Harvest is underway in North Central Iowa, however, I’ve been spending as much talking about combining as I have actually spent in the field during the past two weeks.

In last week’s blog, I wrote about the opportunity I had to visit Mason City schools and answer some great questions from sixth graders about #RealPigFarming and crops. My main message was to remind these middle school students, who are like sponges absorbing information, to keep an open mind when reading information. I reminded them to consider the source of information and to not take all printed material as fact.

Over the weekend, I had the opportunity to spend time hosting a group of bloggers on our 4^th Annual Franklin County Harvest Blogger’s Tour. Honestly, this is one event that I always look forward to as its main purpose is to showcase our county’s rich agricultural heritage and to help bridge the gap between farmers and consumers.

This event has been held the first weekend of October since 2011. This year, bloggers begin arriving at the Country Heritage B&B on Friday afternoon. We then took them on a tour of the first farmer-owned, rural electricity generating plant. In the 1930s, only 10 percent of U.S. farms had electricity. Interestingly enough, this electric utility plant in rural Hampton was the first rural electric utility plant west of the Mississippi. We made history right here in our own backyard – and this was the first time I’d actually visited the museum myself! I had a great time walking through the REA Museum, which is full of fascinating things from the beginnings of electricity.

From the REA Museum, the bloggers toured Beeds Lake State Park. This lake was constructed by manual labor during the Great Depression. One focal point of the park is the 170 foot-long spillway – built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s – that consists of horizontal layers of limestone that abruptly drops 40 feet. Another unique feature of Beeds Lake is the causeway near the lodge, providing more than one-third mile of shoreline fishing, as well as a convenient pathway for hikers and joggers.

Our final stop on Friday evening was the Learning Tree Lodge at the Carlson Tree Farm. The Carlsons have built a very nice retreat in rural Franklin County, and there is no charge to use their comfortable learning center. Great food and wine tasting was combined with the entertainment Dennis has a reputation of providing. As a former county conservation officer, he always teaches us something new about nature. We had the the opportunity to taste roasted meal worms… did I mention the wine tasting? Yes, Franklin County is home to Townsend Winery!

Saturday morning started early. We arrived on the Franklin County Fairgrounds at 8 AM where we toured our county’s farm museum. Many questions were asked and answered about the history of farming while we looked at old farm equipment. Every time I go through this building, I see something I had not noticed before. There’s such so much to see! It was a great stop.

From the fairgrounds, our busload of bloggers went downtown to shop the Hampton specialty stores. I had to head out to do my chores, but from the pictures posted, it looks like the shoppers had a good time. With shopping bags in hand, they boarded the buses for a trip to Latham Hi‑Tech Seeds, with headquarters on a Franklin County Century Farm.

John and Shannon are the third generation of Lathams to manage the family-owned seed business. They have added hybrid seed corn and Hi‑Tech forage to the product lineup, providing farmers with even more choices for their fields. Bloggers enjoyed learning how the Lathams contract with local farmers to produce seed beans, which are then brought to their plant in Alexander upon harvest. Controlling the handling of the soybeans from harvest through conditioning and bagging is what the Latham believes is key to their reputation for quality seed.

Following a soybean facility tour, we all enjoyed celebrating October #Pork Month with succulent loin sandwiches and Val Plagge’s Sweet & Spicy Hog Wild Baked Beans. While we enjoyed our delicious lunch, we also enjoyed a presentation about the North Iowa Ag in the Classroom group. Just four women talk to 10,000 kids a year about farming! Even though we live in a rural state, we learned that some North Iowa school kids believe corn stalks are bamboo. These ladies provide classroom materials about #RealPigFarming, ethanol production and soil conservation to name a few. All are important topics – topics that are greatly misunderstood by many adults.

As enjoyable as all of these tours were, the highlight of the weekend was definitely the combine rides! Saturday afternoon we traveled to Roy and Jeanie Arends’ farm. Although the soybeans were a little wet from all the rain we’ve had, Roy used it as an opportunity to explain why his ground needed to be tiled. This turned in to quite a question and answer session! Roy’s son, Andrew, even explained about GMOs.

Half of the blogger group stayed at the Arend’s farmer and half went to Ian and Val Plagge’s farm to combine some corn. Val even gave bloggers the chance to visit their pigs.

