FRIDAY, JANUARY 27, 2012
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Farm Focus AN ANNUAL SPECIAL SECTION FROM THE JG-TC
‘THIS TECHNOLOGY IS WAY OUTSIDE THE BOX’
Soaring value of farmland has investors buying in BY ROB STROUD JG-TC Staff Writer
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Farmer Todd Easton demonstrates part of ag Management Solutions advanced farming system that is a control component of his tractor Jan. 18 at his farm near Charleston.
New technology helps farmers maximize yields ‘It’s not how hard you work now but how efficient you are’ BY HERB MEEKER JG-TC Staff Writer
CHARLESTON — Todd Easton, like many farmers, knows technology helps keep the yields and revenue return in balance. But in recent years, he has added a “smart tractor” and other technology to his operations that put some field tasks in cyberspace and the equipment cab. “We started out with yield mapping about 2000,” said Easton, whose family farm corporation works 3,400 acres, including outright ownership fields or custom farming for two neighbors, in Coles and Douglas counties. “We’ve kind of grown with it since. Now we are looking at advanced farming systems with selfsteering of the tractors and systems where parts of the sprayer or the planter will be shut off automatically so you don’t overlap in a field.” Though these advanced systems are expensive, they can pay dividends in the long run, Easton said. “When I put a pencil to it on what it can save me, it amounted to a good return. It helps us with doing our job to get the most out of the field,” Easton said. Brian Shobe of Arends Brothers John Deere in Ashmore explained the ag Management Solutions technology connecting tractors and combines through interchangeable wireless receivers — called “globes” with their bright yellow domed tops — can provide sub-inch accuracy for planting and harvesting.
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Advanced farming system monitors in the cab of Charleston farmer Todd Easton’s tractor provide accurate location, planting and harvesting information.
“When I put a pencil to it on what it can save me, it amounted to a good return. It helps us with doing our job to get the most out of the field.” “When they plant in the spring the same measurements will be there in the data system for each stage of the crops. And with our system we can serve farmers over many miles,” Shobe said. Other increasing costs for farmers makes these technological advances a benefit for seeking the best bottom line. “A (container) of seed corn costs $300 if you overplant on each pass, then it adds up. Considering that, you can pay for this equipment quickly,” Shobe said. “This technology is way outside the box. But it’s all about maximizing your return,” said Brian Medsker of Schilling Brothers John Deere of Mat-
toon. “You have to structure your farm operation where you’re not wasting seed or anything else. When you buy seed today it’s not in big bags but mini-bulks. Now with this technology farmers will have some left over. So it is easy to see what you’re saving.” These advances are making it easier for farmers to control more and more from the equipment cab at different stages of a crop year. For example, new advances can have the combine operator speeding up the unloading of the hopper with wireless integration of other equipment in the field, much like two relay runners completing a baton exchange during a track
meet. Time wasted can be costly to farmers. Easton can see the benefits of the integrated technology for combine unloading operations. “That’s unloading on the run. I’d love to control it from the combine cab like that,” Easton said. The combine and tractor cab will eventually become true mobile offices for farmers conducting transactions and market checks, Easton said. Right now, he uses a Blackberry device. Placing his laptop in the cab at this point can be awkward on spacing at times. See TECH, 3
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CHARLESTON — Auctioneer Mike Stanfield had never seen Coles County farmland without commercial prospects sell for $10,500 per acre until last month, when a 240-acre track netted this figure. The Stanfield Auction Co. owner said this $10,500 high followed local farmland values increasing from $7,500$8,000 per acre to $9,000$10,000 per acre during the last two years, following a national trend of rising values. “I would say right now is a definite high in the market that seems to be nationwide,” Stanfield said. Carl Probst, a Lerna grain farmer who serves on the Coles County Farm Bureau Board, said Coles County farmland values have made a “huge jump” as they follow a trend that has been seen in Iowa and other big grain-producing states. “You might say they are at an all-time high. We have had run-ups in land prices in the past but nothing this lofty,” Probst said. Stanfield, Probst and others whose work involves farmland sales attribute this trend to corn and soybean prices rising, interest rates remaining stable, and farmland becoming increasingly popular with investors. Pat Harrington, director of farm services for First MidIllinois Bank & Trust in Mattoon, said growing demand for corn and soybeans in developing countries has helped grain prices rise at a steady rates since 2005, when they were valued at the cost of production or even below. Harrington said rising grain prices have boosted farmland values and brought in more income that farmers can use to purchase additional land, as well as equipment, conservation measures and buildings. Stanfield said real estate has highs and lows but overall it is one of the safest investments, especially in comparison to the volatile stock market. He added that farmland yields a higher rate of return than certificates of deposit or savings accounts, for example. “Land is a commodity. It does have value. It is commodity that is bought and sold and traded,” Stanfield said. Coles County Supervisor of Assessments Chad Turner said he has seen more investors from outside of the
“You might say they are at an alltime high. We have had run-ups in land prices in the past but nothing this lofty.” area purchasing farmland to rent out during the last couple of years, although it has not been a large increase. Turner said these investors are willing to bid high for farmland because they feel confident that they can recoup their investment in the long term. Stanfield said he has been promoting auctions in a region that covers three to five states to capitalize on the higher land values and on prospective buyers’ online research. He said the scarcity of available of farmland has prompted buyers to look farther afield. Probst said a tract of land might only be on the market once in a lifetime, so bidding for this tract can become intense from prospective buyers inside and outside of Coles County. Although grain and farmland values are high, all of those interviewed for the JGTC Farm Focus cautioned that this doesn’t mean farmers are amassing great wealth because of these market conditions. For example, Probst said diesel fuel for farming climbed to nearly $4 per gallon last summer. The costs of equipment, fertilizer, seed, meeting environmental regulations, and other expenses have continued to grow. “The actual profit per acre, while it is up, is not at skyhigh levels for farmers,” Harrington said. Regarding the future of farmland values, Harrington said prices will likely level off somewhat in the future but will still have a positive long-term outlook because of the growing demand overseas for grains that farmers produce. Stanfield projected that farmland values will likely be steady to high during the immediate future. Probst remained cautious about the prospects for these values. “There will probably be a time when farmland values will turn around and come back soon,” Probst said. Contact Stroud at rstroud@jgtc.com or 238-6861.
INSIDE FARM FOCUS Coles County SWCD Farmer of the Year . . . . . . . . . . page 2 Coles County Farm Bureau Outstanding Member . . . .page 4 U of I Extension local Director Jim Looft . . . . . . . . . .page 5 Mattoon High School’s renewed ag curriculum . . . . . page 6 Cumberland County SWCD top conservationist . . . . . page 8 Central Illinois soil is vineyard’s secret . . . . . . . . . . page 11 Arthur’s ‘curcurbit connoisseur’ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 11 Greenup family hooked on raising llamas . . . . . . . . page 14 Effingham County SWCD family of the year . . . . . . page 15 Beekeeping class set in Effingham . . . . . . . . . . . . . .page 17 Rardin farm include ‘hoop house’ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .page 18
2 FARM FOCUS ● FRIDAY, JANUARY 27, 2012
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Coles County Soil and Water Conservation District 2012 Farmer of the Year Jim Payne is pictured Jan. 13 at his property between Oakland and Ashmore in rural Coles County.
Payne honored by Coles County SWCD for tending to the land BY DAVE FOPAY JG-TC Staff Writer
OAKLAND — Jim Payne isn’t exactly a farmer in the traditional sense. There are some crops grown on ground he owns, but he focuses more on preserving or restoring the natural aspects of the land. Payne owns tracts of land totalling just more than 400 acres in Coles County, all between Ashmore and Oakland and all bordering rivers or streams. A resident of Urbana, he said his desire to protect the land comes from things like seeing the “mind boggling” amount of materials that University of Illinois students “routinely toss” in the trash. “It’s just seeing so much of our planet trashed,” Payne said. “We can’t keep living like that.” In addition to his efforts to help the plants and animal habitat on his land, Payne also works to remove debris and
recycle it. This all led the Coles County Soil and Water Conservation District to name him its “Conservation Farmer of the Year” for 2010; the 2011 award hasn’t been handed out yet. In presenting the award, the district recognized Payne’s participation in federal programs that helps land owners set aside habitat for plants and wildlife. It said the award was for his “continuing work in land and resource conservation.” Payne said he first bought land for preservation in Piatt County about nine years ago and he would have liked more. But tracts along the Sangamon River that he wanted to use for conservation weren’t readily available because they were attractive to developers, he said. He first bought land in Coles County in 2004 and said most of it is woodlands with mature oak and hickory trees. There
needs to be more controlled burns to eliminate sugar maples and other plants because, he said, “in good condition, it’s pretty rare” to have a woodlands of that makeup. Removing native plants like sugar maples and honey locust will reduce competition for the other trees that are more typical of the area, Payne said. The work to bring the land to “pre-settlement” conditions also includes not only taking out non-native plants but also taking down fences and getting rid of the junk others left behind. Payne said as soon as he bought the property he started digging up numerous tires that a previous owner buried in a ravine. He said he’s sure the work will be “never-ending” but, at the same time, he enjoys working hard, being outdoors and learning more about the natural world. “It’s just that it’s a lot of fun,” he said. “I have no doubt
that this will be the rest of my life.” He said he gets a lot of help from others, including the local Embarras Volunteer Stewards volunteer group. He also conducts spring wildflower walks on the land and said people can call him at 344-7840 if they want to arrange visits. “We’re not just doing this for ourselves,” Payne said. “We need to get the public out and get them interested in our natural areas.” Payne said his plans will take years to accomplish but he’s glad to see examples of success such as fewer invasive plants on the property. “When I’m dead and gone, when you walk on it, it will be different,” he said. “You may not know why but you’ll realize it’s different.”
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A mountain of tires that were buried in various locations by a previous tenant at Coles County Soil and Water Conservation District 2012 Farmer of the Year Jim Payne’s land and that await EPA pickup are pictured Jan. 13 at his property between Oakland and Ashmore in rural Coles County.
Ohio legislation would boost farm loan program COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The state would have more money to make discounted loans available to farmers who want to grow their businesses under a proposal from Republicans who control the Ohio Legislature. A House bill, along with companion legislation in the Senate, would extend the state’s Agricultural Linked Deposit program, called AgLINK, according to reports by media outlets. The program’s maximum annual funding available through the state Treasury would increase from $125 mil-
lion to $165 million. An individual farmer could borrow up to $150,000 at a reduced interest rate, up from the current cap of $100,000. Ag-LINK “has been a real good program for smaller farms and agricultural businesses,” state Rep. Brian Hill of Zanesville, a co-sponsor of the House bill, told the Times Recorder of Zanesville. “It’s particularly helpful for the young farmer just starting out that maybe doesn’t have the assets.“ The loans allow many farmers to buy feed, seed, fertilizer, fuel and pay other operating
costs that come up front, at the start of the growing season. “Many young farmers particularly, or beginning farmers, find that they have a wealth of knowledge but a lack of capital,” Beth Vanderkooi, director of state policy for the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation, told The Columbus Dispatch. Ag-LINK was launched in 1985. Since that time, it has loaned about $2.8 billion to more than 40,000 Ohio farmers, including more than 800 in 67 counties during 2011, said Bill Bishilany, deputy state treasurer.
