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Ag Mag – 3

INDEX

Ag Mag

Community Af-fair �� 6 Harvest in full swing �� 11 Herbicide supply on short side �� 14 Experts consider herbicide options ��16 A giving garden ��19 Amazing aronia �� 22 On the cover: Bureau County Agricultural Board President Francis Morse greets visitors at the ticket booth to the entrance of the Bureau County Fairgrounds in Princeton. PHOTO BY SCOTT ANDERSON

Articles are the property of AgriNews. No portion of the North Central Illinois Ag Mag may be reproduced without the written consent of the publisher. Ad content is not the responsibility of the Bureau County Republican. The information in this magazine is believed to be accurate; however, the Bureau County Republican cannot and does not guarantee its accuracy. The Bureau County Republican cannot and will not be held liable for the quality or performance of goods and services provided by advertisers listed in any portion of this magazine.

4 – Fall 2021

Bureau County Republican P.O. Box 340 Princeton, IL 61356-0340 815-220-6948 Publisher Dan Goetz Editor Jim Henry Advertising Director Jeanette Smith jmsmith@shawmedia.com

Writers Martha Blum Tom C. Doran Jeannine Otto Katlyn Sanden Photographers Scott Anderson Martha Blum Tom C. Doran Designer Liz Klein

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Ag Mag – 5

Community Af-fair PHOTO BY SCOTT ANDERSON

The Bureau County Fair hosts a variety of events year-round.

The Bureau County Fairgrounds is a community gathering spot all year By Katlyn Sanden For 166 years, people have flocked to the Bureau County Fairgrounds for five-star entertainment every August, with the exception of the Civil War in 1862 and the Covid pandemic in 2020. Whether you’re into livestock, music, tractor pulls, demo derbies, carnival rides and games, food, or home economic projects, there’s something for everyone at the Bureau County Fair. Those successful shows don’t happen without the support and volunteer efforts of the community. “The fair is made up of a lot of volunteers,” said Bureau County Agricultural Board President Francis Morse. “The people came out to support us. Things looked a little light, but overall things looked pretty good.” This year’s fair kicked off on Aug. 25th by unveiling the never-seen-before Legacy Brick Wall. The Legacy Brick Wall was organized by the Bureau County Fair Foundation to encour-

PHOTO BY SCOTT ANDERSON

age the use of the fairgrounds. “We have a lot of people on it that were part of the fair years ago,” Morse said. “Volunteers were recognized. We’re going to continue that into the future. There’s a lot of history on that wall. That’s a positive.” The goal of the Legacy Brick Wall is to honor those that have impacted the fair in whatever ways they uniquely could. Fair-goers are encouraged to buy a legacy brick for anyone whom they’d like to honor. Past board presidents, radio hosts, fair queens, and numerous volunteers are just a few who are already displayed. Funds from the bricks go back to the fair to help ensure the fair goes on for generations to come. The current wall stands beside the fair office, but the board hopes to grow it so much that pillars will be added. The rest of this year’s fair was filled with all the favorites – concerts, demo derbies, tractor pulls, livestock shows, and so much more. “Overall, I was pleased,” said Morse of the 2021 fair. “The community and the volunteers

The barns at the Bureau County Fairgrounds in Princeton are used for many different attractions.

6 – Fall 2021

PHOTO BY SCOTT ANDERSON

David Mead, organizer of the Nightmare on Fairgrounds Road, poses in one of the decorated barns.

showed up. It was a very smooth-running fair.” But the fairgrounds are used year-round for much more than the annual county fair. Dave Mead, who also volunteers at the fair and heads up the annual haunted fairgrounds event, said there are more people working behind the scenes than meets the eye. Fair time or not, there’s always something going on at the fairgrounds. “They (the volunteers and community) come out because they care about the fair,” Mead said. “We have some very nice facilities. It may not be high dollar, but we can create a very memorable event at a very minimal price.” Mead stepped into his role 18 years ago in hopes of helping the fair make a little extra money to get through the winter by organizing the Haunted Fairgrounds. Since then, it has exploded in popularity. “Halloween is right behind Christmas with the amount of money people spend,” said Mead. “We have become the number one fundraiser for the fairgrounds. This is still a small-scale operation. We don’t have a two-million-dollar budget. We still have to compete and bring people in.” Mead said the secret to the success of the Haunted Fairgrounds event is the talented team of volunteers who step up to the plate because they simply enjoy Halloween. “You’ll see stuff here you’ll never see anywhere else,” Mead said. “We have cus-

