Illinois Farm Families Blog

Last Saturday, we hosted the winners of the Illinois Farm Families Farmtastic Food Trek on our farm. The Farmtastic Food Trek was a grocery store scavenger hunt. The clues came from Illinois Farm Families who described their farms, crops and livestock and asked questions about which food products were related to their farm. When scavenger hunt participants found the bacon, cheese or other items, they used Instagram™ to take a picture with that item and submit their entry.
  

The three winning families received a farm tour at our farm, a $500 grocery gift card and a gift bag of farm toys, games, books and activities. 

The winners include Kristen Baker, Elgin, Ill.; Marilyn Alam, Hyde Park, Ill.; and Amy Parille, Aurora, Ill.

We met on this crisp fall morning at my parents’ farm in Amboy, Ill. Here families met April, my mom’s paint horse, and helped feed and water her.

Then we headed to the hog house and talked about the improvements we have made in raising pigs to ensure their comfort and care. Finally, the group boarded the hayrack, bundled in blankets and headed down the road to the cattle pasture.  

We talked about our beef cattle herd and how we care for the cows and calves differently, and how we manage the pasture they graze. The families saw how our families still work together on the farm to raise animals and grow crops that feed our family and yours. 

It was our pleasure to share our home, our farm, good food and good conversation with these families.  

Have you been on a local farm tour? Illinois farmers have their doors open and welcome your questions about food and farming. Ask your questions and share your comments below.

Katie Pratt
Grand Prairie Farms

Well, our last tour is done and my head is still swimming!  We saw SO much on this trip, and I’m definitely still processing a lot of it.  The highlight for me was our visit to a Monsanto research facility – I could have stayed there for days!  It was fascinating, and I’m so very grateful I got the chance to go.

One of the really cool things about this tour was that it was an overnight, which gave us a unique opportunity to talk more in-depth with our fellow Field Moms.  In our conversations, I was surprised to learn that another Field Mom did have issues with pork production after seeing the Gould’s farm.  To me it was just like any other production facility; to her it raised some serious questions about how she wanted to feed her family.  So I’ll buy commercially raised pork with no qualms and she’ll make another decision.  Neither of us is making a better decision than the other – but we’re making the right choice for our families.  That’s the wonderful thing about this program; it’s given us insight, allowed us to form our own opinions, and empowered us at the supermarket.  Just like any of the other hot button issues moms face (breastfeeding, going back to work, etc) there isn’t one RIGHT answer about how to feed our families – you just have to do the best you can with the knowledge you have and make the right decision for you.

Our weekend tour started on a Friday night – we had dinner with a bunch of local farmers and just got to have some nice conversations about what was going on in all of our lives – it’s stuff like that that makes me see that there’s really no difference between the farmers and the city moms!  The next morning we were on the road early – we got to see how crops are loaded onto barges on the Mississippi River, and from there travel to St. Louis, New Orleans, and sometimes all the way to China!

We had a lovely lunch and got to tour the Moore’s farm before heading off to Monsanto.  I honestly think I could write a book on everything we learned there! What surprised me the most at Monsanto was that it was built just like a normal farm – crops in the fields, exposed to the elements – no barbed wire, no attack dogs, no privacy fence. For a company that so many people claim is doing evil and  secretive things, they seemed very open, honest, and eager to tell us all about their work.

We had a long drive home this time, and there were a lot of good conversations going on and a lot to reflect on during the ride. Honestly though, I didn’t really have a TON of questions about my food before becoming a Field Mom.  I’m the kind of person who generally does a lot of research, makes a decision, and feels confident in it.  A lot of people asked me on this trip why I wanted to be involved with the program, and I felt bad, because I didn’t have a rehearsed answer for them – I really couldn’t come up with an answer at all.  But here’s why – it’s because of THEM.  The people were the reason I wanted to connect with the Farm Families.  Having spent over 8 years in Texas, I got pretty used to a different way of life than we have here in Chicago.  Most importantly, I got used to the people – hardworking, independent, tough-as-nails women who are equally gorgeous in a pair of work boots or in rhinestone-encrusted flip flops.  Don’t get me wrong, I love my Chicago, and I love the women here – but this city is where I was raised; Texas is where I grew up, and the female role models I had there are a big part of that. 