The state funds the program by placing deposits with eligible financial institutions at below-market rates; lenders then reduce interest rates on the farmers’ operating loans. The House bill is sponsored by Hill and Robert Sprague of Findlay; the Senate bill is sponsored by Sen. Bill Beagle, of Tipp City. They say they hope the proposed changes will give the economy a boost. “This is about jobs. This is about family farms,” Hill said. “This is putting money back into these communities, so smaller family farms can thrive and prosper.“
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FRIDAY, JANUARY 27, 2012 ● FARM FOCUS 3
Winter wheat plantings rise amid higher prices BY ROXANA HEGEMAN Associated Press
WICHITA, Kan. — Heartened by higher prices and easing drought conditions, the nation’s farmers planted winter wheat on much more of their land this season — a move that could drive down prices at harvest time if production from all those acres comes to fruition amid an uncertain weather pattern. Across the country, the amount of winter wheat planted for harvest in 2012 came in at 41.9 million acres, the National Agricultural Statis-
tics Service reported Thursday. That is an increase of 3 percent from 2011 and up 12 percent from 2010. The agency credited the increase to the higher prices and a rebound in planted acreage in the major producing states of Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas, where dry conditions had limited planting the previous season. Winter wheat is planted in the fall and harvested in early summer. Farmers and agricultural analysts had anticipated that more acres would be used for
winter wheat given the welcomed precipitation last fall and the acres left idle after other summer crops failed. But Kansas State University economist Dan O’Brien said most analysts had not expected that the amount of acreage planted would increase so much. O’Brien said if farmers get adequate rain or snow in the spring, those added acres would mean more bushels that would tend to increase the supply and lower crop prices. “There is a lot of uncertainty and weather trends in place
that really raise the question of whether that will happen,” O’Brien said. “I don’t think we can say that is going to happen yet with a lot of certainty.” The La Nina weather pattern is still hanging around and that tends to mean drier conditions in wheat-growing areas, he said. Texas Panhandle wheat farmer David Cleavinger, a past president of the National Association of Wheat Growers, is in a holding pattern on what he’ll do with the 1,200 acres of winter wheat he planted a bit
late last fall because of the state’s historic drought. Though they have gotten timely rains and some snow the past few months, the wheat plants are “really, really small” in height, he said. “There’s enough moisture for it right now, but there’s no submoisture whatsoever,” Cleavinger said. When the wheat comes out of dormancy, “it’s going to need more moisture. We keep hoping we get an 18-inch snow storm. It will be OK if we get more rain.” As he waits, Cleavinger will be considering what to do with
the wheat he ends up with: He can sell it as grain, sell it to cattle feedlots as silage made from wheat, cut it and sell it for hay at a time in Texas where there is little supply and prices are high — as much as $250 a ton — or let cattle graze in his fields. “Odds of hay prices being pretty good should be an advantage for us to take it for hay rather than taking it to grain,” Cleavinger said. “It all is tied back to weather and rain. So if you don’t have moisture, you don’t have those options.”
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An ag Management Solutions interchangeable wireless receiver, otherwise known as a ‘globe’ sits atop Todd Easton’s tractor Jan. 18 at his farm near Charleston.
TECH From page 1 “The computers in the tractors now are mainly dedicated to the equipment. But in the future they will make it easier to pick up the markets or other data,” he said. The future is now for Easton’s farming legacy. He has a 1-year-old son who loves tractors. “Yesterday, I was holding him and the shed door was open and he kept pointing at the tractor. He wanted to go for a ride. So I think he might want to farm someday,” Easton said. “If he’s going to be a farmer, he’s going to have to learn a lot.” Medsker agreed the learning curve is rising for farmers. Technology is once again changing the industry and expectations of producers. “The whole prototype of the American farmer jumping into the tractor seat and going back and forth in the field is ending. There will be a drastic learning curve and some farmers have to relearn the trade. It’s not how hard you work now but how efficient you are,” Masker said. In 20 years, farming technology might take a quantum leap that will make the equipment cab a control center from planting to harvest. And another generation of the Easton family might be
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4 FARM FOCUS ● FRIDAY, JANUARY 27, 2012
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“We went to a Young Farmers’ meeting on our second date. We had Pagliai’s and then went to the meeting.”
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Coles County Farm Bureau Outstanding Member of the Year 2011 award winners Alan and Becky Metzger are pictured Jan. 19 at their farm near Charleston.
Metzgers are Coles Co. Farm Bureau Outstanding Member of the Year BY DAWN JAMES JG-TC Staff Writer
CHARLESTON — “Teach us to delight in the simple things” is a motto stenciled across the top of a wall in the kitchen of Alan and Becky Metzger of rural Charleston. The philosophy of just being happy with the details of life and its simplicity is what the Metzger family is all about. Alan and Becky Metzger have been married for 30 years and have two children: Dale and wife Yvette of Dallas, and Kristin and husband Nick Miller of Washington, Ill. The family has traveled extensively but are most content on their own farm. “This is our favorite place in the world. It’s our favorite place to be,” said Mrs. Metzger. Their farm is located at 10208 N County Rd. 1420 E., Charleston. They are very passionate about preserving the family farm and are very happy that their ancestors settled here long, long ago. They keep their children involved in their farm operations. Mr. Metzger graduated from Charleston High School and Lake Land College in Mattoon with an associate degree in agriculture production. In 1981, he began farming full-time on the family farm. He continues to farm with his brother Stan, and they raise feeder cattle and operate a grain farm. Throughout the years, Alan and Becky Metzger have been active in a variety of organizations. Alan was president of CCFB from 1994-2009. He has been on the CCFB Board of Directors since 1985, involved with Farmers Grain of Dorans, Coles Together and the Chamber of Commerce. Together they have been involved with Excellence in Education, PTO, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, the Chamber of Commerce, the CCFB Foundation Silent Auction and St. Charles Catholic Church. For their dedication and volunteerism with the Coles County Farm Bureau from their time as Young Farmers until today, they have received the Coles County Farm Bureau Outstanding Member of the Year Award for 2011. “It’s people like them that make this grassroots organization a strong and viable one,” said Mary Cox, CCFB manager. Alan’s parents, James and Evelyn Metzger, received this same award in 1999. His dad was a former president who helped found the CCFB Foundation. Metzger can remember as a kid going to annual meetings at Charleston High School and the cooks prepared the meal. He said the kids would try to sneak away to peek into
Coach Baker’s varsity basketball practice. Alan and Becky were in Young Farmers at age 19 and 18, respectively. “We went to a Young Farmers’ meeting on our second date,” she said. “We had Pagliai’s and then went to the meeting.” The Metzgers were named the Coles-Moultrie Electric couple of the year in 1983 and to the Top 6 Young Farmers in 1987 when Alan served as president of Young Farmers. They went to all the Young Farmer events in the area and statewide, she said. In 1985 he was named to the CCFB board of directors and continues in the role today. His wife said he has missed very few meetings in his time there. Mr. Metzger said he thought he had missed three. He reminisced about missing one when they took their daughter Kristin to serve her college internship in Florida. His wife laughed and said she was sure they were tired of giving him perfect attendance awards. Most of his accomplishments with the Coles County Farm Bureau are related to his duties as president. He traveled to Washington, D.C. at one point to lobby on behalf of the farm bureau. While he couldn’t remember what year it was, he said things were tough economically for the farmer at that time. He also served on two committees that he said he enjoyed very much and were worthwhile. One was a committee that as president of the CCFB he approached Coles Together to improve relations or to help mesh urban and rural entities. Another was serving on the president’s cabinet at EIU. Mrs. Metzger was a homemaker for many years. She currently works at Lifetime Eye Care in Charleston. In her spare time, she enjoys quilting and has donated quilts to the Big Brothers/Big Sisters charity events and the Coles County Silent Auction. She has also been involved with the women’s committee and has volunteered her time to various Farm Bureau events. When her husband served as president of CCFB, she settled into the role of first lady and made county attendees feel welcome at the suite during the IAA annual meetings. Mr. Metzger said she was known for her goody bags of snacks for those attending the meetings that were held traditionally in Chicago and St. Louis. Mr. Metzger serves on the CCFB Foundation that his father helped develop. In 2008, when his dad died, the family created a scholarship in his name. They asked in
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lieu of flowers at his funeral for the donations to be made for a foundation scholarship in James Metzger’s name. There was enough money donated to fund a four-year scholarship. In the years since, the Metzger family, including Metzger’s mom, has continued to match the scholarship. Last year, the CCFB Foundation was able to offer more
than $19,000 worth of scholarships to Coles County residents. The awards are granted to both high school and college graduates. “When you live long enough, you can do some things,” Metzger said with a laugh.
Contact James at djames@jgtc.com or 238-6866.
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FRIDAY, JANUARY 27, 2012 ● FARM FOCUS 5 County director Jim Looft is pictured Jan. 17 at the Coles, Cumberland, Douglas, Moultrie and Shelby County University of Illinois Extension main office at the Northwest Business Park in Charleston.
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Looft rolls with Extension changes early in his tenure BY DAVE FOPAY JG-TC Staff Writer
CHARLESTON — Jim Looft uses the word “evolving” to describe the world of farmers and he thinks it’s his role to help them with the changes. Looft has been through some changes himself. Once the director of a single county University of Illinois Extension office, he now oversees the organization’s programs in five counties at a time when the role of the service is changing as well. A native of LaSalle County, Looft spent time working as a farm manager in Kentucky and Tennessee and had other farm jobs before he became Shelby County Extension director in 2002. All the time, he’s been motivated by a love of farming he learned from his father, who farmed all his life. “I’ve just always enjoyed the part of it where you’re putting something together and watching it grow,” he said. “It was always fascinating. It was always rewarding.” And while that comment was about growing crops and livestock, it could also apply to how Looft looks at the changes
in the Extension service. Restructuring that began last year, largely because of the state’s budget problems, means he’s now director not only for Coles County but for Cumberland, Douglas, Moultrie and Shelby counties as well. The restructuring came about the same time as the retirement of longtime Coles County Extension Director Sharon Kuhns, which led to Looft first becoming director in Coles County on an interim basis. He said the recent changes follow those during the Extension’s last restructuring 10 years ago when agriculture was “somewhat deemphasized.” But while there’s less of a chance for outreach programs, especially in agriculture and in family and consumer science, the Extension units do have more educators in some areas, he noted. For example, one educator conducts programs on family life, including child raising, aging, nutrition and wellness. Looft said he wants to make sure the people who need those services know that
they’re available. “Those are resources where we have to reach out,” Looft said. “It’s how we’re in a better position than before. Everybody’s working together really, really well.” The larger units can also offer programs such as one that teaches leadership to young people. Looft said it gives the ones who are accepted exposure to what’s happening in other counties “and beyond.” Also, the youngsters can share what they learn back home, “which should carry through their lives,” he said.
While Looft can’t spend as much time as he did before with public officials and Extension funding providers, he still hopes that interaction can increase eventually. He’s also happy to see more opportunities in 4-H and other programs because staff meets together and shares ideas. “Everybody understands that these are hard budget times,” Looft said. “It’s a time when people need to continue to work.”