tom-made props, hand-made set designs. We can provide a night’s entertainment for $15 and are very proud of it. Our goal is to entertain you from the minute you park your car to the time you leave. We want you to be completely entertained.” Haunted fair-goers saw an entire animated zombie scene, unlike anything else, and a sunken pirate ship scene where they actually felt like they were wading through waste-deep water due to special effects. There was also something for the paranormal activity lovers too. Mead said Spirits of the Night came out and hunted for ghosts, similar to what is on the Travel Channel. “They look for heat signatures and recordings,” said Mead. “They (Spirits of the Night) go all over the state. You have to tie the entertainment in with real things. They found a recording of what was an old board member that none of us knew. They researched who it could be and identified him. He’s still on these grounds.” Mead said they had one other paranormal finding with another similar fair enthusiast that allegedly haunts the Allen Building at night. Haunted Fairgrounds ran Friday and Saturday nights through October. Throughout the remainder of the year, the Bureau County Agricultural Board aims to See Fairgrounds page 9

Ag Mag – 7

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Fairgrounds FROM PAGE 7

have something going on to bring in revenue for the grounds, whether it is a gun show, toy collector show, job fair, flea markets, weddings, or winter boat/camper storage. An upcoming new feature for this year is the Home for the Holidays Light Show, which will debut on Dec. 4. Jenica Cole, Executive Director of the Princeton Area Chamber of Commerce and Princeton Tourism, said the ultimate goal of this event is to spread holiday cheer, while giving families something to look forward to after these uncertain 18 months. “It’s very important to the chamber and the fair to work together to host new events,” Cole said. “These type of events not only benefit and strengthen our community, but they also put the spotlight on Princeton and Bureau County, attracting visitors to see what we are all about and possibly come back. We chose the name ‘Home for the Holidays’ because we kept getting comments on how much it feels like home here, and we want people visiting to feel that sense of home as well. We want visitors to want to come back to Princeton.” Home for the Holidays Light Show is another way for the community to get involved to ensure the fair goes on for generations to come. It will run from 5 to 9 p.m. Friday

PHOTO BY SCOTT ANDERSON

Exhibit Halls 1 and 2 are popular places all year at the fairgrounds. through Sunday from Dec. 4 to Jan. 1. Cole added that Home for the Holidays will set the theme for the rest of Princeton’s holiday events, including the 5K, parade, and window display contest. “We want this Christmas to be magical,” said Cole. “A huge thank you to our businesses for stepping up to sponsor our 50-plus light display, as well as a few local families. We most certainly couldn’t have pulled this off without them.” “We are very excited about this event,” Morse said. For more information on how to get involved with the Bureau County Fair, Haunted Fairgrounds, or Home for the Holidays, visit bureaucountyfair.com.

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Jay Kindred combines his 46-acre cornfield just southwest of Atlanta, Illinois, on Sept. 27. The Kindreds’ harvest has been going smoothly and will move to soybeans once the corn is done.

Harvest in full swing Follow the Kindred family throughout the entire year. Each month, look for updates about the family members and the decisions they make on their farm. By Tom C. Doran

AGRINEWS PUBLICATIONS

ATLANTA, Ill. — Ron and Jay Kindred were a little over half finished with the corn harvest on Monday afternoon, Sept. 27. Ron was hauling corn to the local elevator while his son, Jay, had combine duties on a 46-acre field that has a long connection with the family and is now owned by Jay and his wife, Ashley. “It’s a farm that Jay and Ashley bought a couple of years ago and it’s a farm that my grandparents owned at one time. Somebody else owned it in between and it’s nice to have it back in the family,” Ron said. The Kindreds started harvesting corn Sept. 21. “We’ve had about one and

Ron Kindred boards his tractor to haul another load of corn to the local elevator. The Kindreds had over half of their corn harvested on Sept. 27. a half days off after we got 1.7 inches of rain. Otherwise we’ve been harvesting corn the whole time,” Ron explained. “We haven’t harvested any soybeans yet. We’ve had some

corn with standability issues and we just think the stalk quality is not the greatest and we should get it out before we start with soybeans.” It was a hot, windy fall day

with the temperature pushing 90 degrees, making conditions ripe for fire concerns, when this reporter stopped at the See HARVEST page 12 Ag Mag – 11