I’m so glad I was able to meet women like Deb Moore, Carla Mudd, Amy Roady, and so many more awesome ladies who helped us out, answered our questions, and made us feel at home in a totally foreign environment. And so with that in mind, if there’s anything I’m going to take away from this experience it’s in the lessons I want to pass on to my Texas-born daughter: To work hard. To have respect for the world around her. To dream big. To marvel in what has been placed upon this land. And most of all, to approach every day as a blessing, an adventure, and to never take anything for granted.  I’m so thankful that the Illinois Farm Families gave me the opportunity to relearn those lessons for myself!

Betsie Estes

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.  

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

When it comes to all things porcine, my knowledge is pretty limited to Miss Piggy, the conniving mustachioed pigs from Angry Birds, Olivia, Charlotte’s Web, that George Clooney kept a pot-bellied one, and the popular tag line, "the other white meat."

And yes, going to college in South Bend, Indiana taught me that a sow’s uterus takes up an entire lab table (we had to dissect both that and piglets), and that driving downwind of a pig farm for a good 20 miles on the way to New Buffalo is probably a good reason to put the top back on the jeep. Beyond that, I had no idea that raising, maintaining and harvesting pork is such a complex (!) process.

I recently joined my fellow Field Moms for a nose around the multigenerational Gould Pig Farm in Maple Park and not only came away with a potential calling as a pig midwife – newborn piglets are very hard to resist - but with some serious knowledge about the current events impacting pork production on a global level.

If you follow foodie news, McDonald’s recently announced its decision to require its pork producers to stop using gestation stalls - pens used for breeding sows that are about the same length and width as their bodies.

Way to be pressured by the European Union there, big wigs.

The EU operates under completely different guidelines than the United States, and once a non-scientific group decided pigs must be able to exercise and investigate their environment, things got kind of hairy for the way farmers run their farms now.

Here’s the thing. Human perception and the way animals are being housed are not mutually exclusive. Just as it’s human nature to think, "Gee, I wouldn’t want to be in a pen where I can’t turn around or hang out with my friends," anthropomorphizing pigs draws a very crooked line in the sand.

Activist groups are very quick to point the finger at what’s wrong in the farming community, and yes, there are always a few bad seeds in the bushel, but animal welfare and animal rights are not mutually interchangeable. And, while transparency is key in how farmers run their operations, activist groups are putting pressure on retailers in saying that consumers want to see an end to gestation stalls.

Gone are the days of open pastures, people. Pigs are not herd animals, and introducing group housing is not a simple process. When left to socialize in groups, pigs develop a hierarchy, meaning that the "mean girls" of the group quickly monopolize food and water sources and become aggressive toward other sows. Pigs do bite and can cause some nasty chewing injuries. Seriously, would you want a 700-pound bully chomping on your vulva or biting off your tail? Yikes! But that’s what pigs do when left to establish their own pecking order.

Stressed pigs also means tough meat, inconsistent individual weights – farmers want to see relatively uniform pigs, not obese or overly thin sows - difficulty in controlling diseases, and more importantly, unhappy pigs.

Think about it. It’s in the farmer’s favor to treat their pigs well. Pig farming is a business, and though there may be a favorite boar or sow here and there, they are not pets. Eventually, we’re going to eat them.

The Gould’s stressed that they treat their sows as individuals, and give them as much TLC necessary to make them feel pampered and happy, which for pigs, translates to biohazard security, quality (not quantity) of space, and five basic freedoms: food, water, protection, and freedom from fear and distress.

In fact, the Gould’s have implemented advanced methods of Pork Quality Assurance (PQA) and Transport Quality Assurance (TQA), which means that voluntary animal welfare audits are the norm at their farm, conducted by third parties who have no connection to them or their clients.

And yes, we did have a chance to zip up some Hazmat suits and actually tour the pig housing. I’ve always been the first to speak up against circuses and puppy mills, and in support of more stringent regulations at those farms that have popped up in the news as being bonafied cruel to their animals, but that was most certainly not the case here.