JG-TC Staff Writer
URBANA — A show of support for a specialty license plate for 4-H will help whether or not the plate actually becomes available, an official with the organization says. Donations to show support for the license plate are still well below the minimum needed, according to Angie Barnard, executive director of the Illinois 4-H Foundation. But the organization will still get the money donated if the minimum isn’t reached, she said. The foundation continues to promote the program but has to deal with obstacles such as 4-H reorganization that’s forced the group to prioritize what it can do with less staff, she explained. “We would all love to have a 4-H license plate but we really need the people in the local communities to support it.” Barnard said. Currently, supporters can fill out a form and send a $25 donation to show that they want the 4-H license plate to become a reality. A total of 1,500 support donations are needed by the end of August and Barnard said about 300 had been received by around the middle of this month. If the donations reach the level where the license plate can be issued, a contributor would receive credit for the $25 donation when purchasing one of the plates. Also, $10 of
the fee to get the plate or to renew it would go to 4-H. “As long as we have a 4-H plate, we’re going to get that 10 bucks,” Barnard said. In addition to a “constant revenue source, the organization would benefit by the increased visibility that the license would bring, she said. Barnard said the money raised from the donations and, if they come about, the plate fees will be used for “programs that affect all counties in Illinois,” wherever needed. She added that some people are confused and think they can get the 4-H specialty license plates now, but that’s not the case unless the donation mark is reached. Also, she said, the Illinois Secretary of State’s Office raised the minimum number of support donations needed for a specialty plate from 800 to 1,500 two years ago. The donation form is available at the “license plate” link on the foundation’s website, 4hfoundation.illinois.edu. A $25 check written to Illinois Secretary of State must accompany the donation, as the state agency will tally the support, though the money will go to 4H. The donations should then be sent to the Illinois 4-H Foundation, 1401 S. Maryland Drive, 106 Taft House, Urbana, IL, 61801. Contact Fopay at dfopay@jgtc.com or 238-6858.
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6 FARM FOCUS ● FRIDAY, JANUARY 27, 2012
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Renewed ag program at MHS leads many students to more career choices BY HERB MEEKER
new FFA chapter helped prepare her for college. “It helped me being with FFA to become a better leader and student with eight years of school ahead,” Gillespie said. She believes the high ratio of female students in ag classes at MHS reflects on a trend in the entire agricultural industry. “There is a changing role for women in agriculture. More women are involved in farming and with the business side,” Gillespie said. Though her career could take her anywhere, Gillespie, a former youth rodeo barrel racer, wants to come back to her roots in Central Illinois by opening a horse surgery clinic in the future. “I’d like to come back with the family having land at Lake Mattoon. In vet medicine you face something different every day,” she said.
JG-TC Staff Writer
MATTOON — Clay Walker remembers when his future job path was not clearly marked. From a farming family in Coles County, he wanted to seek the best higher education options possible. But when he first entered Mattoon High School five years ago, there was no agriculture curriculum. It had not existed there for many years. During his sophomore year at MHS, that changed with the renewal of agriculture and vocational-related courses. Walker, now an ag major studying at Lake Land College, believes the change helped secure his future. “If I didn’t have a chance at the ag program in high school I would have been behind in college,” Walker said. Lake Land College Agriculture Division Chairman Jon Althaus said the renewal of the ag classes at Mattoon High School has had a positive impact at the community college. “We are getting excellent students here from Mattoon. They are receiving excellent instruction and a passion for learning based on the work of Ryan Wildman (ag teacher at MHS),” Althaus said. “We’re getting 10 to 15 students from the Mattoon ag program. “Before the vocational-agriculture program started up again there, the Mattoon students were not necessarily directed to our program. In some cases they were not aware of the different options they had.” Wildman said a community effort helped start the new agriculture program at MHS after a hiatus over two decades. She is reaping the results of that decision. “It was a combination of parents, school board members, business owners and school administrators. It’s a very long list and they did it. When I came in the work was all done,” Wildman said. But under Wildman, the ag studies are not just experiencing a renewal but a renaissance with lessons in hightechnology learning and alternative options like landscaping and farm economics, in addition to the traditional classes in ag mechanics and crop production. There is also a heavy emphasis on Future Farmers of America participation as well. “We are covering the applications of GPS on planting
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Mattoon High School senior Felicity Shoultz works on a T-joint welding exercise in one of the many agriculture classes at the high school, part of a diverse curriculum for the program.
“There’s something new on technology every day in this business. You have to know how to work it or fix it.” and spraying. There are units on computerized recordkeeping, too. We want to get them familiar with technology as much as possible,” Wildman said. Like many teachers in vocational-related studies, she taps professionals in the community for inspiring her students. Brian Davis of Schilling Brothers John Deere comes to MHS and Lake Land College to talk about job opportunities and what students need to learn for a better chance at landing those jobs. “I tell them our guys in the shop always work with technology and our sales do, too. A prime example of how things are changing is the new John Deere field cultivator. It has a computer touchscreen for setting the depth. Not long ago it just had a crank to control it. There’s something new on technology every day in this business. You have to know how to work it or fix it,” said Davis.
Audrey Cox, an MHS graduate and University of Illinois senior finishing up her studies in agricultural communications, gained more than a few class credits when ag classes came back during her last year in high school. She was vice president of the newly formed Future Farmers of America chapter at Mattoon. “There was a lot of excitement that year because we were able to suddenly take part in FFA. If it wasn’t for FFA I might not have chosen to go into agriculture in college. It was a lot of grassroots work for us and Mrs. Wildman did a fantastic job,” Cox said. The confidence-building experiences in high school helped her excel in different ways in college, Cox said.
During her sophomore year at the U of I, she maintained a Facebook page for a major livestock exhibition in Louisville, Ky. In many ways, the sky’s the limit for Cox, who might pursue a career in seed sales or communications with a major ag-business firm after graduation. Autumn Gillespie, another MHS alumnus from the startup year for the ag program, had always dreamed of a career in veterinary medicine. In her senior year at Eastern Illinois University, Gillespie is now ready to apply for veterinary medicine school at the U of I. That means another four years of college. Gillespie believes the agriculture restart at MHS and serving as president of the
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Bugs may be resistant to genetically modified corn BY RICK CALLAHAN Associated Press
One of the nation’s most widely planted crops — a genetically engineered corn plant that makes its own insecticide — may be losing its effectiveness because a major pest appears to be developing resistance more quickly than scientists expected. The U.S. food supply is not in any immediate danger because the problem remains isolated. But scientists fear potentially risky farming practices could be blunting the hybrid’s sophisticated weaponry. When it was introduced in 2003, so-called Bt corn seemed like the answer to farmers’ dreams: It would allow growers to bring in bountiful harvests using fewer chemicals because the corn naturally produces a toxin that poisons western corn rootworms. The hybrid was such a swift success that it and similar varieties now account for 65 percent of all U.S. corn acres — grain that ends up in thousands of everyday foods such as cereal, sweeteners and cooking oil. But over the last few summers, rootworms have feasted on the roots of Bt corn in parts of four Midwestern states, suggesting that some of the insects are becoming resistant to the crop’s pest-fighting powers. Scientists say the problem could be partly the result of farmers who’ve planted Bt corn year after year in the same fields. Most farmers rotate corn with other crops in a practice long used to curb the spread of
pests, but some have abandoned rotation because they need extra grain for livestock or because they have grain contracts with ethanol producers. Other farmers have eschewed the practice to cash in on high corn prices, which hit a record in June. “Right now, quite frankly, it’s very profitable to grow corn,” said Michael Gray, a University of Illinois crop sciences professor who’s tracking Bt corn damage in that state. A scientist recently sounded an alarm throughout the biotech industry when he published findings concluding that rootworms in a handful of Bt cornfields in Iowa had evolved an ability to survive the corn’s formidable defenses. Similar crop damage has been seen in parts of Illinois, Minnesota and Nebraska, but researchers are still investigating whether rootworms capable of surviving the Bt toxin were the cause. University of Minnesota entomologist Kenneth Ostlie said the severity of rootworm damage to Bt fields in Minnesota has eased since the problem surfaced in 2009. Yet reports of damage have become more widespread, and he fears resistance could be spreading undetected because the damage rootworms inflict often isn’t apparent. Without strong winds, wet soil or both, plants can be damaged at the roots but remain upright, concealing the problem. He said the damage he observed in Minnesota came to light only because storms in 2009 toppled corn plants with damaged roots.
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Residents cite concerns over proposed hog farm CARTHAGE (AP) — Some residents in western Illinois are worried about a proposed hog confinement in Hancock County, citing environmental concerns because of a concentration of sow farms in the region. “Nobody wants one of these near their home,” said area resident Ken Hunerdosse, who lives near two hog farms and where a third is proposed. “The problem is so many are going into this
concentrated location.” Junction Acres LLC has proposed a 5,600-sow farm in a rural area near Carthage, which is expected to produce 2,500 pigs weekly, the Quincy Herald-Whig reported. Hunerdosse, who is part of the environmental group called Save Our Rural Environment, said he is worried about contamination in the water supplies, odor and impact on the environment.
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Matthew Higginbotham poses for a photo in the shop at Schilling Brothers Inc. in Casey Jan. 12.
John Deere Ag Tech guides a career path for graduates BY DAWN SCHABBING JG-TC Staff Writer
CASEY — Matthew Higginbotham loves everything there is about farming. But, when it came time to choose a career path, he knew farming wasn’t feasible for him. “I like to farm. All of my family farms. But, it left us with too many farmers and not enough acres. I always liked working on stuff and I had taken all the ag mechanics classes at Martinsville High School, so this seemed like the right direction for me,” he said. Higginbotham was referring to the John Deere Ag Tech program at Lake Land College, which gives its graduates the skill level needed to be employed as a service technician at a dealership. Successful students can come away with certifications in service adviser, hydraulic, and electrical for John Deere equipment. “So, this is the closest I can get to farming, without farming,” said the technician at Schilling Bros. John Deere in Casey. Higginbotham, 23, is a 2007 graduate of Martinsville High School and is the son of Greg and Carla Higginbotham. He graduated from Lake Land College’s John Deere Ag Tech program in 2009. He has a twin brother, Philip; another brother, Jared; and a sister, Kelly. He and his wife, Amy, live in Martinsville. “The program starts out pretty basic, so at first it was a lot of review for me, since I had the ag mechanics background. The electrical class was a challenge. But, once you are around this stuff, it all makes sense. It is much harder looking at it in a book,” he said. He has worked at the Casey implement dealership since 2007. But, honestly, he said, it wasn’t his first career idea. “In high school I always liked numbers and math, and I almost went on to be an accountant. But, I knew I didn’t want to sit at a desk,” said Higginbotham. The curriculum was designed by John Deere and Lake Land College and addresses the full range of technological advances in agricultural mechanization, focusing on John Deere’s ag and turf equipment, according to the program’s website. Formed in 1993, the idea came from John Deere and was first used at a community college in Milford, Neb., said Lake Land College’s Allen Drake, a John Deere Tech instructor for 16 years. “When you graduate from the John Deere program, providing you are a decent student, you are ready to go into a dealership and be ready to start working,” said Higginbotham. He works on tractors, combines, autotrack and John Deere guidance systems. “I came into this company at a good time. I’m pretty comfortable where I’m at. I
don’t know it all. I’m still learning. But, I’m comfortable,” said Higginbotham. According to Drake, five years after graduation, about 50 percent of the program’s students are still in the industry. They may have moved to a different dealer, but they are still doing the same job. “We have graduated 277 students since 1995 with one female, who is doing very well, currently in the program. We have been having great success with returning military,” said Drake, who has been with LLC for 20 years. And it’s about life-long learning. John Deere is always training its technicians on new equipment. “You never quit learning once you are here. But, you start out with a good foundation. Lake Land College does a good job making sure you know what you are doing,” he said. Higginbotham and the Schilling Brothers service manager, Robert Jenkins, said the program’s Supervised Occupational Experiences at the dealerships gives the students hands-on learning that a textbook can’t. “When we sell a $200,000 piece of equipment, they expect us to be there when they need us. This job demands overtime during the farming season. We work when the farmers work,” said Jenkins. Schilling Brothers is one group that frequently sponsors students and guides them through the SOEs. The program also requires students maintain at least a C average to earn the degree. “If you make a C-average mistake around here, it could cost the company thousands of dollars. There are many, many different things on these pieces of equipment that may need to be worked on,” said Higginbotham. He said, for example, there are miles and miles of wiring on one combine. Sometimes the problem can be found in 15 minutes, but sometimes, it could take half the day. Technicians work 40-45 hours a week, Monday-Friday during the off-season, but as much as 60-75 hours a week during the busy spring and fall farming seasons, with paid overtime. Higginbotham said sometimes he has projects in the heated, but not air-conditioned, shop at the dealership, or sometimes he works out on the farmer’s property. “It’s a good career. Farmers will always need a trained mechanic. Sometimes I think, ‘wow’ I get to work on these big, expensive pieces of equipment, every day — and I get to drive them, too. But, most of the time, it is just what I do every day. I grew up with these pieces of equipment, so it isn’t something I think a lot about,” Higginbotham said. Drake said the LLC program lasts for two years,
including the summer term between the two years. The students spend 20 weeks of this time at a dealership on internship. Most dealerships and students have no agreement on how long the employment will last, he said. Higginbotham said the tuition was affordable, but he was required to buy necessary and expensive tools along the way. Thanks to some student perks, he was able to save
thousands of dollars on tools — getting as much as a 63percent discount. “But it seems you never get finished buying tools,” he said. To learn more about John Deere Tech Program at Lake Land College, visit www.johndeerepowerup.com.