HARVEST FROM PAGE 11

Kindred field. “I don’t like harvesting when it’s this hot. We blow the combine off every day and worry about it the whole time we’re out there because you never know when a bearing is going to go out,” he said. “With the way the wind is blowing and as dry as the stalks are it can go in a hurry. I feel better when it’s a little cooler and wetter,” he said. The Kindreds’ corn yields so far are ranging from 190 to 226 bushels per acre, and moisture ranged from 16.5% to 25%. “We’ve been all over the board in between there for yield. I think everybody is a little disappointed in the yields. We kind of have short-term

memory. We kind of forget the conditions that this crop lived through early on with all the flooding we had and everything else,” Ron continued. “This farm here has had water on both sides of the creek and corn was under water. It’s amazing; these crops can withstand a lot. It’s amazing how good it stood and what the yield is even under tough conditions. “I’m looking forward to finishing up corn and getting started on soybeans, so we can see what they’re going to yield. I thought that the soybeans looked pretty good all year long, so I hope I’m not a little disappointed in them once we get into them.” Tom C. Doran can be reached at 815-410-2256 or tdoran@shawmedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at: @ AgNews_Doran.

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Herbicide supply on short side Farmers hunt for sources for 2022 crop year

container shipping to the U.S. trucking industry’s shortage of drivers. “In the retail world, trying to find truck drivers, not just for long haul, but for short haul truck driving, it’s been a nightmare just to get truck drivers. That is one of the biggest issues we are seeing,” Kevin Johnson said.

By Jeannine Otto

AGRINEWS PUBLICATIONS

MARKLE, Ind. — Will farmers be able to secure adequate supplies of popular row crop herbicides going into 2022? “The hot topic right now is lack of supply for certain products going into next season,” said Chad Threewits, Syngenta agronomy service representative for Indiana. The challenge of suppliers and farmers sourcing enough herbicides for their 2022 growing year needs isn’t limited to a single state or region. “We are hearing that from our members. It is not an uncommon conversation that we are having with our members. It’s one of the main concerns when I go and talk to retailers. At our MAGIE show last month, the big conversations were about trying to find product,” said Kevin Johnson, interim president of the Illinois Fertilizer and Chemical Association. Supply chain issues have impacted every industry, from groceries to Christmas trees — and agriculture hasn’t been spared. Supplies of popular crop herbicides, including glyphosate and glufosinate, along with ingredients to make herbicides, are coming up short and those shortages aren’t likely to end soon. “The short story is that all of the major active ingredients — if you think about the products that get used on lots of acres, Roundup, Liberty, even some of the products that have atrazine that we use in corn — we are hearing about the shortages all across the board,” said Bill Johnson, professor of botany and plant pathology at Purdue University.

There has been considerable talk about limited availability of herbicides. Certain products were in short supply this summer, sparking concerns about additional herbicide supply issues in 2022.

“Where we really got in trouble this past year, in 2021, at least here in the eastern Corn Belt, is they could get their first post treatment sprayed, but for all the companies that were doing the re-spray thing, it was the re-spray, the second trip over the field, where they were having trouble finding product in a timely manner,” Bill Johnson said. Kevin Johnson agreed that supply issues ramped up early in 2021. “When spring started hitting, we started hearing all kinds of concerns about supply issues,” he said. With many ingredients of popular herbicides being sourced from outside the United States, especially from China and India, issues from transportation to COVID-19’s impact on manufacturing facilities have affected availability. “Some of it is due to the fact that they can’t get the inert ingredients to use in the U.S. formulation plants and some of it is due to the fact that whatever is happening in the overseas formulation plants, that COVID has slowed their operations, they are not able to get workers or not able to operate their plants. We have a lot of products that are made in China, a lot of products that THE PROBLEM are made in India. Even getThe issues with supplies of ting the inerts produced in herbicides started to gain at- those areas has been a chaltention in the spring of 2021. lenge,” Bill Johnson said. 14 – Fall 2021