All of these tours and visits led to great understanding and some really interesting blog posts! Follow along with the hashtag #FranklinCoHarvest on Twitter and Facebook for a great recap from these bloggers:

• Corn, Beans, Pigs and Kids
• Donna Hup
• It’s Just Life – Finding the Extraordinary in the Ordinary
• Jeni Eats
• Sawdust and Embryos
• The Walking Tourists

Thanks to everyone who participated this year! It was an honor to help host this group of enthusiastic bloggers. Not only do they share their experiences here in Franklin County with many more people, but we have an opportunity to learn from them, too. It was another successful weekend, and I’m proud to have been a part of it.

Related Links:

• Field Fare & Family Fun Abound in Franklin County
• Bloggers Tour Proves the Power of Internet
• Small Steps Lead to Amazing Journey

October 5-11 is National 4-H Week, so club members and alumni across the U.S. will be sharing their success stories and encouraging others to “join the club.” Even if you were never in 4-H – and you’re past the age of joining – you can still get involved locally.

Join us Wednesday, Oct. 8, for a $5 lunch at the Fareway parking lot. Our goal is to have burgers grilled and ready for pickup almost as fast as any fast food drive-thru! Special thanks to the Franklin County Pork Producers and Latham Hi‑Tech Seeds, as well as Fareway grocery store, for their support of this fundraising event that supports scholarships in our county. We’ll start serving at 11 AM and will serve until 1 PM – or until we run out!

We’ve guaranteed 600 burgers with the option to purchase more, so I’m praying that Mother Nature cooperates and we have another strong turnout to support this important cause.

While there are many important causes being celebrated this month, 4-H is near and dear to my heart. (Yes, I’m still pledging my hands to larger service for my community and my world.) I have first-hand experience with the program as a 10-year member of the Coldwater Country Cousins 4-H Club in Butler County; as a state 4-H award winner; as a former member of the Iowa 4-H Council; as a former trustee for the Iowa 4-H Foundation; and as a current member of the Franklin County 4-H Foundation.

Through 4-H, I made friends with other 4-Hers who shared my same interests. Twenty-five years later, I’m still networking with 4-H friends from across the state! 4-H made a positive impact on my life and help me discover my love for journalism. Because of that, I’ve been lucky enough to enjoy every job I’ve ever held.

I want others to have the opportunity to discover their passions through 4-H. I also want them to let 4-H lead them to career success. For example, recently I had the opportunity to serve on a panel with other distinguished 4-H alumni and area business owners. We talked about how 4-H helps you prepare for the future. Business owners shared what they’re looking for in employees, and students were encouraged to ask questions. Following our discussion, students participated in mock interviews. Putting yourself in an interview situation takes you out of your comfort zone, so I commend the students who participated in this event. Experiences like this are also why I’m proud that both of our children are 4-H members, too.

Join @LathamSeeds in showing pride and support of the 4-H program this week through social media using the hash tags #Iam4H and #4HWeek.

Late last week I was contacted by our Ag in the Classroom staff from North Iowa Ag in the Classroom about a book being used in the Mason City sixth grade as a textbook. This nonfiction book by Micheal Pollan, entitled Omnivore’s Dilemma, is being used for every class – even art!

At first blush, it sounds like this book would be about all the food choices available in America. But that’s not the case! Omnivore’s Dilemma is filled with half-truths and misinformation. For example, Pollan implies that government subsidies force farmers to grow corn and Americans are becoming obese because corn is “hidden” in so many food products.

Pollen’s book also states that people are half made up of corn. Now this simply isn’t true! Using basic math, one can deduce this isn’t possible since the average human body is composed 60 percent of water. And that’s a fact! (Let fact, no fear, determine food acceptance. I support agriculture that improves the quality and quantity of food available.)

Thanks to Pollan’s nonfiction writing and the concern this “textbook” has caused among farmers and those who work with North Iowa’s Ag in the Classroom program, I found myself facing a dilemma… Should I combine my soybeans or head into the classroom?

Because I whole-heartedly believe we must connect farming and food to the classroomx, yesterday I found myself getting behind the wheel of my pickup rather than my combine. It honestly felt privileged to talk with six classes of sixth graders yesterday. My main message was to remind these middle school students, who are like a sponge absorbing information, to keep an open mind when reading information. I reminded them to consider the source of information and to not take all printed material as fact.

I also encouraged them to ask farmers question about why they do what they do. As you might expect, I got a lot of questions from them! These kids asked really thoughtful and engaging questions.

One young person asked, “If you think you’re going to lose money, why do you go ahead and plant your crops?”

“How do farmers get such big equipment?”

What kind of education does it take to become a farmer?

These kids had so many good questions! Another girl asked if I name my pigs. That opened up a conversation about the difference between pets and food production. We talk about the cycle of life and how some animal’s purpose in life is to become food. That’s natural. It happens in nature, too.