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Hemmen named Cumberland Outstanding Conservationist BY DAWN SCHABBING JG-TC Staff Writer
TEUTOPOLIS — John Hemmen of rural Teutopolis believes in taking care of the land he and his family have farmed for decades. “I was the youngest boy, and I followed in my dad’s footsteps with farming,” he said. “I believe I was 7 when I milked my first cow.” The recipient of the 2011 Outstanding Conservationist Award, Hemmen was recently selected by the Cumberland County Soil and Water Conservation District. He was born on the property that he and his wife of 46 years, Mary, still call home. They have 10 children and 31 grandchildren. Conservation practices have come along during the past 30 years and it began with building a pond. Gradually, more practices were added, including grass waterways, filter strips, a dry dam, and some strips of wildlife habitat. Randy Hurt, resource conservationist with the Cumberland County SWCD, said when selecting an award winner each year, they look at the practices being used by the farmers. Hemmen has always been concerned with saving soil on his farm, Hurt said. He maintains all his steeper ground in hay and works hard to control erosion on his row crop fields. “A few years ago some land next to John’s farm came up for sale and John bought it. He called our office requesting assistance in fixing an erosion problem on that new land. That problem turned out to be the biggest gully erosion prob-
Ken Trevarthan/Staff Photographer
John Hemmen, Cumberland County Soil and Water Conservation District Outstanding Conservationist, poses for a photo at his Teutopolis residence on Jan. 9. lem I have ever seen in a cropland field. The area was fixed and seeded to grass,” Hurt said. “I believe that one reason John bought that land was so he could fix that erosion problem,” said Hurt. Hemmen said he and his son, Curt, farm 450 acres. Curt has taken over the dairy farm operations.
Technically, Hemmen is retired, but believes in “helping out.” “We run a typical dairy farm here and we farm 250 acres in row crops — corn and soybeans. Of that we have 50 acres in no till. We use minimum till all over, as much as we can,” he said. The family farm includes: wheat, alfalfa and permanent
grass pasture. They have 20 acres in timber.
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ways, which are placed in highly erodible areas and help slow down water and stop erosion. Areas of wash-outs are treated with a dry dam as another erosion control method. Along the creeks and streams, Hemmen uses filter strips to control soil erosion. Hemmen, in addition to adding a pond, added a wildlife habitat to his ground property. The Conservation Reserve Program includes filter strips and the Bobwhite Quail Program. The area of nature grasses intended for quail or pheasant, and other wildlife, also is a measure to keep the soil in place. “We are very thankful to the Cumberland County Soil & Water Conservation for helping out with practices on our farm,” he said. “We use conservation practices whenever we can. Minimum tillage is about one of the best practices we can use as farmers today.” Hemmen and his wife are members of the Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Lillyville. He is a member of the Teutopolis Knights of Columbus and a member of the Cumberland County SWCD.
Contact Schabbing at dschabbing@jg-tc.com or 238-6864.
Area farmers headed to Cuba with Illinois Farm Bureau group BY HERB MEEKER JG-TC Staff Writer
They can’t speak Spanish, but they definitely know the language of farming. Paul Honnold of Kansas and Joe Bierman of Newton are among the at-large farmers from 16 counties going to Cuba for the Illinois Farm Bureau market study tour in coming weeks. Both men view the trip as a great opportunity for Illinois agriculture for direct marketing to Cubans. “As farmers we have to look out for ourselves,” said Bierman. “I’d like to talk to the farmers over there one-on-one and learn how they do things. And then we can get a line of communication going. I can’t speak Spanish but there will be interpreters.” Honnold would like to see a line of ships filled with Midwest agriculture products heading from the Port of New Orleans to Cuba sometime in the future. “I don’t understand why we can’t export more to them. If Cuba had a line of credit it could help us in the Midwest,” Honnold said. The welcome mat will be laid out for the IFB market study tour group, Honnold said. The schedule so far for the farmers includes a visit with the Cuban agricultural minister and the Cuban institute of friendship, as well as tours of different agriculture operations and an importing company. “That’s where we’ll earn our keep. This is not just a one-time shot,” Honnold said in reference to the visits at farming, ranching or other facilities in Cuba. Bierman recalled how he might have earned his keep in Cuba in a much different way nearly 50 years ago. He was in the U.S. Army Reserve during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, one of most dangerous moments in the Cold War. “If things would have blew up then I might have gone into Cuba. I’m going to be very peaceful when I go to Cuba now,” Bierman said. Honnold has learned Cubans are facing a tough switch to private enterprise as their socialist government commits to cutbacks. That is why he believes the time is right for ending embargoes and other restrictions on trade with Cuban. “Embargoes only hurt the down-and-out people but not the people in power,” Honnold said. Bierman believes opening up more agricultural trade with Cuba is not just about adding more black ink to Illinois farmers’ ledgers. “If we open up this trade with them then I can sell
them more beef and this could improve their standard of living in the long run,” he said. Honnold believes American manufacturers might benefit from this trip, too. He has traveled to many foreign countries over the years and said
he has found that informal dialogue between different people can tear down government barriers.
Contact Meeker at hmeeker@jgtc.com or 238-6869.
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Farmers learn more about exporting to Panama, Colombia Trade trip to South America includes Panama Canal tour BY SARAH MILLER JG-TC Staff Writer
EFFINGHAM — Norbert Soltwedel loves to learn about new people and places. A trip to South America last March was far from a typical vacation for Soltwedel and fellow Effingham County farmer Kevin Miller, who traveled to Panama and Colombia on an Illinois Farm Bureau market study tour. In fact, their participation on the tour may have helped pass Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) with the Panama and Colombia, which provides several benefits for Illinois farmers and the economy as a whole, they said. “These tours put a face to the organization (ILFB) and to the foreign people,” Miller said. “You’re able to see firsthand where your product goes, what the people want and the potential for the markets.” Participants were able to track the path Illinois grain takes from Utica to New Orleans, see it transported from the river barges to the ocean-going freighters and watch it pass through the Panama Canal, Miller said. Once overseas, the group met with grain companies,
commercial shippers and government officials. In Panama, they met Arlene Villalaz, president of the Rotary Club in Panama City, who was originally one of the chief negotiators for the FTA in Panama. She then started working for the U.S. Department of Agriculture to convince Congress the agreement was a good deal for both countries, Miller said. The FTAs were originally drafted in 2007, but were not passed by Congress until October 2011. The Colombian minister of agriculture was frustrated that their FTA had not been ratified by the U.S., Soltwedel said. “Here you don’t hear politician speak their mind, but he spoke very freely with us about his frustration,” Miller said. The U.S. made several requests for changes regarding Colombia’s labor laws,
Malnourished, neglected horses now getting care MANY, La. (AP) — Greener pastures are greeting some of the malnourished and neglected horses seized three weeks ago from a Sabine Parish property owner. The Sabine Humane Society has been successful in finding additional foster homes where the animals can receive individualized attention. Still, society members are being “extremely cautious” about their picks to ensure the thoroughbreds are in trusted hands. Site visits are required to make certain the horses have adequate housing, fencing and paddock areas. “We also look at the other horses they have. This happens before these horses go to the foster homes,” Humane Society member Mary Key Brocato said. The Times reports the society seized about 60 thoroughbreds from Charles Ford’s Hillcrest Farms near Many on Jan. 6. Ford, 64, of Many, who reportedly ran a horse breeding and training farm, faces charges of cruelty to animals. The remains of about 25 horses were found on Ford’s property. The Louisiana Horse Rescue Association took 45 of the horses, and the others went to a Sabine Parish farm and other rescue groups. Four horses moved to Louisiana Horse Rescue have since died. Still, volunteers have stepped up, giving the horses hands-on attention. They also muck out barns and pull green grass for the horses to eat. Brocato singled out the Sabine Animal Shelter staff, Lisa Butler and Sarah Ritchie, as well as three Sabine Parish Detention Center inmates assigned to work there. “They also clean all the dog kennels and feed all the dogs and take care of all the cats at the shelter,” Brocato said. “So with the horses, they have lots of additional work to do now. And they do it cheerfully. ... All of us feel that although we can’t do anything about the conditions they came from, we will do everything in our power to see that they have good homes and better lives from now on.“ Mary and Allen Kelly, who own Old River Farms and Riding Center in south Natchitoches, are caring for four 2-year-old colts and hope eventually to find permanent homes for them. She leads the Northwest Louisiana 4-H Horse Club in Natchitoches that involves 4H-ers from across the region. Through the activities with her horses, Mary Kelly said
“They need jobs. So we look for homes and placement where the horses will be brought back to health and then retrained for jobs, not racing jobs and not as brood mares. Just as we rescue a dog or cat from terrible conditions and find a new home where it will be loved and cared for, we will do the same for these horses. That’s our only goal for them.” she’s seen the difference that can be made in the life of a child who may have struggles at home or school. “Horses are good therapy for everybody,” she said. “These four colts already have kids loving all over them. They are already special.“ After the colts are nursed back to full health, she said she would like to see them trained, such as for English saddle riding. By that time, she also hopes the attachment with a child may lead to the horse’s adoption. It’s important, Brocato said, that thoroughbreds are not just treated like backyard pets. “They need jobs. So we look for homes and placement where the horses will be brought back to health and then retrained for jobs, not racing jobs and not as brood mares. Just as we rescue a dog or cat from terrible conditions and find a new home where it will be loved and cared for, we will do the same for these horses. That’s our only goal for them,” she said. Saturday was the deadline for Ford to seek return of any of the horses. If he didn’t, the humane society can begin seeking permanent placements. Goats and pigs also were seized from Ford. “He has cooperated with us in getting all of the other animals off of his property,” society President Larry Kelly said.
