“To appreciate farming today, one must understand history” was the main point I made in last week’s blog post. A few days after I posted that blog, I had the opportunity for a hands-on history lesson at the 3rd Annual Norris Threshing Day northwest of Mason City, Iowa.

It was a beautiful, late summer, Saturday afternoon. Some clouds floated by, giving a little shade once in a while, and a nice breeze was blowing. It was just one of those days when you’re thankful to be alive and able to enjoy the great outdoors.

As my wife, Janice, and I drove to into the lane, a nice A John Deere was popping away and singing on two cylinders. It was attached by a long belt to a threshing machine. This machine is like a stationary combine, separating the grain from the rest of the oat plant. The difference is that oats must be fed into the threshing machine, by hand, from a flat rack.

Preparing for threshing requires advanced preparation. The oats are first cut and put into shocks, which are bundles of plants tied together, days before. The shocks are then picked up by hand and put on flat racks, which are four-wheeled wagons that are pulled beside the thresher. The bundles are then thrown onto a conveyer with a pitch fork and conveyed into the thresher to be separated.

In the three hours that I was watching the threshers, less than 100 bushels of oats went into the wagon. Remember, this was just the threshing part. Hours were spent in advance, cutting and shocking the oats. Consider this… A modern combine can do ALL of these steps and harvest about the same amount of grain in 10 minutes!

Charlie Norris and his family had some other older machinery lined up around the field. Janice and I took a nice trip down memory lane, reminiscing about the “good old days.” We looked at outdated equipment like moldboard plows and small field cultivators, which were used to turn the soil black when I was a kid. (Today we leave crop residue on top of the soil to keep it from blowing away or washing away.)

I also saw many older John Deere tractors like the ones I used when I started farming in the 1970s and couldn’t help but think of all the advancements that have been made. The technology we use today has made farming so much less labor intensive – and safer. The hard labor and dangerous equipment used in the “good old days” played a large role in many farm kids getting an education and moving to the city for better pay, better hours, and not all the manual labor!

Thanks to new technology, many 30- to 45-years-old and are either returning to their rural roots or moving to rural areas for the first time. They’re bring high skill sets, such as college degrees and master’s degrees, and have a career path in place with outside connections.

Why the rural rebirth? Come see for yourself! A fall harvest bloggers tour, like we host in Franklin County, is a great way to see modern day farming in action. I’m on the planning committee for it this fall, so let me know if you’re interested in attending, even if you don’t blog. You can also learn more about modern farming by following along daily with the Iowa Food & Family Project. And, of course, you can always ask me questions!

Have you ever wondered what farming and our food system would look like if we farmed the way we did in “the good old days“? I found myself thinking about this topic as I had lots of windshield time to reflect while driving to the 7 meetings I attended last week. (So much for winter being the farmers’ meeting season!)

Every time I tried to decide how others would perceive farming in the good old days, I got hung up. When were the good old days?

Many folks believe farming was simpler before technology… but which technology? Technology has a different definition, depending on a person’s occupation or personal experience. Some might define the “good old days” as the time before we planted genetically modified crops. Others might define it before the advent of equipment like GPS and tractors with tracks instead of tires.

Yet today’s equipment allows us to better manage our land, reduce soil compaction and implement practices like minimum tillage. Today’s farming advances, such as herbicide application and genetically modified seeds, are the most talked about today. But why? What people do not understand, they often fear. Those oppose new technology capitalize on “fear of the unknown.” Fear is used to discredit new technology.

To understand agriculture today, we must know where it has evolved from. In 1790, 93% of the population of the United States was rural, most of them farmers. By 1990, barely 2% of our population farmed.

“The agriculture we have today in the United States is unique,” writes J. Paul Lilly, Associate Professor Emeritus, Department of Soil Science, North Carolina State University. “No nation has ever had so few people actively farming. This is a profound social change that has isolated most people from rural life and from an appreciation of the complexities and uncertainties of food production.”

As a young farm boy, I remember the many different types of crops and livestock we raised that provided food for our own family. We had dairy cows, beef cattle, hogs and chickens. I’ll never forget that goose that chased me and bit me in the belly or the sheep buck that nailed me in the rear as I carried two, 5-gallon pails of feed!

I remember farrowing pigs under flat racks in the pasture. (I could have been a track star because I had plenty of “training” as I ran to jump on the hay rack before a sow, protecting her baby pigs, could catch me!) I trekked several miles, walking soybean through fields and pulling weeds before the advent of Roundup Ready Soybeans. I learned to drive the “70” John Deere on the hay baler when I was six!

I could go on and on about “the good old days,” but I think you get the picture. Farming was a lot of hard, manual work back then. I’m still not sure how or why I survived, except maybe I was still needed to write this blog! I’m not saying that farming is not hard work today, but it’s a different type of work. We farm in a way that is safer and smarter. We also know a lot more about the need to fertilize (feed) plants, as well as protect the water and soil.

In the “good old days,” we plowed the fields until they were black. Farmers took pride in the fact that you couldn’t see a corn stalk when they had finished field work. Why was this a source of pride? The herbicides available then didn’t work if they were diluted by organic matter, or corn stalks. The equipment used then to make a seedbed plugged if the corn stalks were not completely buried. Planters at that time couldn’t plant uniformly if there were stalks, dirt clods or if the ground was uneven. We plowed, disked and field cultivated until that ground was powder.

This was back before we had terraces, buffer strips, or practiced contour farming. As a result, it was common to see road ditches full of black soil and streams full of silt. With black tillage, there wasn’t much room for wildlife to hide. I remember only seeing a deer one time as a young boy. That’s not the case today as wildlife has made a huge comeback. Every time I drive home after dark now, I’m watching for the next deer on the road. It’s not uncommon to see eagles soaring either.