THE CAUSE Kevin Johnson said the supply chain issues go beyond just the chemicals themselves. “We are seeing it in everything. In some cases, companies were looking for 2.5-gallon lids. Some companies told us that they put everything that’s in a 2.5-gallon jug into a white cardboard box. So, there’s no white cardboard to be found, so they put it in a standard brown cardboard box,” he said. Threewits echoed that the supply chain issues extend beyond the chemicals and are part of the shipping and supply delays. “We had a delay in shipping because we could not get the glue to glue the boxes shut on cases of herbicide. We had to go from white to brown boxes, in some cases, to be able to ship products out,” he said. This is not the first time that popular herbicides have been in short supply. “If we go back over the last three or four years, there have been some isolated shortages of specific products. I think it was three years ago we were short on metribuzin, Syncor and Tricor are the trade names. Then Liberty was in short supply and that goes back to a lot of that being made in India and there were some issues there,” Bill Johnson said. One major snarl has been transportation, from global

THE SOLUTION Farmers are urged to talk to their chemical retailers sooner rather than later and to realize that retailers may not have prices for some herbicides. “What we are telling everyone is to talk to your retailers. I don’t think everyone has the pricing of what stuff is going to be. I think some of them don’t have everything in hand right now versus previous years, where they would already have stocks in hand. Work with your retailers and have those conversations, but in some cases, the retailer might not have the price today and they may not have it until the end of October. I’m hearing from a lot of people that they still need to get enough production so they feel comfortable on giving a price on some of these chemicals right now. They don’t have 100% of their supply bought, so they don’t know where they are at with prices,” Kevin Johnson said. Bill Johnson said one sector that could be particularly affected is farmers doing no-till and farmers who plant cover crops. “Whether they are a no-till or a cover crop person, they should be doing something before the crop is put in the ground anyway. Those farmers, in particular, the glyphosate shortage impacts that market the most. The possibility exists that, if someone gets the message that they can’t get enough glyphosate, they may go back to tillage, assuming they have the tillage equipment,” he said. Jeannine Otto can be reached at 815-410-2258, or jotto@ shawmedia.com. Follow her on Twitter at: @AgNews_Otto.

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Company representatives and weed scientists suggested the following responses to potential disruptions in herbicide supplies: purchase products early, be proactive with herbicide applications, use diverse weed management strategies and have a backup plan.

Experts consider herbicide options By Jeannine Otto

AGRINEWS PUBLICATIONS

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — For farmers faced with shortages of popular crop herbicides, including glyphosate and glufosinate, are there options? Possibly, say two Indiana weed and crop experts. “Our pie-in-the-sky recommendation would be go out and search for the genetics and then the crop protection products for those genetics where you have an adequate supply and then make sure those products fit the weeds that you have on your farm,” said Bill Johnson, professor of botany and plant pathology at Purdue University. Finding an alternative to the tried and true herbicides will take some adaptation and careful management. “The devil is always in the details with that. For the farmers who manage their fields closely and know what they have, there’s an opportunity to substitute some alternatives in 16 – Fall 2021

there,” Johnson said. But even as they look for alternatives for the herbicides which have been in short supply and look to continue to be in short supply, there just aren’t many. “To be perfectly honest, there aren’t great alternatives to things like Roundup and Liberty. We just don’t have broad spectrum, post-emerge herbicides that we can use over the top of crops that have the right traits in them,” Johnson said. With the supply picture looking uncertain moving into 2022, farmers may want to evaluate their herbicide application programs to see if changes can be made there. “What they can do, if Roundup and/or Liberty are in short supply, they can go back and say how can I build my residual herbicide program so I don’t have as much reliance on that post treatment? Maybe I can build a residual program where I don’t have to spray twice, post-emergence. Maybe I only need to spray