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sanitation systems and security over the years, all of which Colombia agreed to and improved upon, Miller said. “When we went there and found out that they’re trying so hard to meet the requirements for the labor qualifications and sanitation standards and all of those things, and they (U.S. government officials) try to tell us Colombia has all these problems with labor, we don’t believe them. We’ve been there,” Soltwedel said. Trade with Panama and Colombia is important because the markets are complementary, not competing with the U.S., exporting raw sugar, flowers, coffee, fruit and other products while importing corn, soybeans, meats and other processed foods. “What we produce, they don’t and vice versa,” Miller added. Poultry is one of the biggest
users of U.S. grain in Colombia, and Panama is developing aquaculture, which will be a big user of soybeans, Soltwedel said. According to the ILFB, Illinois is consistently one of the top three to five agricultural exporting states in the U.S., exporting 30 percent or more of its corn, soybeans and wheat product. Every dollar of agriculture exports creates another $1.47 in supporting activities such as processing, packaging, shipping and financing agricultural products, the ILFB reports. The USDA estimates that every billion dollars in agricultural exports supports 9,000 U.S. jobs. “There’s people in our country that don’t appreciate the value of trade. They see our jobs being taken overseas with the idea that they could have stayed here,” Soltwedel said. “But those of us in agriculture understand better that as you develop other countries, you create a market for what we have a lot of, which is food.” Illinois agribusiness will benefit from the recent passage of the FTAs, including major employers ADM, Caterpillar, GSI, Sloan Implements and Deere, the farmers said. “Companies based in Illinois were losing out. Labor and union jobs in Illinois were being hurt because their
product couldn’t get into Colombia or Panama,” Miller said. The trucking industry, grain elevators, railroads, banks and trading houses all benefit from increased trade, Soltwedel added. Additionally, increased trade may allow for some subsidies that have been going to farmers to be cut. “If we can successfully obtain these foreign markets, without the high tariff being accessed on our product, we can stop paying subsidies,” Soltwedel said. On their trip, Soltwedel and Miller also learned about transportation and infrastructure issues and the expansion of the Panama Canal. Transportation and infrastructure are problems in South America, and the farmers often have trouble getting their exports to the ports. In Colombia, roughly 4.5 million hectares are available for development, but have not been developed due to infrastructure issues, Soltwedel said.
The $5.25 billion expansion of the Panama Canal is a major project that will greatly overhaul the transportation system and allow much larger ships to pass through. Currently, the maximum length of a vessel is 965 feet, which will increase to 1,200 feet. Once the expansion is complete in 2014, Illinois may suffer due to antiquated river systems that are operating way beyond their planned life, the farmers said. Even though upgrades to some of the key locks and dams along the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers have been been approved, the government funding has yet to be released, Miller said. By the numbers, 30 percent of corn, 45 percent of wheat and 34 percent of soybeans in Illinois are sold as exports, Soltwedel added. “Trade is so important. It’s a third of everything we produce and that’s where the opportunity lies,” Soltwedel said. Contact Miller at smiller@jgtc.com or 238-6847.
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Central Illinois grape grower says the secret’s in the soil BY DAWN SCHABBING JG-TC Staff Writer
GREENUP — Dan Webb believes when people visit an Illinois winery, they come expecting to taste a locally grown product. And so he began his venture by growing grapes along the sandy soils of the Embarras River in rural Cumberland County in 1992. “My original idea was to sell (central Illinois) grapes to other wineries in other parts of Illinois. As time went on, I realized in order to start my own business and make a living at it, I needed to also make the finished product and open a winery here,” said Webb. In 2002, Dan and Sonya Webb opened what was the 28th winery in Illinois, calling it Cameo Vineyards, and establishing it perched on top of a hill overlooking the Embarras River Valley, nestled near a covered bridge. Today, there are 106 wineries in the state, some of which grow their own grapes, while others are purchased from other locations. “I was among the first members of the Illinois Grape Growers and Vintners Association. There were 25 of us when it formed in the 90s,” he said. In March, Cameo Vineyards will celebrate its 11th year in business as a winery. “We’ve crushed our 300th ton of locally grown grapes during this last harvest. We harvest about 4-6 tons of grapes per acre. Our belief is if you keep (the amount able to harvest) on the low side, it is of better quality. For us, it is about quality, not quantity.” Webb said the world of growing grapes is different than some forms of crop agriculture, because so much of the work is done by hand.
“Almost everything we do when growing grapes is done by hand. We prune by hand. We work on summer canopy management by hand. The grapes are picked by hand,” said Webb. Then there are times when mending trellises is necessary, or new ones are added for more crop. It’s labor intensive and most of the work is done by the couple. But some things can be done using machines such as spraying the grapes to ward off some diseases they are susceptible to, plus weed control and mowing. All yearround there is something to be done in the vineyard. It is difficult to find a true off-season period, the Webbs said. A few things Webb said he keeps an eye on during the growing season are the levels of sugar, acid and pH in the juice of the grapes. “The quality of the grapes is determined by the quality of the soil. It so happens the area we are in is perfect for grape growing,” said Webb. Inside the winery, the product is bottled using semiautomatic equipment. Displayed are some of the more than 150 medals the Webbs have been awarded in the 10 years of making wine and entering contests. “We planted over 40 varieties of grapes since 1992 in order to find the grapes that grew well here and make the quality and flavor of wine we want,” Webb said. And growing grapes takes much longer than row crops. Webb said the start is planting in the spring, just after the last frost. “The first year you just want to establish a trunk. The next two years you are still working on the vine structure. By the fourth year, you should be able to harvest,” Webb said.
Kevin Kilhoffer/Staff Photographer
ABOVE: Dan and Sonya Webb pose at Cameo Vineyards in Greenup on Jan. 14. RIGHT: Dormant grape vines stand with light snow falling this winter at Cameo Vineyards.
“The first year you just want to establish a trunk. The next two years you are still working on the vine structure. By the fourth year, you should be able to harvest.” This shows that a winery with local crops can’t just pop into existence without plenty of work done in advance. “We planned and prepared so we could open this winery from product made with our own grapes. I left my fulltime job in 2001 in order to make the first vintage in 2002,” said Webb. He said some mildews and leaf diseases can be a problem if the plants are not taken care of properly. “The more air the vines and leaves get, the healthier they can be.” Webb said their seven acres of vineyard involves about 550 vines per acre. It all began with 70 grapevines in 1991. The Webbs grow both red and white grapes in order to produce red, white and blush
wines, from dry to sweet. “We grow hybrid grapes because the winter temperatures here just don’t allow us to grow European grapes. We try to keep 12 different flavors on hand to sell, but we have developed 25 different wines so far,” he said. They believe customers should come to Cameo Vineyards to “slow down.” “We want to offer a place that says ‘come in, slow down and relax,’” said Webb. They have also introduced others to growing grapes. “We were the pioneers in this area. We were the first ones in this part of the state. We hope to be here for a long time to come.”
Contact Schabbing at dschabbing@jg-tc.com or 238-6864.
‘Cucurbit connoisseur’ cultivates history Homestead Seeds owner spreads word about many roles of gourds, pumpkin, squash BY SARAH MILLER JG-TC Staff Writer
Ken Trevarthan/Staff Photographer
Mac Condill of The Homestead Seeds describes some of the heirloom seed varieties from around the world available at the Homestead Bakery near Arthur.
“The genetic pool is getting smaller and smaller. THS is trying to put good varieties of pumpkins, squash and gourds into the hands of backyard gardeners.”
ARTHUR — Mac Condill stands in a barn on his family’s farm south of Arthur amidst boxes of colorful pumpkins, squash and gourds and other remnants of a busy fall season at The Great Pumpkin Patch. He proudly displays an oversized poster of his family with a sampling of their bountiful harvest standing in front of the White House. But Condill doesn’t set up colorful fall displays for the first family simply for the notoriety. Pumpkins, gourds and squash, all members of the cucurbit family, are his passion, and his mission is to share their story through The Homestead Seeds (THS), which he started in 2008. “Cucurbits are an underappreciated, underutilized plant family (in the U.S.),” Condill said. “We want to open people’s eyes to the diversity and wonders of pumpkins, squash and gourds.” While most Americans may think of pumpkins, squash and gourds simply as decorations for the fall season, they are actually the third most important plant family in terms of food consumption in the world.
Grass, grains and rice are the SEE VIDEO FROM first, followed HOMESTEAD by beans, he SEEDS: added. JG-TC.COM Condill has traveled the world collecting cucurbit seeds from South Africa, India, Kenya, the UK and other countries, scouring small vegetable patches for rare and unique varieties in order to preserve the history and culture of heirloom and rare cucurbits. In addition to being a food source, birdhouses, crafts, musical instruments, baby bottles, Native American ceremonial garments and water carrying vessels are just a few of the uses for cucurbits that Condill has seen on his seed expeditions. “It’s like going back in time trying to find the next greatest thing. We’re always coming up with something new — meaning old,” Condill said. Many large seed companies focus on genetically modified organisms, or GMOs, that produce high yields and more shippable products in order to bring in more revenue. Not only has this led to the disappearance of many small seed companies, according to Condill, but it has also hurt the genetic diversity of the cucurbit family, something Condill strives to preserve. “The genetic pool is getting smaller and smaller. THS is trying to put good varieties of See SEEDS, 12
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Clark County honors Williams family for conservation BY ROB STROUD JG-TC Staff Writer
WEST UNION — The 2012 Clark County Conservation Farm Family honor has been awarded to the J. Williams Farms Inc., who have been farming and conserving their land for several generations. Brian Williams said he and his father, Joe, farm approximately 2,200 acres of corn and soybeans between Marshall and West Union, including ground that has been in their family since Illinois’ early years. He noted that his
ancestors purchased their first farmland directly from the U.S. government for $1 an acre. “It has been our ground for a long time, so we have to preserve it and keep it for the next generation,” Williams said. He and his wife, Dawn, have four daughters — Kodie, 14; Brittany, 13; Tiffany, 9; and Kennedy, 7. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Clark County Soil and Water Conservation District honored the Williams family for measures that
included setting aside more than 20 acres of hilly land in a conservation reserve program instead of farming it. Williams said deer and other wildlife were thriving more on this property than the crops were. Some of the family’s other conservation measures have included installing filter strips of land, wild bird habitat, and storm water drainage infrastructure. Williams said he knew from his childhood on that he wanted to farm the land of his par-
ents, Joe and Jackie. He started farming a small tract of rented land when he was in junior high school and he started working full time on the family farm after he graduated from Marshall High School in 1990. “I grew up helping Dad after school. I just always knew that farming is what I wanted to do. I enjoy the work. There was never any doubt,” Williams said. In addition, Williams said he has become the fifth member of his family to
work as a Pioneer seed dealer. He said his grandfather once kept approximately 30 bags of grain seed on hand, but the operation has now grown to more than 4,000 bags. Williams said he stays busy throughout the winter selling seed and he also hosts tours
Associated Press
ATLANTA — It’s unclear whether farmers in Georgia and Alabama will face a shortage of workers due to tough new laws targeting illegal immigration, but some producers said they have begun changing their plans for planting and harvesting this year’s crops. Some farmers said they might reduce the number of acres they plant or shift to less labor-intensive crops, while others are bracing for higher labor prices and have turned to new recruiting tools to attract workers. “We’re expecting some shifts, but it’s a bit too early to tell,” said Charles Hall, executive director of the Georgia Fruit and Vegetable Growers
Association. Georgia and Alabama have approved laws that have tough enforcement provisions that farmers say are scaring migrant workers away from the states. Since the laws were approved last year, farmers in both states have reported labor shortages because migrant workers aren’t showing up and they say they can’t find other workers to fill the jobs. Farmers and state officials have said that some produce was left to rot in the field last year because there weren’t enough workers to help with the harvest. Farmers have claimed not enough U.S. citizens want the jobs, but some said the issue is actually that producers won’t offer a high enough wage to
attract legal workers. Brett Hall, Alabama’s deputy agriculture commissioner, said nurseries across south Alabama are trying to find workers to fill about 2,000 jobs ahead of the spring growing season. Many nursery growers are staffing job fairs in hopes of attracting employees, he said. Other growers aren’t ordering seeds or new equipment because they anticipate a labor shortage, he said. “Before this law, migrant workers would just show up. They knew when they were needed,” Hall said. “That’s not happening anymore.” In Georgia, some growers of the state’s famed Vidalia onions are planting fewer acres of the labor-intensive crop, which could lead to a
roughly 10 percent drop in production, said Bob Stafford, director of the Vidalia Onion Business Council. Stafford said it’s unclear if the smaller crop will mean consumers will pay more for the prized sweet onions because prices are dependent on many factors, including the weather and fuel costs. Aries Haygood, chairman of the Vidalia Onion Committee, said he has reduced planting by about 15 percent at his farm near Lyons, Ga., because of labor concerns and other factors. Haygood and some other farmers in both states are using a federal guest worker program, known as H-2A, which lets farmers bring in an unlimited number of temporary agriculture workers.
