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AG Mag Central Iowa

GAS PRICES: How increased prices for fuel is impacting farmers.

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PUBLICATION • SUMMER 2022

AG Mag

AG Mag Publisher Dan Goetz

Index Getting a jump start, FFA in middle school — page 4

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Index

Start of the season page 7

On the rise page 8

Changing the landscape page 12 AG Mag

Middle school teacher grows district’s agricultural offerings Students get earlier opportunities and introductions to Newton FFA Jarret Horn, a Berg Middle School teacher advising the building’s first Future Farmers of America (FFA) organization, is playing an important part in cultivating the next generation of farmers, leaders and active citizens in Iowa, and at the same time he’s growing the district’s agricultural program to unseen levels. Newton FFA has a long history at the high school. Horn was even involved in the organization as a student many years ago. But the 2021-2022 school year is the first time the FFA has ever been offered to middle schoolers in grades seven and eight. Horn said staff wanted to es-

4 Summer 2022

tablish an FFA at Berg for some time. Part of the reason the middle school was able to create the organization this year was because it successfully added its career and technical education program, which goes hand-in-hand with the skills taught in FFA. Horn, who has taught at Berg Middle School the past three years, leads the program. Prior to joining the Newton Community School District, Horn was a high school agriculture teacher in Missouri. Being the advisor to the middle school FFA comes close to home, too. Horn’s dad, James Horn, is the high

school FFA advisor, and the two work closely together. “So our kids are going to the same contests and the same FFA events,” the younger Horn said. “I have a really big passion to see FFA succeed here. I was in the Newton FFA chapter myself when I was high school, and now it’s just exciting for our seventh and eighth grade students can be a part of it as well.” When his father first began leading the Newton FFA, Horn said about 30 kids were entered into the organization. In a district this size, that number is very small. It was abnormal. Horn theorized that following the farm crisis in the 1980s, the public’s views on what it means to be involved in agriculture changed. “And I think there was a lot of families that didn’t really know what FFA had to offer,” Horn said. “We want students to be aware of agriculture and the opportunities of agriculture, but we don’t necessarily expect that every student becomes a farmer. In fact, that’s probably not a good thing.” But Horn said he does want students to have an appreciation for where their food comes from, know of the career opportunities in the agricultural sector and realize the valuable leadership skills gained through the FFA program. His father had that same mentality when advising the group all those years ago. “When my dad started at the high school we were kind of at a low point with about 30-some kids in FFA. Today, if you were to go over to the high school, there’s probably anywhere between — depending upon the year and class sizes — 130 to 140 students in FFA. Which is a lot.” Coupled with the 40 kids now involved at the middle school, the Newton FFA has grown to 170 to 180 kids across both buildings. “We have more kids involved in our middle school level in year one than we had the very first year my dad took over at the high school program,” Horn said. What does this mean for Newton? For starters, more students are being offered leadership development and career development opportunities to

cont. page 11

Middle school FFA builds birdhouses for bluebirds at Newton Arboretum

CARDINALS HELP BLUEBIRDS Bluebirds have something to sing about. FFA students from Berg Middle School on April 28 donated birdhouses to Project AWAKE, the organization managing the Newton Arboretum & Botanical Gardens, in the hopes they will be used by local eastern bluebirds, a species that some say has seen a decline in population in past years. Doug Smith, president of the Project AWAKE Board of Directors, said bluebirds are hard to come by these days. They are “very bright and very beautiful” birds, and they used to be very common in Iowa. Bluebirds nested on the top of rotted fence posts and would eat flying insects on farmers’ crops. “Well when we started using all the chemicals on the crops to kill the bugs, it would kill the birds,” Smith said. “So they went through a real decline. Our farming practices have changed where they don’t use as much chemicals, as harmful of chemicals. So you’re starting to see those numbers come back up.” With the new stock of student-made birdhouses, those bluebirds may just repopulate at the Newton Arboretum & Botanical Gardens. Smith accepted the FFA projects alongside office manager Jodi Flaherty and board treasurer Jenni Patty. The birdhouses will eventually be installed on a future “bluebird trail” at the 3000 N. Fourth Ave. E. facility. These small, wooden fixtures needed to be built in a particular way to meet bluebirds’ standards. “The door opening has to be a specific size, or other sparrows and what have you