Though startled when we first trudged in with our plastic shoe covers, and cameras and lighting, the pigs were very inquisitive and relatively clean. I didn’t see any injuries or signs of fights among the pigs, and they spent plenty of time communicating with one another via grunt and oink.

Sure, there was some stinkyness – they are farm animals after all – but remember, they don’t sweat, so that infamous smelly rap mainly comes from poop, which has a lot of ammonia in it. Last I checked, no poop smells that grand, so no big. Better yet, the Gould’s use all of that waste to fertilize their fields, making it an excellent example of reduce, reuse, recycle.

The highlight was witnessing a birth in the farrowing – nursery area - of the barn. The Gould’s work with nature, not against it, and since we had just experienced the insemination of a sow – optimal semen shown to produce lean meat and strong pigs is used, and the process involves charting each sow’s cycle and using a "tease" boar to naturally bring on excitement - it was a pretty nifty progression to see.

Piglets smell wonderful, and are surprisingly fuzzy and loud. Those newborns who have trouble finding their mother’s teats – like any littermates, there are bigger and smaller piglets, and plenty of squabbles over the teats closest to the sow’s head as they have more milk - are assisted by the Gould’s, since the sow’s colostrum and milk naturally boosts her offspring’s immunity and promotes healthy development.

Obviously, the learnathon was vast, but the opportunity to form individual opinions based on the Gould’s experience and Janeen Salak-Johnson’s expertise – the latter is a professor as the University of Illinois – was much greater.

And for all those who know me entirely too well, no, I didn’t bring a piglet home with me. The newborn piglets didn’t fit into my camera bag.

Pilar Clark

Field Mom

Prior to our visit to the Gould’s farm, I hadn’t really thought much about pork production. Where I live our food comes in packages and our farm stories come from children’s books. For the most part the only thing I know about pork is how to cook it. My family eats more pork products than any other type of meat—so it was fun (the piglets are SO cute) and interesting for me to get a behind-the-scenes glimpse at how the meat that makes it to my table gets it start in life.

The Gould’s farm houses 700 sows in a “sow center” and they focus exclusively on breeding, gestation and farrowing. Our tour started in their family office where they explained the process of insemination and gestation, farrowing and eventually starting all over again.  The field mom’s on this tour were in for quite a shock as we discussed all, ahem, aspects of impregnating the sows! We even had the experience of witnessing the process, something I had never, ever considered while at home cooking for my family. On this farm they purchase semen to be used with their sows and it is selected for multiple reasons including characteristics that affect size and meat quality. Some of the specific attributes are indicated by the producer as consumer preferences, such as leaner meat. It was great to see science being used in parallel with Mother Nature. The Gould’s chart each sow’s cycle and check her status by using a “tease” boar (male)—they are not rushing or forcing the process. It was interesting to learn that the gestation period is 3 months, 3 weeks and 3 days. Just prior to her due date, a sow is moved to the farrowing crates where she will deliver and stay with her piglets for the following few weeks. The deliveries are not scheduled or induced due to a business plan. It was amazing to walk into the farrowing room on our tour just as a sow was delivering her 7th piglet of the morning, somewhat of a surprise to Chris Gould as she had not even started two hours prior to our visit.

While I was pretty sure that I was not going to encounter a pig named Wilbur and his friend the spider in an idyllic country setting, I was a little overwhelmed by the view of the sows inside the sow center. The sows are kept in metal crates which protect them from each other and enables the farmers to give individual attention to each sow.  These crates are lined up within the barn from end to end with narrow walkways for farmers and boars to access all of the sows. It seemed so incredibly huge and barren and the sows are all kept facing one direction. While they can lay down, they cannot turn around. Taking this all in for the first time was hard, mainly because I, as a person, would not like to be confined this way. Despite this initial feeling I kept an open mind to what I was seeing and to the individual pigs.  They were all clean and well cared for. They seemed happy enough as much as a random visitor can judge an animal’s happiness. As we walked through you could hear them snuffling and their ears would perk up as they gave us a cursory glance.  Once it was determined we did not have food there was not much interest on their part. It was a very low stress atmosphere and actually quite peaceful.