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of his farm during the growing season so that farmers can see the newest varieties in the field. “I enjoy getting around and seeing all the customers,” Williams said.
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SEEDS From page 11 pumpkins, squash and gourds into the hands of backyard gardeners,” Condill said. Cucurbits typically have a three- to four-month growing season, which makes central Illinois with its hot, dry summers an ideal location. Essentially all they need are sun, heat, water and soil. “We have the best soil in the world here,” he said. “They love it dry and they love the heat.” Condill often hears comments that backyard gardeners don’t have enough space for cucurbits, but he is quick to dispel that myth. Many smaller varieties of cucurbits and certain types of butternut squash can be grown vertically up fences or even old TV antennas, he said. “We want to promote seed saving and backyard gardening,” he said. “THS is all geared toward the backyard gardener.” Throughout his career, Condill estimates he’s grown more than 800 varieties of cucurbits. His current seed catalog includes 200 varieties. In order to keep the purity of their heirloom varieties, he can’t grow all of them on his family’s farm. This requires the use of isolation spots that keep each variety a minimum of 1/2 a mile apart. Condill utilizes isolation growers in six states who
receive seeds or plants from him, grow them on their respective plots and then send the harvested seeds back for storage or to package for THS. In 2011, 135 varieties of cucurbits were grown by Condill’s isolation growers on 56 separate plots. He and the isolation growers don’t grow or sell large quantities of seeds. THS is a medium to bring recognition to cucurbits, Condill said. “We love what we do, and we are doing what we love,” he said. In addition to showcasing cucurbits at the White House in 2010, Condill packed 10 crates of cucurbits for the main display at the National Heirloom Expedition in Santa Rosa, Calif., last September. He has been invited to return to the event this year as well. His knowledge and passion for cucurbits has also gained national attention through his three appearances on “The Martha Stewart Show.” Closer to home, Condill speaks to Master Gardener groups, community organizations and high school and college students to share the historical and cultural significance of cucurbits. An agriculture graduate of Illinois State University, Condill has spoken to students and donated seeds to the Horticulture Center at the Bloomington-Normal school. “It’s just one way we’ve been able to give back,” he said.
Condill has become known as a “cucurbit connoisseur” of sorts, often receiving phone calls or emails from people asking him to identify different varieties of cucurbits. Condill even supplied South African Zulu pumpkins to a team at the 2011 World Championship Punkin Chunkin Competition in Delaware, who broke the world record for the farthest pumpkin launched from a trebuchet. “They needed a really dense pumpkin,” Condill said. “It just goes to show there are people out there looking for cucurbits for specific uses.” He enjoys utilizing cucurbits in every way possible. Recently, a gold-striped cushaw displayed at his home became an interesting toy for his children before being peeled, cut, cooked and eaten for dinner. For more information about The Homestead Seeds, log on to www.the200acres.com. Contact Miller at smiller@jgtc.com or 238-6847.
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Rural Greenup family loves uniqueness of llamas BY DAWN JAMES JG-TC Staff Writer
GREENUP — Raising llamas for the past 20 years has been fun and interesting for Mark and Jane Weaver of rural Greenup. The Weavers raised their children Johnny, Kenny and Jennifer, who were active in 4-H and FFA. The Weaver children cared for their farm animals including llamas and sheep and worked with them in the aforementioned organizations. Throughout the years they had many prize winners, Weaver said. What made the Weaver family interested in the llama, which is a member of the camelid species? The reason was to protect their sheep. Weaver said ewes when they are pregnant are very vulnerable to their predators. They can hardly walk. Another reason that made them acquire a llama herd was a time when coyotes attacked all of the sheep that his son had been caring for as a 4-H project. Weaver said all of the sheep were either mangled or killed. At that point they decided to purchase llamas to protect their sheep from coyotes and dogs. He said the llamas will let his German shepherd/lab mix into the pen, but if it’s another dog, they won’t. While the yard and guard animals are very gentle and friendly overall, they do not like coyotes, dogs or raccoons, he said. They will protect his sheep from any of these animals. Weaver, who also raises cattle, said the llamas do not care about his cows — only the sheep. He said he has witnessed the llamas chasing a raccoon up a pole and not letting the animal down. Weaver had to bring the llamas in to grant the raccoon his freedom. He said nothing can move within their peripheral vision without them knowing it. Llamas have some interesting traits, according to Weaver. They can run nearly as fast as a horse and they can also travel fast by bouncing across the pasture like an antelope. When chasing coyotes across the pasture, he said, they are amazing to watch. Once, he had a llama jump the fence to catch a coyote. While he has never witnessed a llama attacking a coyote, he said they bite into their spine which paralyzes and kills them. He said the attacks have only occurred at night. The llama does not bite typically but rather is a very friendly, intelligent and gentle animal, according to www.llama.org/history.htm. The llamas are very good with small children too. Traditionally, the animal was used as a pack animal as well as a food and fiber source in its native lands of first North America and then South America, according to the website. The animal became extinct after the ice age in North America and moved south to the Andean mountains in South America. Their fiber can be spun and made into sweaters, blankets,
Ken Trevarthan/Staff Photographer
Llama owner Mark Weaver prepares to feed his llamas and sheep Jan. 16 at his farm in rural Cumberland County.
Llama facts Weight at birth: 18 to 30 pounds Average weight as adult: 250 to 400 pounds Typical life span: 20 years Breeding age averages: Males, 2 to 2-1/2 years; Females, 18 to 24 months. (Females are bred at any time. They are induced ovulators). Colors: Spotted, brown, black, red, gray, tricolor, and white — Source: http://www.llama. org/history.htm rugs, hats, etc. With their calm nature, they have also been useful in animal facilitative therapy, the website said. There are an estimated 100,000 llamas in the U.S. and Canada and nearly seven million llamas and alpacas in South America. Many people are misinformed about the fact that llamas often spit, Weaver said. He has never been spit on in all the years they have had llamas. He said they will spit at each other when they are trying to get their food and become aggravated with one another. Reminiscing about a time when he had his llamas in a pen with his sheep at a petting zoo, he said a boy had his dog there and was tormenting his ewe that had triplets. The llama became aggravated and spit on both the boy and the dog. He said you can tell when they are aggravated because they throw their ears way back. One of the most tragic experiences he has had as a llama
farmer was when he had loaded up his herd to take them to a 4H show with his family. They had to leave behind a younger llama that was too little and wasn’t ready to compete in the show. Upon returning home, the family found that someone had shot the young llama. Weaver said he didn’t know why anyone would have done that. He and his wife enjoy just watching the llamas play together. He said they are a fun animal to have and they all have different personalities. When his daughter was very young and weighed maybe 60 or 70 pounds, they had a llama with a unique personality that let her ride it. That is the only llama he has ever had like that, he said. She would ride it and steer it with her feet. All of their llamas have names: Dilly Bar, Buster, Black Beauty, April, and Nutmeg, to name a few. The Weavers have had as many as 26 llamas when their kids were growing up, but now the herd is down to six. Most llamas may only eat grass or hay. Weaver chooses to feed the herd one pound of grain a day and whatever hay they want. Llamas at the Weaver farm, located on south Ill. Route 130 near Greenup, weigh between 350 and 450 pounds and are bigger than the typical llama. The size depends on how they’re bred as well as what they are fed. Breeding time is tough on llamas and usually occurs in September. They have to fight through extreme temperatures, both hot and cold, when they are pregnant. The gestation period is 11 1/2 months. If a llama gets overheated, whether pregnant or not, they
Ken Trevarthan/Staff Photographer
Llamas keep a watchful eye while eating at Mark Weaver's farm. will die. He said it is much like a heat stroke for humans. If a llama becomes pregnant in the spring, they will miscarry in the summer because of the extreme heat. The Weavers had three llamas bred last year and none of them carried to term, he said. It is just a really tough period for them with the weather. “Ideally, it would be nice to keep them in an air-conditioned building, but nobody I know does that,” said Weaver.
He said it is important to keep them sheared during the summer months. He shears his own llamas once a year. The hair/fiber is sold to area craftspeople who use the soft fur to make sweaters. Llamas do not require a lot of food, and they are relatively easy to raise. They have to be wormed twice a year, he said. A threatening disease known as Ingo exists and if it gets in a herd of llamas, it can wipe them out. The disease is found
in deer feces. Weaver had a friend who lost a herd of six or eight to the disease that paralyzes and kills the llama. He said once the disease is found in the animal, there is no cure. Weaver works at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston in lawn maintenance, and his wife is an RN for Sarah Bush Lincoln Hospice. Contact James at djames@jgtc.com or 238-6866.
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Llamas owned by Mark Weaver run to investigate something in the pasture Jan. 16 at his farm.
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FRIDAY, JANUARY 27, 2012 ● FARM FOCUS 15
Laues named Effingham conservation ‘Family of the Year’ BY DAWN JAMES
than broadcasting it, Dale said. The benefits are twofold including economical savings and helping the environment by not applying excessive fertilizer. Carol said that with their family doing all aspects of the farming, including applying their own anhydrous and spraying, coupled with Brandon’s knowledge, “makes our farming operation more efficient.” The Laues farm in both Effingham and Fayette counties. Dale’s dad, Allen, works on the farms as well. Also, the Laues have one of their landlords’ sons helping on the farms after school and in the summers, Carol said. As for future conservation plans, Dale said, “I want it to be an ongoing process. There are waterways that need to be maintained and redone from time to time.” The new structures they have built are pretty good, he said. As technology continues to evolve, there will be new opportunities to improve conserving the land. Carol said her husband has always been passionate about farming. “He takes pride in working the soil and watching it (the crops) grow,” she said. “I feel we’ve instilled that into our kids.”