once post-emergence and I can but in two passes. “One example of this overget a volume of Roundup or Liberty that will support one lapping residual piece, the post-treatment,” Johnson said. strategy of never letting the weeds emerge is you put a half rate of a product down. Three PLAN AHEAD Rethinking residual strength weeks later, you put the other could be a key to reducing de- half of the product down. You pendence, even if only until never have weeds emerge. supplies firm up, on glypho- That takes your reliance off of glyphosate and glufosinate to sate and glufosinate. “If supplies of our two have to use those for a burnbiggest products, glyphosate down,” Threewits said. Threewits said he has been and glufosinate, are going to be limited next year, how talking to farmers concerned do we put together programs about securing supplies of the that don’t rely on just those popular crop herbicides for post products?” said Chad 2022. “It’s an emotional topic Threewits, Syngenta agronomy service representative right now because we have been used to when we go and for Indiana. Threewits said the first step order a product, we expect it is to plan a strategy of not to be there and we have it to apply. With some of these supeven letting weeds emerge. “We would look at products ply challenges going forward, that would have a long resid- it doesn’t sound like it’s going ual and a good residual that away anytime soon,” he said. keeps us from having to spray weeds post the least amount Jeannine Otto can be reached at 815-410-2258, or jotto@ of times,” he said. That strategy could mean shawmedia.com. Follow her using products at lesser rates, on Twitter at: @AgNews_Otto.

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D +/- tillable. 120 +/- acres Bureau S Twp. TwO p.L 119 119 L.7D+/39 +/- acres Macon Twp. wp. wp 38 + tillable. SO38.7 L.7D+/O91.7 94 +/- acres Mineral TTwp. wp. wp 91 + tillable. S Gbl D/-INtillable. LEp.P182 189 +/- acres Gold old ol d Tw Twp. 1EN 82 +/tililla labl la SA 130 +/- acres Gold Tw Twp. 126 + +//- tillable. LD Sp.O126

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AGRINEWS PHOTO/TOM C. DORAN

Caleb Phillips (left), Sunnyside Community Garden and Food Forest manager/director, and Dave Bishop, Heartland Community College regenerative agriculture class instructor, discuss food insecurity issues during a recent tour of Bloomington garden.

A giving garden College program provides fresh food to community By Tom C. Doran

AGRINEWS PUBLICATIONS

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. — Heartland Community College’s principles of regenerative agriculture class went to the heart of the matter recently when students visited Sunnyside Community Garden and Food Forest. The garden, located on Bloomington’s west side, is a collaborative organization that provides over 1,000 pounds of fresh organic produce to the community during the season. The focus is to provide healthy, nutritional food to underserved community members.

The class is part of Heartland’s Agricultural, Food and Natural Resources associate degree program that started this school year. “Part of our definition of what regenerative agriculture is includes making sure that the food we do produce is accessible to everyone in the community,” said instructor Dave Bishop. “It’s rather strange to think in this country — we’re the richest country on earth; we produce copious quantities of food — we waste 40% of the food that we produce. We have all kinds of federal and state programs, SNAP, WIC, food

banks, we have all kinds of assistance programs. Why is anyone hungry or food insecure? “That just doesn’t seem to make any sense. So, maybe there is more to it. Maybe throwing money at the problem isn’t really fixing it. If that’s the case, what do we need to do? And Caleb (Phillips) has been working on that and has some research on that very question.” FRESH FOOD Phillips is Sunnyside Community Garden and Food Forest manager/director and led the tour. He is a church leader with See GARDEN page 20