It wasn’t a surprise to learn that the crating of the sows is a huge industry topic right now. It was great to see for myself and to hear the opinions of an expert (Janeen Salak-Johnson from U of I) along with us for the tour so that we could understand the contrast between reality on the Gould Farm and what we see and hear in the media. We learned that the debate includes animal behavior and their natural instincts to determine social order through violence (as is true with many animals, including the cattle we viewed on the last farm tour). Furthermore, it is important to determine the actual needs of the animals, including whether more space is needed for turning around or other behaviors.

The tour to the Gould farm enlightened me to this serious political and ethical debate that is raging about sows being crated.  I cannot avoid further mention of the controversy as the discussion on crates took up such a huge part of our tour. As I mentioned at the farm, I feel many urban consumers are so far removed from our food and where it comes from that it is easy to latch on to negative stories in the media as truth. Some of the uproar certainly is a defense mechanism to feeling manipulated by those that sell us our food. I do want to eat pork (or beef or chicken), but I don’t want animals being treated poorly. There are many parts of this issue and I feel I need to start by deciding what I want to eat, how much I am willing to pay for it and what issues I have with specific practices and why. Housing animals indoors and in the case of sow crates, individually, has a lot of benefits including safety from the elements and each other, ease of checking them for disease or injury and the ability to adjust food for each individual animal.  As outsiders looking in we need to be practical about what we see. These are animals that are intended for people to eat—not house pets. The producers of the animals we eat are business people running a business. What is good for the animals is good for the farmer, but more space also has a real cost. I saw animals that were very well treated by caring farmers.  I would like to see the future include a little more quality space for animals, but with the understanding that the sweet farm where Wilbur and his friends live, in reality, would not feed the world or even the city of Chicago.

Amy Hansmann

Field Mom

All I have ever heard about pig farms is that you don't want to be downwind of one! That is absolutely true!  Fortunately we weren't immediately met with the smell but were greeted by Chris Gould who was pleasant and informative.  His parents Eldon and Sandy were there to answer questions and give, often times humorous, anecdotes about farm life.  His sister, who is a vet, was also there to help support the information. The Gould's were well spoken and intelligent. We spent a good hour in their office listening to the history of the farm and learning facts about everything from pig breeding and reproduction to how often and what the pigs are fed.  I can honestly say I learned a considerable amount of information about pigs. It is obvious that the Gould family cares about their farm and their animals. 

We went to the barns next.  We needed to dress up in hazmat suits before entering the barns themselves because the pigs are so susceptible to outside germs and diseases.  Approximately four years ago the pigs caught some virus which contributed to a great loss for the Goulds.  After getting into our garb, we were told of the smell in the barns and how intense it could be. Upon entering you are greeted by a mixture of ammonia and rotten eggs.  So much so, I wondered if it was safe to be breathing that in for an hour?! (not to mention the workers who breath that in for hours, or the pigs, which is all they breathe.) We walked down a long hallway into the main barn where the pigs are housed and fed hormone free food.  There were rows and rows of pigs just standing or lying down. All the pigs seemed content and stress-free. We got to witness Chris Gould artificially inseminating one of the sows. She was first excited by the male pig who was brought over with a leash and paraded in front of her.  Insemination takes very little time or effort on the pigs part.  The farm gets semen delivered every other day during the week and they inseminate the pig for two days in a row.  The pigs are marked with different color stripes to differentiate who is on the first or second day of insemination and who is pregnant. After a brief description of how they get fed we were off to the birthing rooms.

 We walked in on a mother giving birth and got to witness first hand the first breaths of two little piglets. That was definitely the highlight of my farm tour!  The pigs stand up and wobble over to the mother's teets and fight their way to get the first taste of colostrum.  Turns out that if the piglets are having problems with getting over to the mom, they will be helped because it is important for their immunity health to have that colostrum within the first 15 minutes of life.  We were able to hold the piglets and shown how to recognize the runts of the groups. After about 5 days they have their tails clipped off  to avoid any unnecessary biting from other pigs and the males get their testicles removed. They are moved into another section of the barn after they are a few days old.  They get to stay with their moms until they are weaned.