JG-TC Staff Writer
ALTAMONT — Always having the mindset of preserving the land and being good stewards of the land, members of the Dale and Carol Laue family have farmed their corn, bean, and wheat fields in rural Altamont with a keen interest in protecting their valuable soil. Throughout these years, Dale, Carol, son Brandon (wife, Molly), and daughter Brittney have all worked together as a family unit on these lands. Brandon, who is working as logistics manager for South Central FS, has helped out on the farm basically all his life, he said. Even with his fulltime job, he helps his dad out as often as he can. His wife, Molly, works as a senior credit analyst with the First National Bank of Dieterich-Effingham, while his sister Brittney just graduated from Eastern Illinois University in Charleston with a degree in elementary education. Dale said the girls help out on the farm as well by bringing the men things they need whether it is lunch or whatever. He said they also help them move from field to field. “We’re a farm family — been doing it forever,” said Carol. “We do it as a family.” She said it takes the whole family. She stressed the importance of Dale’s parents on the family farm. She also said their landlords are gracious and understanding. The Laues were recently given the 2011 Conservation Family of the Year Award from the Effingham County Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD). According to Denise Willenborg, administrative coordinator with the Effingham County SWCD, the Laues have always been “very conservation-minded people. They’ve done a lot of conservation practices in the last few years,” she said. Dale said he is a fourth generation farmer who performs no till on their rolling grounds areas and conservation till on their bean fields utilizing vertical till methods. “With vertical till each till just distorts the soil slightly,” he said. The process leaves residue on the top of the ground to protect the soil, much like a blanket. Also, by alternating a threeyear rotation between the three crops of corn, beans, and wheat, Dale said the
Kevin Kilhoffer/Staff Photographer
Pictured from left, front row, Brittney Laue; Brandon Laue and his wife, Molly Laue; and in back, Carol and Dale Laue, are shown near Altamont on Jan. 18. wheat puts a lot of organic materials back into the ground. This method secures the richness of the soil. The Laues also no longer use a mulberry plow on any of their grounds. Their equipment does a better job of keeping the residue on the soil, they said. This fall the Laues had two of their farms that were eligible to apply for the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP). This program, a federal effort, provides financial and technical assistance to farmers through contracts that can range up to a maximum of 10 years, according to the website www. nrcs.usda.gov/wps/ portal/nrcs/main/ national/programs/financial/e qip. According to Bart Pals, district conservationist with the USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service in Effingham, the program is designed to provide incentives to farmers with the goal of addressing resource concerns that deal with soil, water and air, and
Study: Idaho farmers, ranchers had a good year LEWISTON, Idaho (AP) — A study by the University of Idaho has found that 2011 cash receipts for Idaho’s farmers and ranchers rose 29 percent from the previous year. The university’s College of Agricultural and Life Sciences recently released the report called The Financial Condition of Idaho Agriculture: 2011 Projections. The report, backed by state agricultural research and extension service funding, said net farm income rose to $2.6 billion in 2011. “The prices of almost all major commodities in the state are higher than they were the year before,” Paul Patterson, one of the authors of the report, told the Lewiston Tribune. “It always goes back to supply and demand. The grain markets have driven a lot of this because of corn being the biggest crop (in the nation).” Hay prices are at an alltime high, averaging $240 to $260 a ton, said Rick Waitley, executive director of the Idaho Hay and Forage Association. He said increased demand from Idaho cattlemen and dairymen, higher demand from out of state, and a good spring cutting in 2011 are some of the reasons for the increase in farmer’s revenues. Patterson said countries in Asia, which are consumers of Northwest exports, have bounced back faster economically, adding to the good year for Idaho growers. “All these increases in revenue was something that was going to drive prices higher,” he said.
“I think 2012 is going to be good, but I think there’s going to be a little bit of skepticism into 2013.” The good year for farmers appears to be spreading to other parts of the economy. “I know people are buying more equipment because they don’t want to pay much in taxes and buying new equipment allows them to depreciate that,” said Kevin Dainty, a farm loan officer with Farm Credit Services in Lewiston. “They’re definitely doing better, especially in this region with decent prices and yield being so strong,” he said. “That definitely helped out. A lot of them saved that cash in case something does pop up and some people are still holding on to their crops for tax purposes, keeping their product on hand rather than selling (all at once) and having a huge tax bill.” Dennis Guettinger, manager of Pape Machinery Inc. in Moscow, said a lot of factors go into whether farmers and ranchers buy new equipment. “We have a presidential election coming up, and the largest winter wheat planting in the U.S. is in the ground,” he said. “And we never know what fuel prices are going to do. I think 2012 is going to be good, but I think there’s going to be a little bit of skepticism into 2013. Manufacturers haven’t geared up, and they also have their worries on the back burner.”
soil erosion. Also, he added, there are concerns about water quality as a result of soil erosion or sediment getting into waterways, he said. The goal is to stop a lot of the erosion that is happening, Pals said. “We did terrace work on 78 acres of rolling ground,” said Dale Laue. “It helps control the soil erosion on the rolling ground that was getting difficult to farm.” They were losing a tremendous amount of soil, he said. The terraces serve as a catch basin to catch the water and allow it to drain at a much slower pace. This helps keep the soil from washing away. When applying for the EQIP monies, Dale said applications are reviewed for how much soil you can save. He said it is reviewed on a point-based system. Pals said the program has a
set of ranking criteria in the area of 20 counties. He said the applications are ranked against each other. “We put in block shoots and grass waterways as another measure to help soil erosion. We’ve always tried to protect the soil the best we can, because once it’s gone, there’s nothing we can do.” Other steps they have taken conservation-wise have allowed Brandon to use his agronomy degree from the University of Illinois using Variable Rate Technology soil analysis measures. The U of I grad helps make effective fertilizer recommendations to use on the fields by using a specific computer software package to evaluate yield information generated in the cab of the combine and KSI soil testing technology. Ultimately, the fertilizer is only placed on the crops where it is needed rather
Contact James at djames@jgtc.com or 238-6866.
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Greek yogurt on a marathon-like growth spurt across the US
Lowell Sun, David H. Brow/Associated Press
In this Dec. 16, 2011, photo, Charlie Parlee, 84, sits in his home on the family farm in Chelmsford, Mass. The farm is among a handful of working farms remaining in the town, and its 27 acres continue to grow thanks to Parlee’s efforts.
SOUTH EDMESTON, N.Y. (AP) — Chobani is making Greek yogurt as fast as Americans are eating it. Its plant here in upstate New York farm country already pumps out 1.5 million cases of the thick yogurt every week, and pallets are stacked four stories high in the chilled warehouse. But like other Greek yogurt makers, Chobani is expanding. Greek yogurt now accounts for a quarter of the total yogurt market after a dizzying growth spurt that is especially apparent here in the heart of upstate New York. The nation’s No. 1 and No. 2 Greek yogurt brands — Chobani and Fage, respectively — are both expanding plants within 60 miles of each other, and another company is building a plant in western
New York. The expansions come as the big U.S. yogurt makers are focusing on Greek products, too. Greek yogurt is made a bit differently than the thinner, more watery product that dominated U.S. supermarket shelves for decades. The whey is strained off, leaving a creamier yogurt high in protein and low in fat. While the quick growth has some hallmarks of a food fad — think cupcakes or bubble tea — the long-term investments point to a widespread industry belief that many Americans will continue to like their yogurt a bit richer. “I personally do not believe that the yogurt story has started yet. I believe the yogurt story in this country is about to start,” said Chobani’s founder, Hamdi Ulukaya.
CHARLESTON
AG LIME
Chelmsford, Mass., farmer preserves town’s rural history
CRUSHED STONE SAND
BY RITA SAVARD The Sun of Lowell
CHELMSFORD, Mass. — It could be a scene from another time: Horses grazing in an open field, a ribbon of smoke swirling from a chimney, a salty man with a thick head of white hair gathering up logs for the fire. Minus the red SUV in the driveway, the Parlee Farm at 4 Proctor Road hints of another time, when Chelmsford was a sprawling farm community. Today, it’s among a handful of working farms remaining and its 27 acres continue to grow thanks to the efforts of 84year-old Charlie Parlee. Parlee recently bought two older houses near his horse farm to expand and preserve open space. “I guess it’s unusual to tear down a building to make an open field,” Parlee says. “But when you drive by and see the fields, the hills and the trees, it makes sense.“ In September, Parlee purchased a vacant house in disrepair on 20 Proctor Road and had it demolished to open the land up. He also purchased the historic Marcus Byam House on Maple Road for $265,000. He plans on restoring the white clapboard structure, built in 1835, to its original luster. Talking with a sense of purpose, Parlee says his goal is simple but important: To preserve pieces of the town’s past. Parlee is a living symbol of Chelmsford. A man who’s been in one place long enough to know its people. Sitting by a crackling fire inside the farmhouse, he rolls back time. He was born on May 25, 1927, the son of Samuel and Margaret Parlee, the fourth born in a brood of six boys. Ralph, Fred, Edward, Charlie, Bobby and Henry. Sam and Margaret bought a little house at 134 Pine Hill Road. The crops they planted in the land around it sustained them. “My mother always said, ’The food on the table, you have to put it there,’ ” Parlee said. Tragedy struck the family early on. Sam fell ill and died in 1936. He was 44. Margaret was alone with a farm to maintain and six boys — the youngest was 5, the oldest, 16 — to raise on her own. Parlee didn’t attend school past the seventh grade. He says his real education was on the farm, where he majored in life. At 9, he was delivering eggs all over town, helping with daily chores and learning how to fix a tractor when it broke down. “Really, we had a great childhood,” Parlee said. “I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world.” Margaret dedicated her life to her boys, and Parlee learned the value of family. Like seeds traveling in the wind, the Parlees planted roots in other places but
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Lowell Sun, David H. Brow/Associated Press
This Dec. 16, 2011, photo shows a view of the Parlee family farm in Chelmsford, Mass.
“When you’re raised on a farm, you enjoy the work. It really becomes a labor of love.” remain connected. Parlee’s oldest brother, Ralph, helped make the family’s Pine Hill Road farm an institution in town. Today, it’s owned and operated by Charlie’s nephew, Henry Parlee Jr., and is a destination place for finding the sweetest fresh strawberries in Greater Lowell. Edward’s son, Mark, farms more than 100 acres at Parlee’s in Tyngsboro. Parlee lives at the Proctor Road farm with his wife of 61 years, Jeanne. Their two grown daughters, Charlene and Robyn, also live in town. “When you’re raised on a farm, you enjoy the work,” Parlee says. “It really becomes a labor of love.” In 1999, Parlee purchased 247 acres in Ashby along Route 119 that he restored and converted into an equestrian center. When he purchased the Byam House, the roof was leaking, the floors were sagging and the brush was overgrown. The old house is next to the town park and rail trail. “I’ve seen Chelmsford go from rural to residential,” Parlee says. “It will be nice for future generations to see some historic houses still standing, some farms still going strong.”
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FRIDAY, JANUARY 27, 2012 ● FARM FOCUS 17
“With the increased interest in beekeeping, more and more people from Central Illinois are in need of an all-day school to get ready to raise bees.”
Say it in a Letter to the Editor To submit a letter to the JG-TC, please include your name and address and send it to Editor, JG-TC, 700 Broadway Ave. E., Suite 9A, Mattoon, IL 61938. Or send by email to editorial@jg-tc.com. Letters should be limited to less than 400 words. All letters must be signed. Letters should also include the writer’s home address and telephone number, which will NOT be published. Letters are restricted to one per person in any three-week period.