Ag Mag – 19

GARDEN

if I can’t be here they can handle things,” Phillips said. “Some of those volunteers FROM PAGE 19 come from the west side of Bloomington. Some live outLiving Stone Communities on side of Bloomington, but they the west side of Bloomington. want to help out.” Living Stone Communities is an outreach ministry of the RESEARCH East White Oak Bible Church. Phillips has done extensive Phillips is also interim minis- research on local foods and ter at Arrowsmith Christian food insecurity and discussed Church. that with the Heartland stuThe original mission of Sun- dents visiting the site. nyside when it began in 2016 “Part of the issue that I adwas to provide fresh fruits and dressed with class is my revegetables for residents on search is showing that kids in Bloomington’s west side. our neighborhood are getting “That hasn’t necessarily plenty of calories — some of drifted or changed. Most of them too many. But a lot of our food is servicing Home their food is nutrient poor, Sweet Home Ministries, Bea- not nutrient dense food,” he con of Hope food pantry, and said. we also help St. Mary’s soup “My research on SNAP kitchen which serves on Tues- benefits, food banks and days and Thursdays. We are other places is showing that able to provide fresh fruits a lot of the decisions to not and vegetables through those buy nutrient dense food come partners,” Phillips said. from either a lack of knowl“We don’t usually just sort edge of how to prepare that of do a random drop-off. We food to make it tasty because want to build relationships it’s hard to make things tastwith those places and we re- ier than potato chips. ally want to understand what “So, either, one, there’s a they need. So, part of our lack of information on how do planting plan for this season I actually make this food taste was we grew more collards good, but there’s also a certain and we grew more head let- lack of understanding.” tuce because Home Sweet Home co-op said that’s what HEALTHIER OPTION their members can’t get and Phillips said he’s not a so we said we’re going to grow medical doctor and “hates to those things. We don’t want to disagree with medical docgrow more tomatoes for you if tors.” you’re already inundated with “But most people I’ve retomatoes. So, our tomatoes searched in the neighbordon’t normally go to them; hood that has diabetes who I they go to another place. can say to ‘you can come get “We try to do research, in a food for free or you can help sense, with our customers to me harvest it or you can volunderstand what they want unteer and then I’ll give you and then our growing plan is things out of the garden,’ they based on what they want and have said they don’t want need.” to eat that food and would The garden is maintained rather eat the food they’re alby three volunteer teams as- ready eating. The food their signed to Tuesday mornings, already eating is high in comWednesday evenings or Sun- plex carbohydrates, added day evenings. sugars and various other “We have trained their things that are making their leaders on how to do differ- diabetes even worse. ent things. All of our beds are “I’ll ask why, and they’ll numbered and places have make a statement that’s very names and so we can use a similar to ‘but my doctor tells Google document to tell them me all I have to do is take this what we’re going to do this pill and it’ll help solve the week or this day and ask if problem.” And so the idea of they can get these things done. doing yoga, staying hydrated, So, if I can be here, great, but going on walks, working in

20 – Fall 2021

the garden, being active, eating ‘healthier,’ making 80% of our calories coming from fruits and vegetables, maybe choosing local options, things like that, those are not on the radar as they’re discussing things with me. “They’re saying, ‘my doctor is not bringing up the idea of how to eat healthier, how to balance my diet, how to eat more fresh fruits and vegetables. All they’re talking about is taking these meds.’ “So, a lot of what I’m finding is I can provide a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables, but if you don’t know how to prepare them, then you’re kind of sunk. “The other part is if I can’t convince you to take it because salads are gross and ‘I’d rather have a pizza and my doctor says that a pizza with a pill is the same as a salad, then why wouldn’t I choose the pizza?’ Those are the two major streams of information issues that I run into out here.” He added that it’s also important on the education side to teach students food preparation, consuming healthy food and having a healthy diet. “I’m all about kids need to be able to do math and they need to be able to read at grade level. I’m a huge proponent of those things, but we’re not passing along these ancient skills of fermenting food, making our own bread, producing our own food. We’re not passing those things along and if we don’t pass those things along you’re going to lose that information and that wisdom,” he said. JOBS A focus going forward will be creating first-time jobs for teens in the community. “There are no job opportunities for kids in our neighborhood and we want to be a place where we offer really good first-time jobs for kids. This last summer, we had two apprentices. We got connected with them through the Boys and Girls Club. They need to be located within a certain mile radius and

somehow connected with the neighborhood,” Phillips said. “We want to go from two to six next summer or potentially from two to eight and we want all of their wages and the program to be taken care of by wholesale. We really want to create a program where kids can come back year after year and they can work here, they can have a great first job, they can get paid for it, they can start to learn how to show up on time and how to work hard and take responsibility, how to take criticism and feedback and work with all of those things.” Heartland Bank has partnered with the program to work with the teens by providing financial information and classes on financial literacy. LIFE LESSONS Phillips also has a group of local pastors meet weekly with the young workers for breakfast for another life lesson. “It doesn’t make a difference to me, but some of them are white and some of them are black, and the group would have breakfast with the two workers and me on Thursday mornings. A group of men, who don’t look like each other, don’t see eye-to-eye on everything, but who can get together, eat together, talk together and pray together and check in with one another. The young workers can start to better understand if you want to decrease the temperature in the room, if you want to have less hostility you have to get to know people, you have to build relationships in your community,” he said. “So, we wanted to talk to them about how to build healthy relationships and how to create an open and honest culture where people can get together and talk and relax and not everything becomes a shouting match that we sadly sometimes see. A lot of the focus the next couple of years is trying to develop that to help this move forward.” Tom C. Doran can be reached at 815-410-2256 or tdoran@shawmedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at: @ AgNews_Doran.