We then had a lovely lunch and informative presentation from Janeen Salak-Johnson.  Ms. Johnson is a U of I professor and was quite persuasive in letting us know that pig housing should be based on animal behavior and well being not on emotional issues.  All in all what it comes down to is that we are raising animals to try and feed the world, which is ever expanding.  I have to wonder that if we lived in a less demanding world, would we be raising livestock differently? Could we have more farms with less animals? If we tried not to feed the world, would we do things differently? I really struggled this time around with the use of animals as food.  I am so fortunate to have this opportunity to see first-hand how my food is brought to the table and I am in no way taking that for granted. I am, however, questioning my decisions about food and meat.  For me, my emotions got in the way of my intellect, but again, I am only human. In the end, the Gould family is doing their part to feed the world and from what I could tell they are doing a fine job of it.

Amy Rossi

Field Mom

Last weekend I ventured out with my fellow Field Moms to Chris Gould’s farm, not far from the big city.  We learned about his family’s history with farming, toured the facilities, had lunch, and heard from an expert about some current issues in pork production that are having an impact on a global level.

Having recently read responses on the Watch Us Grow blog to McDonald’s decision to require its pork suppliers to stop using gestation stalls, I was particularly interested in seeing the living conditions of the pigs on the farm.  While it was a little shocking to see all the pigs lined up in stalls, it was actually a much calmer, cleaner, humane environment than the media had led me to believe.

What’s important to remember is that it really is in the farmer’s best interests to take good care of their animals.  Even if all they cared about was making money, they would still treat their animals as well as possible, because more animals thriving equals a larger profit for the farmer.  That’s not to say that farmers have an emotional attachment to each animal they raise, because they don’t – and I think that’s hard for a lot of us non-farmers to understand.  People like Chris Gould and Pam Janssen aren’t raising pigs to be family pets – they’re raising them to meet the nutritional needs of our ever-growing global population.  There is a huge, important difference there.  These pigs are food – not pets. 

Even so, clearly the farmers care about the animals’ well-being, and are always looking for ways to improve upon current systems of production.  I really loved hearing Dr. Janeen Salak-Johnson, a researcher from the University of Illinois, speak to us about gestation stalls – why they’re used, and the pros and cons of some alternative methods.  It’s easy to see a picture of a pig in a stall and jump to conclusions about that pig’s quality of life, but that’s why I’m so happy to be a Field Mom – I actually got to see how the pigs were treated firsthand.  I didn’t see a single pig that I thought was being abused, neglected, or otherwise mistreated.  On the contrary, I could see how the crates actually keep the pigs healthy by allowing the farmers to efficiently and safely provide them with quality care.

I wrote a blog post a few months ago about how being a Field Mom was enabling me to find my own truth – without any spin from the media, activitists, or corporations.  I wish every consumer could have these experiences, because they truly are eye-opening, and I believe seeing these things firsthand is the only way to really make educated, fact-based decisions about where your food is coming from.

Betsie Estes

Field Mom

Elk Grove Village

I hate the feeling of being in the dark, like someone is trying to pull one over on me.  I get that pit feeling in my stomach when I learn that something I thought or believed is actually different than I thought and someone has been purposely hiding important information from me.   This is especially true when it comes to the food I buy to feed to my family.  I want it to be EXACTLY what I think it is, nothing hidden or shady going on behind the scenes before the food gets to my table.  And so much of what we read these days about main-stream farming claims that there are shady things going on all the time.  And there may be in some places.  But that's the beauty of the Field Moms program: I am actually looking behind the supermarket curtain to see for myself what is going on before the food leaves the farm.  And from what I have seen so far, no one is trying to pull anything over on anyone.

Last Saturday, I was blessed to go on another farm tour with the IL Farm Families.  Instead of beef and corn, this time we delved into the world of pork production and all that this operation entails.  We spent the day with the Gould family at their farm located about 50miles west of the Loop between St. Charles and DeKalb.  One of the most special things about being a Field Mom is the opportunity to meet these amazing farming families and see how passionate they are about what they do. Chris Gould and his father Eldon talked and walked us through every part of raising pigs, from collecting from the boar (an interesting conversation! ) to inseminating the sow to the birth of the piglets and all the care of the animals across all stages of the process.  I know more now about a sow's cycle than I ever thought I would.  But it is all so interesting- how the farmers know pretty much to the day when she will deliver her piglets (115day gestation) and how long she should nurse them and how to help transition her to getting pregnant again just a few days later.  Not much rest  for that weary sow.  :)  And to us city/suburban moms, it seems difficult to not get attached to these mama and baby pigs.  But to the Goulds, it is their livelihood. The cuteness of the baby piglets is not lost on them.  They still marvel at a brand new litter trying to nurse from their mama and their instinct to survive.  But this is their business and to them the pigs are born for a purpose and the mamas are there to give birth to more piglets and so the cycle goes.

