The afternoon of our recent tour took us to the Monsanto Learning Center located in Monmouth. To be honest I was looking forward to hearing about the Monsanto products and was happy to lose myself a bit in the amazing concepts being used to develop different types of plants. Although I am very concerned about chemicals used on what I eat and how different processes might impact my family’s health, I am all for using science to find new ways to effectively grow food.
Recently I have learned about vertical farming (I love high rises!) and tomato farms with no soil at all. There are so many new ways to do things. Just because they are not the old-fashioned type farm doesn’t make the food less desirable. Here in the Midwest we grow mainly corn and soybeans so maybe some of the new fangled farming without soil isn’t right around the corner, but there are lots of new things I had no idea about.
Monsanto is an agricultural company that focuses on producing higher yields with fewer resources. They sell seeds, develop different traits with biotechnology and create crop protection chemicals. The location we visited is focused on corn and soybeans as are the local farms. However they do also work on modifying vegetables as well. They develop hybrids using genomics to alter traits on the different plants. They are not significantly changing plants so much as finding ways to make them more efficient and reduce stress on them. When we were in the classroom we could see a collection of corn and how it has changed over the last many thousands of years. In general it has not changed much—maybe a little more robust but overall not a lot. It was pointed out that the goal is NOT to make huge changes, but they change proteins to manipulate specific traits. They cannot “grow a giraffe with a hippo head!”
Stress on crops is reduced by helping them to survive pests, endure varying weather and provide reduced competition with weeds that compete for space and nutrients. This leads to increased durability, higher yields and enables more success in difficult conditions. As an example, in the early 1900’s to grow a bushel of soybeans it required 3,960 square feet. By the late 1900’s the area was reduced to 1,740 square feet. In 2012 the same bushel can be grown on just 1,040 square feet. It is impressive in numbers, but we were also able to see the difference that makes in space. At Monsanto they have fields created in each of these sizes and it is remarkable to see the space reduced to less than a third of the initial area.
The ability to genetically modify plants impacts food production all over the world. In the developing world it helps farmers to grow food in areas where it was not feasible before because of limited resources. This not only produces more food, but lessens their dependence on outside providers. For producers of fresh vegetables it allows for the ability to transport their goods if they have fewer pests and tougher skin. For the consumers it can increase desirability such as enhancing flavors, increasing nutrients or even the size such as smaller peppers or melons. There is more variety if you can get products from different growing areas and the more produce available, the lower the price too. Of course I am a hater of the “new tomatoes” that are very pretty, but in my opinion very tasteless. I was relieved to hear from Monsanto’s Director of Vegetable Industry Affairs that now they are working to get the taste back now that they survive shipment much better. Until then I have to stick with the farmers market while my own tomatoes ripen on the vine!
While at the learning center we were able to learn about some of the key products that Monsanto is known for producing. Round-Up weed control is used by farmers to reduce the number of weeds in their fields. This is the same Round-Up you see advertised on TV and at your local garden center. I used it at home for a very pesky weed and you would of thought I was using Agent Orange I was so careful—both in my application (with a paint brush!) and in my attire. This provided great laughs for those at Monsanto who assured me it is actually pretty gentle. It capitalizes on the difference between mammals and plants and selectively targets specific enzymes and creates an amino acid that we do not have. It has nowhere to go in our system so it passes through. That was a relief! Next was learning about “Round-Up Ready” corn and beans. Monsanto has modified corn and beans to be resistant to their own chemical. The field can be sprayed to kill competing weeds with no harm done to the crop itself. It seems genius to me!
At the end we learned a bit more about BT corn, a type of corn we saw growing at the Moore’s farm. This corn has the protein from a bacteria “Bacillus thuringiensis” actually inside the plant. The rootworm that is known for devastating corn crops eats it and cannot process it. It stops eating and then dies, eliminating the problem. BT is found in soil throughout the world and is naturally occurring. It is an allowed pesticide in organic farming, but in that setting it is sprayed on the plants and soil. By integrating the BT into the crop it eliminates the need for chemical spraying and the resources that requires.
Also at the Moore’s farm we saw the “refuge” corn growing amidst the BT corn. To try to avoid a BT resistant worm from developing the federal government requires that farmers using BT corn must plant at least 20% non-BT corn that the worms can feast on. The refuge corn at the Moore’s was eaten through—we could see the damage on the leaves and stalk and eventually one of the accompanying farmers got out his knife and cut the plant open so we could see the actual worms.
As with other products we learned about, we were told that the BT protein does not affect us as we have different systems than the rootworm. However this is the product that gets the most crazy press coverage. I first saw an article on GMO food in Vogue magazine right before our tour. It cites a 2011 study by Aziz Aris in Canada that found the BT “toxin” in the blood of pregnant women and their fetuses. At first this makes you gasp and panic and say oh, no! I looked it up on the internet and I saw dozens of articles published all over the world and the assorted comments that went with them. Not one ever answered the very short question. “So?” Every article stated the discovery but neither the articles or actual research has revealed any side affects from the protein, which is toxic to the worms—not the people.