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Amazing aronia Farmers pick berries as crop for small acreage By Martha Blum

AGRINEWS PUBLICATIONS

WONDER LAKE, Ill. — Aronia berry plants are growing on five acres in McHenry County, northwest of Chicago. Rolling Oaks Aronia Ranch was started by Mike and Maureen Scheitz in 2018, when they put 6,000 plants on their hilly farm that features lots of oak trees. “We did brainstorming for an alternative crop that would have a variety of benefits,” said Maureen during a tour of the farm that was part of the Learning Circle for Women Farmland Owners meeting sponsored by The Land Conservancy of McHenry County in partnership with the McHenry-Lake Soil and Water Conservation District and the Savanna Institute. “Mike came across aronia and we went to a national convention and learned about the amazing health benefits of the berry,” Maureen said. “This ground is not the best for corn and beans because of the rocks,” Mike explained. “That’s another reason for choosing aronia because they don’t care where you plant them.” “There is not a huge market yet for aronia berries in the U.S., but in Poland they drink the juice and use it in cooking all the time,” Mike said. Before establishing the plants, the farmers installed drip irrigation underneath a weed barrier. “The drip irrigation really helped to get the plants established,” Mike said. “This year we’ve irrigated more than ever and we inject fertilizer, usually twice a year depending on the season.” The plants are three feet apart and there are 14 feet between the rows. “You want to make sure you 22 – Fall 2021

AGRINEWS PHOTOS/MARTHA BLUM

Maureen Scheitz pours samples of aronia juice for women landowners who recently toured the farm. Juice and frozen aronia berries are available for purchase and can be used to make smoothies, pies, sauces, jams or jellies. have enough space in between rows to get the equipment down the isle,” Mike said. “There are many different cultivars and we planted Viking,” he said. “This variety is the heaviest producer with bigger berries.” Although the farm is not certified organic, the farmers practice organic methods. “The plants are naturally resistant to insects, so we don’t have to spray insecticides,” Mike said. “Japanese beetles will feed on the foliage, but we don’t have corn and beans right around us, so we don’t have the pressure from them,” he said. “If we have a big infestation, we would spray with an organic insecticide.” It took two years of growth before the plants produced many berries. “The first year we picked maybe 200 pounds and last year we harvested about 2,000 pounds,” Mike said. “This year we had 1,600 pounds of berries and I think our harvest would have been bigger, but the frost killed off some of the flowers.” The berries are typically

ready to pick two weeks before Labor Day. “I test the berries for the Brix content, which is the sugar content,” Mike said. “We want to start picking when it’s around 18.” For the first years of production, the farmers have been handpicking the berries. However, they plan to switch to mechanical harvesting. Aronia berries have a tart flavor and provide several health benefits. “Aronias have cardiovascular, inflammatory and digestive benefits,” Maureen said. “The berries are really tasty after you freeze them because that breaks down the skin and tannins,” Mike said. “And when you juice the berries, you want to freeze them first, so they release the juice better.” Initially they used a home juicer to process the berries. “That didn’t work real well. Aronias have natural pectin, which really built up,” Mike said. “Now we have a bigger machine that squeezes the berries up against a screen, which really produces a nice juice.” Customers can purchase

aronia juice and frozen berries from Rolling Oaks. “Aronia berries are a developing market and we’re hoping it will take off,” Mike said. “Ocean Spray uses aronia in some of their juices, but the U.S. market is too small, so they buy from Poland.” This is only the second year the farmers have sold berries and juice. “We put ads in a Polish newspaper in Chicago and we’d like to get involved with a commercial producer or get into somewhere like Whole Foods,” Mike said. “We drink eight ounces of the juice every day and we make smoothies, too.” Customers also had the opportunity to u-pick aronia berries at the ranch on two weekends this year. “We post when the u-pick days on our Facebook page,” Maureen said. For more information about aronia berries, go to www.americanaronia.org. Martha Blum can be reached at 815-410-2254, or mblum@ shawmedia.com. Follow her on Twitter at: @AgNews_Blum.

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