will get into the nests. These are made to open up with a pair of pliers and clean up other nests,” Smith said of the birdhouses. “Our plan is to put them on the bluebird trail and place them several feet apart.” Which will help reduce any territorial disputes between birds. Iowa Department of Natural Resources says habitat is what is most important for eastern bluebirds, and nest boxes are a good way of providing shelter in areas where feeding opportunities are available. And there is plenty at the arboretum. In addition to improving the bluebird numbers, Smith said the birdhouses provide an education piece to the arboretum and showcase the importance community partnerships. Smith, as a former teacher of Newton schools, sees the value of FFA group’s contributions, which he said builds connections with the community. “One of the things that burns me is when people say, ‘Kids today don’t do this’ or ‘They’re not hard working.’ No. No. That’s a generational thing … Let’s not put everybody in the same bucket. I’m always looking for things to do in a positive way and let the community know these kids are good kids,” Smith said. And that is worth celebrating. To support the Newton Arboretum & Botanical Gardens, visit its annual spring plant sale 5 to 7 p.m. May 6 and 8 a.m. to noon May 7. Guests may receive door prizes at the fundraiser, which is sponsored this year by Coxes’ Greenhouse, Earl May, Fareway, Hy-Vee and Theisen’s.

— Christopher Braunschweig AG Mag

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A CHALLENGING START A cold spring, dry start to summer and increase in fuel prices have already tested farmers

Increased fuel prices, a long winter and a dry start to the summer has put stress on farmers for the 2022 season. While grain prices did increase over the winter, leading to optimism at the start, hard to get parts and expenses compiling to complete work have made this year a challenge. “Fuel being this high is a major issue. If it continues to rise it will cripple farmers, truckers and many busi-

nesses,” Jasper County area farmer Jordan Van Roekel said. “I know a lot of farmers that aren’t doing tillage this year to try and use less fuel.” Eric Siebrecht is one of those farmers. While he was able to get a large portion of the 2022 fuel under contract in 2021 when prices were much lower, he said it

cont. page 11 AG Mag

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cont. page 5 better excel at public speaking or how to run a business meeting, skills that go beyond the classroom. At the high school FFA level, there is also opportunities for a supervised agricultural experience. Typically, it is a project conducted during all four years of high school. Either students work for an agricultural-related business or start an enterprise or raise feeder calves to go to the fair. Of course, there’s a social aspect to FFA. Community service projects play a big part in the organization. “Whether it is beautifying landscapes at different organizations around town or making birdhouses for the (Newton) Arboretum or ringing bells for the Salvation Army — lot’s of different things,” Horn said.

“We want our kids to realize that once we build the self, we want to be able to give back.” FFA is prevalent in all 50 states. With much of Iowa’s identity rooted in agriculture, the organization perhaps plays an even bigger role. As a whole, the agricultural industry in Iowa “is huge,” Horn said, but there is a shortage of people in skilled trades and support industries for agriculture. “All of those industries are hurting in Iowa because we don’t have enough people — or at least enough skilled people — to fill those jobs,” Horn said. “When kids come into a career and technical education classroom or an agriculture classroom, we’re working on some of those skills.” Sure, it may be basic principles, but the skills are still useful to stu-

cont. page 7 won’t be enough to finish this season. “We will have to pay a higher price for fuel,” Siebrecht said. “With the high prices of fuel, we are cutting back on some mowing and tillage we normally do. In terms of work, if it isn’t absolutely necessary, it probably won’t be done.” Along with fuel concerns, Siebrecht said getting equipment has become tough. Whether new or used, the machinery just isn’t available like in years past. “There is just no inventory out there,” Siebrecht said. “We have also had trouble getting certain chemicals so we have had to switch to other products. Fertilizer is extremely high in price, as well.” Farmers have also had to take on a longer than normal winter and dry spring and early summer. Not getting into the soil when anticipated and then having no rain has led to increased worry over yields in the fall. “This spring was a headache. A damp and cold April made it very frustrating. We only planted one day in April this year. Not sure that’s ever happened before. Luckily we got heat and dry weather the first week of May,” Van Roekel said. “We are abnormally dry. The corn is curled up in June and that’s never a good sign.”

dents. The governor’s STEM initiatives and the Future Ready Iowa program are helping in that regard, too, Horn said; as are Newton FFA and the career and technical education courses available to students in middle school. By the time they enter high school, they will have had plumbing, electrical, woodworking and animal and plant life sciences. “Even if a student doesn’t involve themselves directly into production agriculture, we hope that they have life skills that can prepare them for a career or even to be just a productive citizen or homeowner,” Horn said. “We believe we’re preparing students that are going to not only exist in Iowa, but give something back.”