The chemicals we use today are so much more environment friendly, too. When I started farming, it was a problem getting rid of all the pails the chemicals came in because we measured chemicals in gallons. Now we measure in ounces!

Minimum tillage and no till, made possible by new technology including Roundup Ready corn and soybeans, have made this comeback possible. New seed genetics allow crops to withstand conditions that the crops of my youth wouldn’t survive. They have better stalks and better roots. Today’s crops can withstand dry weather, insects, disease and just plain yield better.

When I think of all the new technology being developed today (drones, GPS, crop genetics), I’m even more confused about how to define “good old days.” Perhaps the best answer is the original garden… but even then, there was that darned old apple tree!

Consumers continue to have questions about how pigs are raised, and no one knows the answers better than real pig farmers, says Claire Masker.

As public relations manager for the National Pork Board, Claire’s main responsibilities are to create positive outreach materials for the U.S. Pork Industry and Pork Checkoff programs. Last month Claire invited me to talk about #agvocacy with a pioneering group of pig farmers from across the nation, who are participating in The Pork Checkoff’s new social media outreach program through #RealPigFarming.

“We want to empower producers to have meaningful, impactful conversations on social media with consumers about what happens on their farms,” explains Claire. “The hashtag (#) before Real Pig Farming helps people search social media posts with the same phrase, making it easier for them to follow conversations.”

#RealPigFarming brings together pig farmers, academics, youth, veterinarians and allied industry members to discuss key topics in modern pork production. Everyone with a passion for agriculture or a positive story to share about real pig farming is invited to use the #RealPigFarming in status updates, tweets, Instagram photos, blogs, vlogs and other social media updates. Visit www.facebook.com/RealPigFarming, or follow @RealPigFarming on Twitter.

“I have a passion for helping farmers and those involved in the food and agriculture industries tell their story,” says Claire. “We have a great story to tell about what farmers are doing to raise food for neighbors. As Kid President says ‘Create something that will make the world awesome,’ and I like helping farmers show the world all the awesomeness they create every day on their farms.”

Claire also puts #RealPigFarming into action. You can follow her on Twitter @ClaireMasker and on Instagram @ClaireMasker. Growing up the second of five kids on her family’s farm in Neola, Iowa, she always has a story to tell.

“My siblings and I had the ‘opportunity’ to work on our family farm. We raised row crops, cattle, hogs and sometimes had chicken and turkeys.I’ve done just about every job on the farm from walking beans and scooping out bunks to feeding livestock. I’ve also tried my best to operate a tractor and grain cart. There were times that I was jealous of all my ‘city’ friends. Now I look back at everything I learned and realize how blessed I am. I learned about hard work, as well as learned to respect animals and the land.”

After graduating from high school, Claire attended Iowa State University where she earned a bachelor’s degree in Agriculture Education – Communications Option and Animal Science. She also earned a Masters of Science in Agriculture Education. While earning her masters, Claire worked for the U.S. Pork Center of Excellence. She then went to work for the Iowa Corn Growers Association and the Iowa Corn Promotion Board as the communications manager where she managed the I-LEAD program and assisted with the Collegiate Advisory Team.

Today Claire is promoting the industry she loves by sharing one of her family’s favorite #pork recipes with us. Enjoy this recipe and remember to #ThankAFarmer! If you’d like to learn more about #RealPigFarming, here are links to a few blogs that I enjoy following:

• Musings of a Pig Farmer
• Corn, Bean, Pigs & Kids
• Food & Swine

In the past, I’ve written before about how people have different perceptions of farming based on their background and experiences. I’m bringing it up again because perception is becoming a very important word in the food debate. Just the other night, I heard someone say that our food is too cheap and that’s causing us to make poor food choices. The last I heard, 6.6% of American’s disposable income is used to buy food. That is much cheaper than any other country, but is food really too cheap? I’m sure a young, single mother trying to feed her kids will have a different perception of food costs!

Animal welfare is another area where perceptions often vary. The group of pigs I am now taking care of, are not the healthiest pigs I’ve had. Because of PEDV virus, it has taken an entire month – and 8 semi loads – to fill the barns. The first two deliveries brought me pigs that were very uneven in size, but the pigs appeared healthy enough. When I unloaded the last bunch of pigs, however, I knew immediately that I was going to have problems because I recognized symptoms of the PEDV virus.

This is a bad situation for so many reasons. First of all, receiving three different loads of pigs makes it difficult to reach of goal of being “all in, all out.” This means all the pigs from the same source come to us at the same time, at the same age, at approximately the same size, with the same disease pressures. Because they basically have the same needs, they’re ready for market at the same time.

The last two weeks have been rough because that third shipment of pigs brought sickness into my barns. I’ve been busy treating pigs individually with a syringe. With some extra care – combined with all the feed they want, plus fresh water, and the ideal temperature and fresh air – these pigs are getting healthy again.

Now there is a perception that raising pig indoors isn’t the best way. Some folks believe pigs should be rooting around outside, but I can tell you from experience that my hog barns have kept these little pigs very comfortable as I treat them. Regardless of how or where a pig is raised, there are always going to be some that get sick and die. It’s just a fact.

Ever since I’ve been raising pigs, I have tried my best to save every one. Sometimes no amount of treatment will ever heal an animal, so farmers must decide how we’re going to handle the situation. Should we let the poor animal suffer until it dies a natural death, or should we take it out of its misery?

It’s very difficult to watch an animal suffer, knowing there’s nothing you can do to help it. That’s why I don’t! When a pig is suffering and has not shown any improvement within 48 hours, I do euthanize that pig in the most “humane” way possible. I believe I must do what’s best for the animals in my care – regardless of others’ perception.