Conversations like this with non-farmers help us find common ground. I consider telling my farm’s story and educating consumers – even future consumers – to be a very important part of my operation. That’s why today I’ll be getting my pickup truck again, driving about 45 minutes north, and spending another full day talking to more students.

We all must keep sharing our farm story. It’s quite apparent other sources of information are getting into our schools, and that information might not be accurate!

I’ve been reading articles about income inequality, covering a wide array of topics, since the economy crashed in 2008. Wall Street has been picketed. The minimum wage is too low. Rich people are simply hoarding all the money. But in The Des Moines Register on Tuesday, Sept. 16, a front page-article by Mike Kilen explained how the Ag economy has contributed to growth in the rich-poor gap.

The story doesn’t out right blame farmers for causing this gap, but I did take it to be the underlying theme of the story. Admittedly, that’s my perception of the article. Kilen includes information from Iowa State University sociologist David Peters that three Iowa counties are in the nation’s top 10 for inequality of income growth. That’s not surprising as farming had a pretty good run from 2000-2012 while the economy, as a whole, did not. Logic tells me that this would make a spread.

Is it the farmers’ fault? Should the farmers be “fair” and share the gains made?

Before you answer “yes,” remember that farming goes in cycles. Farming was great in the 1970s, and then in the 1980s, we experienced a farm depression that took out many farmers. Those who survived were usually ended up farming more ground. Do the math: There are fewer farmers but the same amount of land is being farmed. Of course, the farmers are “bigger.” Is it their fault? Of course not! That’s how a capitalistic society functions.

These farmers took a risk by taking on more land, and they’ve enjoyed some good times. The last five years have been probably some of the best ever for farmers who were raising crops or livestock with strong market prices and were doing a decent job of controlling their business expenses.

Now, however, the cycle has turned. The price I can sell my soybeans and field corn for today is below the cost of production. My income this year will be well below minimum wage. It probably will be a negative income! Does anyone who stands to make a profit this year want to share his income with me? I’m sure there will be people standing in line, waiting to give their money to me, right? Not!

“It’s difficult to imagine the economic mindset of those who consider that government forcing an increase in the minimum wage can bring about improved prosperity,” was posted today on one of my friend’s Facebook pages yesterday.

Let’s ask ourselves if question: If economic prosperity through minimum wage levels promises such an advantage, why not mandate a minimum wage of $100 per hour or higher?

Those who see government as the great provider can’t seem to grasp the emptiness of their vision! Numerous attempts have been made to for the U.S. government to become all-powerful, the end-all and be-all. The results have been devastating, yet so many Americans continue to promote these failed beliefs.

Our country is headed in the direction of socialism. We want everyone to be equal… I see this in kids’ contests where every kid gets a ribbon or prize. I see it in this article in The Register article, indicating that all Iowans should have equal net worth.

Let’s examine why the net worth gap is spreading in Iowa. First of all, land values have increased significantly. The incomes of some farmers have followed, but not nearly as much as one might think because a lot of this value is only on paper.

Commodity prices, on the other hand, greatly impact the amount of disposable income farmers have to purchase new machinery and equipment and to build buildings or buy land. The more money there is made in farming, the more money gets released into the U.S. economy. But it takes more than that.

We must find the will for everyone to achieve. We need better jobs. We need to get people trained and educated to do those jobs! When I was running my construction business, one of my biggest constraints was finding people with the skills and “will” to work. Even the social fabric of our society played a role. Many employees would work until the state paperwork for child support caught up with them, and then they did not show up to work. I visited with a friend last week who is still involved in the construction, and his biggest challenge is finding people willing to do the work.

The spread in wealth brings to mind the story of Jack Ma, an entrepreneur from China. His company, Alibaba, went public last week. He worked hard and took a chance. He also had the knowledge and talent. Jack is now worth billions. Should we take away his incentive to dream big?

I know… Let’s allow tax policy to level the playing field as Senator Tom Harkin likes to say. After all, the Government is here to help you! I keep reading about all the programs USDA has to help the disadvantaged farmers get started.

Half of the people in this country are being subsidized by the other half! Keep this up, and we will take away even the most energetic worker’s will to succeed. If you take from one who is working and give to the one who isn’t working, doesn’t that limit the amount of work being done by both groups?

“When everybody owns something, nobody owns it, and nobody has a direct interest in maintaining or improving its condition. That is why buildings in the Soviet Union — like public housing in the United States — look decrepit within a year or two of their construction.”