As we ran out of time our tour finished up with acknowledgements for the need for farmers to work smart instead of just working hard. The average farmer today feeds 155 people per year compared to just 26 in 1960. We were reminded that farming is competitive and mediocre farmers (not doing what you can to preserve the soil and resources) are likely not to survive and just as quick there will be someone else to farm the land. The parting comment was that “Mother Nature Rules” and that Monsanto is constantly looking for alternatives to current problems.
Amy Hansmann
Field Mom
River Forest, IL
There are a few things that I constantly remind myself of while doing my “farm stuff,” as my family calls it. We need food. The world needs food and many places cannot grow their own. As a culture we have become very dependent on corn. And as an urban consumer with many shopping choices I demand variety and relative perfection, at least in my produce. Keeping these things in mind helps give me context for the things I see and the reality of today’s farming. It is a lot easier to NOT go off the deep end on many current issues. Herbicides and insecticides are scary when you know nothing about them! 
very interested and a bit fearful about what I might learn given that chemical fertilizers get a bad rap in the press. The fertilizer we learned is a mixture known as NPK, a combination of the chemical symbols of each of the three naturally occurring chemicals used, Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium. This mixture is a “synthetic fertilizer” because it is a mixture of the raw ingredients (Nitrogen in the form of Anhydrous Ammonia) instead of a fertilizer such as compost or manure where these elements may be naturally occurring. Quite honestly, that put me at ease a bit. I always thought that “synthetic chemical fertilizer” was something cooked up in some specialty lab somewhere and didn’t resemble anything natural at all. The mixture is added to the fields to give the corn the nutrients it needs to grow in the same area year after year. All life depends on nitrogen (used to build proteins and amino acids) and we all consume it in the air we breathe. I have learned that it is the #1 thing that needs to be added to soil for corn production, and it needs to be in a form that the plant can use as it cannot use the Nitrogen in the air, but needs to absorb certain forms of Nitrogen from the earth. The NPK is mixed for each customer based on the soil samples taken in the fall and the necessary ration of each is blended into the mixture, such as 18-46-0 where 18 would be the number of pounds of N or nitrogen. A standard mix you might buy at the garden store for your home garden might read 5-5-5 or 5 pounds each of NPK out of a 100 lb bag. 
temperatures returned to the upper 90’s by the end of the week.
This past week rain showers moved through the area on the evening of Aug. 16th delaying the Cardinal baseball game, of which I was in attendance, for one and half hours. No one in our group complained and actually enjoyed watching the rain. The same line of showers brought 1.2 inches of rain to some of the driest areas in the southern part of St. Clair County. Unfortunately rainfall levels were spotty in the area.
I drove like Rodney Atkins and took the back road to Grandma and Grandpa’s farm. The narrow gravel road seems only a step above a dirt path with a weedy center line. I love that invigorating, countryside drive. I see some of the most picturesque cattle pastures there.
well that grew this year. Yet, livestock may fare even worse. Imagine an animal trying to graze on your yard. Pasture conditions became poor enough that Grandpa fed his cattle their winter hay in July. Meanwhile, the drought deteriorated field conditions, which produces less hay to restock the winter inventory. 
I had to chuckle just a bit when one of my girlfriends complained that it was too hot to take her kids to the pool this past weekend. "Unless you are in the water, it's just too hot to be outside," said my friend, who is a mother of two.
encouraging the cows to eat and drink as much as possible. All of our cows, both big and small, are closely watched to make sure they stay healthy. 
When I returned home from my bi-state road trip, I was glad to see two-tenths of an inch of rain in the rain gauge. Showers had moved through the area on July 29th bringing some relief to the high temperatures and settled the dust where rain actually fell. For the week we experienced 100 degree temps, no rain and one morning of fog.
For the first time in my history on Schutz Farms (over 18 years) we are considering chopping silage to feed our cattle this winter. During non-drought conditions we utilize wet DDG’s as a part of our cattle feed. It is a by-product of the ethanol making process, it is a nutritional feed and it mixes well with straw. We have purchased the wet DDG’s for as low as $15 a ton with is usually running around $50 a ton. Yesterday we purchased two loads for $120 a ton and it is getting harder to get any loads at all. The dried version, which we use in our hog feed, prices are rising as well.
This year has been unlike any in the recent past. There are a many farmers and ranchers that are selling large parts of their cattle herds because they just don’t have any feed. Their fields won’t have any crops produced, their pastures have no grass, and it is too expensive to purchase enough to feed through the winter. We are lucky that we have corn that is able to be used as wet feed as well as shell corn this fall. Many farmers don’t have that luxury this year. We are trying out different feeding methods to feed our cattle.
Please keep farmers and ranchers in your prayers. We are trying our best to feed our families and yours. The prices of groceries will go up slightly over the next year, but remember even with the drought affecting our food supply, the prices will only go up 3-4%. In the grand scheme of things, it’s not that much. It’s also really important to remember that even with the drought we have enough corn in the US to produce food and fuel. We can feed everyone and make ethanol. The by-products from the ethanol are a great feed source! In time the rains will return and a new crop year will begin. Everything will even back out and we will continue to produce the most economical and healthy food supply any country has!
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