Kevin Kilhoffer/Staff Photographer
Larry Quicksall poses with some of his beehives in Shelby County on Jan. 14.
Beekeeping school planned in Effingham BY DAWN JAMES JG-TC Staff Writer
EFFINGHAM — A beekeeping school is planned Feb. 4 at the University of Illinois Extension Center, 1209 N. Wenthe in Effingham, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. The basis of the school is to provide practical information to beginning beekeepers or to anyone wanting to get started as a beekeeper. “With the increased interest in beekeeping, more and more people from Central Illinois are in need of an allday school to get ready to raise bees,” said Larry Quicksall, an instructor of the course and founder of Crossroads Beekeepers. He said the intention is to provide basic information to new beekeepers and to give them contact people who are experienced in the hobby or profession. Five people are heading up the class, including Lonnie Langley of Vandalia and Dave and Lisa Dhom of Newton. Both Langley and the Dhoms have more than 60 colonies to maintain and have both hosted their own bee schools in the past, Quicksall said. Other instructors are Mark Dyer, who has a master’s in zoology and maintains more than 30 colonies, and Eleanor Balson, an apiary inspector with the Illinois Department of Agriculture. Balson maintains several colonies as well. Crossroads Beekeepers has had many educational programs at many of its monthly meetings, but this is the first time it has offered a Bee School. The group was founded by Quicksall in August 2010 and has grown to almost 70 members, he said. The members are from the following counties: Effingham, Clay, Marion, Jasper, Cumberland, Coles, Shelby, Fayette, and Bond. Initially, Quicksall and Dick Loy, who were high school friends, developed the organization because as new beekeepers they saw a need for a mentoring group. Quicksall said the closest bee group at the time was located in Decatur or Belleville. At its first monthly meeting, Crossroads had eight people show up, and the following month the numbers doubled. Soon the group had 30 people and had to find a new location, Quicksall said. The group has three types of members: beekeepers, bee feeders, who are gardeners
Parasitic fly not yet seen in Illinois A recent study is providing a possible explanation of the problem of honey bees dying off. Researchers in northern California, according to an Associated Press report, say the possible explanation involves a parasitic fly, the phorid fly or apocephalus borealis, attacking the honey bees. The fly deposits its eggs into the bee’s stomach. The bee then tends to be in a zombie-like state. The report said the symptoms are similar to those of colony collapse disorder where eventually all the adult bees in a colony die off. According to Larry Quicksall of Crossroads Beekeep-
ers, as far as he and his fellow members can tell, the parasite problem is still isolated in the San Francisco area. “None of us have had any kind of sign of it here,” he said. According to Quicksall, sometimes when diseases like this arise, there is concern about the plight of the bees and carrying it elsewhere. He said he’s heard the disease called different nicknames so far. He has recently read an article about a similar problem that is occurring in Italy, but it is a different parasitic fly, he said. — Dawn James
Bee trivia n During the summer, worker bees only live about six weeks, while queen bees typically live 3-4 years. n A healthy bee hive will have between 60,000 to 80,000 honey bees during the peak summer nectar flows. n Bees will travel two miles away from the hive to find nectar for making honey. n Bees fly at about 22 miles per hour. n Bees gather the nectar from 2 million flowers and fly a combined 50,000 miles to make one pound of honey. n Honey bees are not native to North America, but were imported by colonists in the 1600s. The first recorded sightings of honey bees in Illinois were in the 1820s. n Honey bees are trucked all over the United States for pollinating the foods that we love. At least 1.2 million beehives are needed in California every spring just to pollinate the almond trees.
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who want bee-friendly gardens, and bee friends, who are interested in learning more about bees. The school is designed to teach the components of a bee hive’ basic biology of the honey bee’ the differences and functions of queens, workers and drones’ where to get bees including how to
capture a wild swarm’ management of the hive for every month of the year; and how to recognize various diseases and parasites that harm honey bees. The cost of the event is $30 per person. Those attending will receive handouts, the book “First Lessons in Beekeeping,” refreshments, a catered lunch, or a variety of door prizes. Some of the door prizes are as follows: a starter bee hive, a nucleus colony of bees, assorted beekeeping equipment, or possibly subscriptions to professional bee journals. Class size is limited to 50-75 people. Walk-ins are welcome if space is available. Call 3475937 for more information.
Contact James at djames@jgtc.com or 238-6866.
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18 FARM FOCUS ● FRIDAY, JANUARY 27, 2012
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Kim Ross stands in her greenhouse at Embarras Valley Farm near Rardin on Jan. 11.
Rardin ‘hoop house’ produces greens year-round BY DAVE FOPAY JG-TC Staff Writer
RARDIN — Rows of spinach, lettuce and broccoli typical of summer vegetable gardens were just as green and growing at Kim Ross’ farm a couple of weeks ago. The possibility of freezing weather wasn’t much of a threat to the produce that Ross is growing for her community agriculture business. It’s her first season growing in a large, plastic enclosure known as a “hoop house.” “I was pretty excited to have greens over the winter,” Ross said. She and her husband Ken own Embarras Valley Farms near Rardin. They’ve had a regular greenhouse for five years as one of the ways to grow produce that she provides to customers who buy a share of her crop and get part of it on a weekly basis. Ross said she had 25 customers during the season that ended in October and she expects 40 when the new one starts in the spring. She said she first grew produce for farmers’ markets but then decided to operate the farm fulltime because of the response. “People are really interested in local food,” Ross said. She said customers learn about the farm mostly by word of mouth or through its website, www.EmbarrasValley Farm.com. She grew up on a family farm and majored in biology with a botany emphasis at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston. She and her husband bought the farm, formerly a pick-your-own berry and vegetable farm, three years ago, about five years after they returned to the area after her husband ended his time in the Marine Corps. Ross said she learned about hoop houses, which are also called “high tunnels,” by reading about them in farming publications. She said she experimented with smaller versions, successfully growing kale over the winter, so “I knew after that it was definitely going to work.” She was also right in thinking that she would be a good candidate for a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. In exchange for providing the agency with information on the hoop house’s
SAY IT IN A LETTER TO THE EDITOR EMAIL: editorial@jg-tc.com MAIL: JG/T-C 700 Broadway Ave. E. Suite 9A Mattoon, IL 61938. Letters should be limited to less than 400 words. All letters must be signed. Letters should also include the writer’s home address and telephone number, which will NOT be published. Letters are restricted to one per person in any three-week period.
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FRIDAY, JANUARY 27, 2012 ● FARM FOCUS 19
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Columbus Dispatch, Eric AlbrechtAssociated Press
Myron Graber looks over the razing of a barn on the Overholt farm near Fredericktown, Ohio, in Knox County on Jan. 10. In 2008, experts estimated that more than 35,000 timber-frame barns built before the early 1900s still dotted the Ohio landscape, and more than 4,000 barns are recorded in the Ohio Historical Society’s inventory.
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BY HOLLY ZACHARIAH The Columbus Dispatch
FREDERICKTOWN, Ohio — There probably hadn’t been this much traffic along winding and narrow Dean Road for years. Recently, the isolated stretch of countryside was abuzz with people. Some came to take pictures, some to swap stories, some to gawk. Others simply came to say goodbye. It was a roadside wake, of sorts, for Ol’ Rusty. The barn that has stood sentinel over the Knox County corner for at least 170 years was coming down. As they watched a crew dismantle it, beech timber by beech timber, the “neighborhood boys” — some now in their 70s — recalled stacking baled hay in there decades ago. Bonnie Warner, who has lived most of her 61 years practically within spitting distance of the corner, lamented how the landscape she recalls from her childhood walks down this dirt road will never be the same. The barn, with its massive, 40-foot-by-75-foot frame, seemed bigger to her than even the White House back then. The bus that took Dean Shira to grade school in the 1940s and ’50s passed the barn each day. It was, he said, like a trusted friend standing guard as they rumbled by. As a kid, he baled hay there for Warner’s father, Glenn Ore. It was Ore who first dubbed the forebay, five-bent, Pennsylvania cantilever barn Ol’ Rusty because the metal roof was a mess. Even before the last of the timbers were down, Shira said, “I miss it already.” Even though the locals were a little sad to see it go, they drew comfort that it wasn’t destined for only a burn pile. The barn will be rebuilt and restored on another Knox County property. Its lower level will be used to store farm equipment, and the upper levels will become a hub for family gatherings. Columbus lawyer Doug Morgan calls it “history in the remaking.” Morgan is a skilled craftsman who has disassembled two 1820s log homes and a 19th-century barn, moved them to his family’s own getaway property in Knox County and restored them. Cutting his lawyering back to 30 hours a week or so, he now focuses on his new Mount Vernon Barn Co. He hopes to save as many as five historic barns in Ohio each year, either restoring them on site or dismantling them and breathing life into them at new locations. True preservationists say the goal should always be to save a building where it sits, said Rachel Krause, who’s with the Ohio Historical Society’s preservation office. A lot of science went into siting these old barns, with great thought given to which direction the wind would blow through the doors, proximity to water and the benefits of the surrounding hills, valleys or flatlands. Where the barns
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Contractors for the Mount Vernon Barn Company work at razing the barn on the Overholt farm near Fredericktown, Ohio.
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Doug Morgan of the Mount Vernon Barn Company keeps track of the timbers after removing them on the Overholt farm near Fredericktown, Ohio, in Knox County on Jan. 10.
“...I get to be outdoors, around some great friends and help be a part of something that will last, something that has intrinsic value. We’re saving history, and that’s neat.” were built is part of their story and their charm, she said. Still, she recognizes that an on-site fix isn’t always possible. In 2008, experts estimated that more than 35,000 timberframe barns built before the early 1900s still dotted the Ohio landscape, and more than 4,000 barns are recorded in the Ohio Historical Society’s inventory. Though the numbers on the registry change little from year to year, barns aren’t always easy to save, Krause said. There is little money available for barn preservation, and the projects aren’t cheap. Jay Overholt, who has owned Ol’ Rusty for several years, said he has always thought it a beautiful piece of history that ought to be saved. But it needed so much work — and a new foundation — that he didn’t have the time, money or inclination. So when Morgan, whom he did not know, knocked on his door one evening and asked if he’d be interested in getting rid of it, Overholt was thrilled and practically gave the barn away. The Columbus businessman for whom Morgan is working — who did not want to be identified — will have hundreds of
thousands of dollars in the renovation before it is finished. Morgan said not every restoration takes that much, but even the smallest such project costs more than $50,000. Last year seemed the prime time for Morgan to start his barn business. The slumping economy means some of his close friends need work, and he now has plenty of it. Even a cold, steady rain one day last week didn’t dampen Don Maston’s enthusiasm. He sang “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head” as he knocked nails from the beams and boards that Morgan’s hired Amish crew were slowly taking down. Maston sings tenor with Morgan in the choir at Clintonville’s Maple Grove United Methodist Church. A spate of bad luck and hard times recently set the stay-at-home father of three teenage boys back a bit. “I’m just trying to make all the extra money I can right now,” Maston said. “And this way, I get to be outdoors, around some great friends and help be a part of something that will last, something that has intrinsic value. We’re saving history, and that’s neat.”
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20 FARM FOCUS ● FRIDAY, JANUARY 27, 2012
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