It's not cruel, quite the opposite.  They have every motivation and desire to care for the animals and treat them with dignity.  The better the animals are treated and cared for, it is better for everyone involved.  Eldon Gould even commented that they "treat each sow as an individual.  They are some pampered pigs!"

While touring the barns, Chris Gould made a point to talk about the  stalls that the pregnant sows live in during their gestation time.  "Gestational stalls" are apparently quite the controversial topic, one that I seriously had NEVER heard of before our tour last Saturday.  The EU has put all these regulations in place on pig farms saying they have to stop using this system by 2013.  McDonalds just came out and said they promised to not buy any pork from producers who use stalls and several other companies are following suit.  How have I not heard about this?  Have you?

The argument is that the stalls are inhumane and that they limit the sows ability to perform natural behaviors, causing her distress.  On the tour, we had the pleasure of talking with Janeen Johnson, a professor at Uof I who specializes in animal science and welfare issues.  She has done extensive research worldwide on the best way to house the sows and the piglets- from open pastures to tight crates. Her conclusion?  Gestational stalls are a "viable system that needs to change and improve but needs to be based on actual scientific research on sow welfare."  Fair enough.  From what we heard and saw (in pictures), sows are very hierarchical and will harm and even kill each other if they are left in open pens.  The stalls provide a safe environment for the sows and help the farmer to manage their feed and healthcare with greater accuracy and benefit.

But it is easy to get bogged down in the details.  Here is my bottom line:  The Gould's is not an "organic" pig farm.  They use gestational stalls to house their sows and farrowing (the term for the sow giving birth) stalls when the sow gets to that point.  And some people would shake their head at these facts and say we shouldn't eat meat from these farms.  But from what I saw, that is just not true.  These pigs seem content and well cared for. The entire Gould family does everything they can do to make the pork that comes from their farm the absolute healthiest and highest quality meat they possibly can. And they are constantly trying to improve.  And to me, that is important.

I am not saying I am throwing the idea of organic food out the window.  I am still a huge proponent of eating organic when we can and trying to reduce the  "middle-men" when it comes to taking my food from farm to table. I want to know that no one is mistreating animals in order to cut a few corners.  And the idea of GMOs truthfully frightens me and I need to learn more about that.  But to meet farmers like the Goulds and the Martzs and the Drendles and the Moores (we go to their farm next) is to see that they are not trying to cheat nature to get more profit.  They are not trying to pull anything over on the public in the name of personal financial gain.  They are families, doing the best they can to produce food that is safe and nutritious and in enough quantities to feed the greater population of our planet.  They feel a duty to care for the animals and the earth and their consumers.  They are up front about what they do, never shying from questions.  Someone said that they are so disconnected from the consumer that they feel like a "small agriculture island surrounded by an urban sea."   They just want it all to be out on the table.  And so do I.

I know that not everyone can go see the farm for themselves (although they have all said that their doors are always open).  And I feel so grateful to be one of the lucky moms who does get to see these farms first hand and help bridge the gap between farmer and consumer.  But most importantly, I love that I am getting the facts.  ALL the facts.  And so far, what I have seen and learned is amazing.  I left the farm last Saturday feeling a little swimmy from having heard SO much information.  But mostly grateful for people who are willing to say what is true.  They are doing their part to make sure we as consumers have the information we need to make informed food choices.  And that is SO important to me.  And I'm sure to you too.

Don't try to pursue me.  Or trick me.  Or sneak one by.  Just give me the facts.  ALL the facts.  And let me make up my own mind.   And these farmers are doing just that.

Farrah Brown

Field Mom