLINOIS!  No tour would be complete without some amazing meals, too!  We are in for some great hospitality provided by Ron & Deb Moore, friends from the Warren/Henderson County Farm Bureau, IL Soybean Association, and the Cattleman’s Association.  Another awesome treat is the Monsanto Research Farm Tour, where we will have an opportunity to ask lots of questions about things like why GMOs are okay and why we apply certain chemicals to certain types of crops. 

I think all of this is going to fuel a new conversation on the bus ride back.  We may be tired mommies, but we will most definitely leave with a renewed sense that farmers are doing their best to provide everyone’s families with delicious and nutritious foods.

Kate Hagenbuch
Hagenbuch Farms
Utica, IL

One acre of our farmland is dedicated as the Field Moms’ Acre. We’ll track the progress on our farm and compare it the Field Moms’ soybeans growing in the city. Our first job was to prepare and cultivate the field for planting. Soybeans need warm and dry conditions for planting, so when it rained at the end of April we had to wait to get in the field. We planted the 80-acre field on May 14. The Field Moms’ Acre is planted with 150,000 seeds in about 13 rows that are 1/4 mile long.

The Field Moms and their families planted about four soybean seeds. Once the soybeans have germinated, we will send regular updates back and forth between the city and the farm. When it rains on the farm, the urban soybeans also will get a drink.

We hope that you’ll come back to see how the season progresses. On the special Field Moms’ Acre page, you’ll find pictures and learn about what farmers look for as the field is growing, how we control pests and diseases, when soybeans flower and why they turn brown in the fall, and even where you’ll find soybeans in the grocery store.

If you have questions along the way, comment here or find us on Facebook or Twitter.  

More updates soon!

Deb Moore
Roseville, Illinois

We’re in Chicago this weekend! I’ll be joining many of the farmers who have shared their stories and experiences on this blog when we come together to meet Chicago moms and answer their questions about food and farming. You are invited to join us.

We’ll be at the Palmer House Hilton (17 E Monroe Street, Chicago) this Sunday, Dec. 4 from 3:15 p.m. – 5:15 p.m.

You’ll meet Holly Spangler, Emily Webel, Carrie Pollard, Katie Pratt, and Chris Gould, among other Illinois family farmers. Even though we have different types of farms, you’ll see we all share a commitment to have conversations with consumers, answer your questions about how we grow safe, healthy food, and share what happens on our farms.

We are excited to spend an afternoon learning what’s important to you and your family when it comes to food. We hope you’ll enjoy having some coffee and desserts along the way!

There is no cost to attend and you are welcome to bring a few friends. You can find all the details and RSVP on our Meetup site: http://www.meetup.com/Chicagoland-Field-Moms/events/39983882/.

See you soon!

Deb Moore
Roseville, Illinois

It was fun to watch the excitement on the Field Mom's faces as they learned the details of their first farm tour.  Watching their excitement brought me back to when I first moved to the farm from Cook County.  Everything was new and exciting and now they get to experience the farm to see how we grow their food.  

I will be riding the bus from our meeting point to the farms and spending the day with the Field Moms.  I will have the opportunity to answer their questions, take pictures of them in the combine, in the tractors, on the farms and milking the cows.  We will have all day to discuss what is happening on today's farms and what it takes to get food to their table.

It has been a dry year on the farm so I can't believe I am really hoping for a dry day!  If it does rain, they will be able to experience how the weather dictates what is done on the farm.  

Be sure to check back in the next few weeks as the Field Moms begin posting photos and their impressions of their farm tour.  You can meet the Field Moms by checking out the Meet Our Field Moms tab. 

Deb Moore
Roseville, Ill.

 

At home on the farm, we are battling the heat and dry weather along with everyone else in the state.  We are in an area that had too much rain in May and too little rain in July.  We did receive about 2.6 inches of rain last week, all in about 30 minutes.  That was about it for the rain for the month of July.  We are constantly checking our cattle to make sure they have enough water and shade.  We can only hope for cooler weather and some rain for the cattle and crops.

Next week, I will again have the opportunity to travel to Chicago to meet with young moms and talk to them about our farm and becoming a Field Mom.  On Monday, August 8th, I am sponsoring a Chicago Mom Meet up at Little Beans Cafe, 1809 W. Webster, Chicago at 7:00 PM.  Illinois Farm Families are looking for Field Moms, Chicago area moms over the age of 18 with at least one child under the age of 13 living at home.  (Applications are being accepted through August 21 and application information can be found at www.watchusgrow.org.)  I am excited about getting to meet young moms and find out what questions they have about what we do on our farm.  

While I am in Chicago, I will be able to visit my family.  My mom, sister, brother and two of my sons live in the Chicago area. We are able to travel between the farm in Warren County and my family in Cook County many times during the summer and winter. During the spring and fall, things are pretty busy on the farm and it is harder to get away from the farm during those seasons. During the fall, the Field Moms will be visiting our farm to see what we do during harvest. I am looking forward to having them come to the farm and show them what we do during a busy harvest day!

Deb Moore
Roseville, Ill.

Here you’ll find posts from real Illinois farmers - men and women, moms and dads, grandparents, even farm kids - who care about their families and farms and who hope to have a conversation around issues you care about.

You may be surprised by our farms’ diversity. Illinois Farm Families grow and raise a variety of crops and livestock. But you won’t be surprised that we share many of the same values as you, including feeding our families safe, healthy food.Watch Us Grow is your chance to get to know Illinois Farm Families and see how we’re growing your food with care.

In fact, if you’re a Chicago-area mom, we’d like you to see a few of our farms firsthand by applying to become one of our Field Moms. I would love to have you come to my farm so I can show you what we do each day to grow your food.

We’re ready to listen, and we hope you’ll join the conversation. Check back often to see what we’re chatting about.

Deb Moore
Roseville, Illinois