— Christopher Braunschweig

Along with the crops, Van Roekel said the grass hasn’t been growing in the pastures to keep up with cattle grazing. Much needed rain will have to come to relieve farmers from feeding cattle while in pastures. “If it continues to be dry it will be a long summer of feeding cattle in pastures which isn’t fun,” Van Roekel said. Even with the mound of challenges farmers have had to overcome already, the outlook for the fall is still positive. “As of now, the corn crop looks fantastic. Other than the few afternoons it was curled up, it looks very healthy,” Van Roekel said. “Beans were slow to emerge and very uneven in spots. Both desperately need rain soon or yield will drop fast. As for harvest, my guess is we will have to dry corn due to late planting.” Siebrecht agreed that as of now, the crops are looking good but he knows the heat and dry weather have put them under stress. “With the dry weather and the increased heat, we have lost some of our yield potential with corn,” Siebrecht said. “It is hard to say about beans at this point in time.”

— Jamee A. Pierson

AG Mag

Blockchain changing the landscape of ag business As blockchain technology grows in the ag sector, who will benefit and who is at risk? An existing yet still emerging technology known as “blockchain” is changing the way in which information is stored and shared. And as the agriculture sector continues to embrace it, Jack Uldrich – an acclaimed global futurist – said it’s going to have profound implications in a positive way for farmers. What is blockchain technology? Blockchain is a system of recording information in a way that makes it nearly impossible to change, cheat or hack the system.

12 Summer 2022

By definition, blockchain is a distributed digital ledger of transactions. Uldrich said there’s importance to that. “The fact that it is distributed means all of the data is stored on millions, if not billions, of different computers. So it’s super secure,” said Uldrich. “Because it’s digital, it can easily be replicated and transferred.” According to the Congressional Research Service, blockchain technology does not rely on a central authority to maintain records or verify

transactions on behalf of users, unlike traditional data systems. Instead, members of a block chain platform each have access to automatically updated copies of all transactions. What this means is every transaction is recorded in a new block in the chain. Each block has several pieces of information: the data itself; a hash value, or alpha-numeric string cryptographically determined by the data, and the hash of the previous block in the chain for increased transparency. For those who struggle to under-

stand blockchain, Uldrich compared it to double-entry bookkeeping and how it revolutionized accounting. “Double-entry bookkeeping was a really big deal 500 years ago. We started keeping debits and credits and that facilitated commerce,” said Uldrich. “What blockchain is now, is sort of, not double-entry, but triple-entry accounting ... The triple is sort of the world’s eyes that are that third set. It’s just a super secure way of transmitting information and data.” Uldrich said blockchain is revolutionary and good news for farmers, who are looking to increase their profit. “The reason this is so revolutionary is today, a lot of intermediaries (middlemen), who needed to exist in the past don’t necessarily need to exist in the future,” he said. Applications There are many examples of blockchain uses in agriculture. Uldrich said there are many things about blockchain that should excite farmers, such as its use in smart farming and precision agriculture. “It is blockchain that is going to make this work and here’s why; Farmers are already putting sensors into their fields to measure moisture level or PH level, temperature and there’s satellites beaming down on their fields, collecting more data,” Uldrich said. “Blockchain will allow us to store all of that data securely, and everyone can agree on that data.” Uldrich said the transparency of blockchain is a game-changer for everyone. “When someone says I use this much water, I use this much pesticide or herbicide or insecticide on my crop, that I stored my crops at this particular temperature ... that they were only in the truck for 18 hours ... everyone can agree on the data,” said Uldrich. “That is really important because it will allow farmers to maximize their income, because they can prove to the Cargills of the world, to the retailers, and also to the consumers, that they were responsible stewards of the way they were growing things.” Another example of the application of blockchain is in the supply chain. “We are going to be able to give consumers – not every consumer, but

a growing number– who care deeply, information about where their food is grown and how it is grown,” said Uldrich. For consumers wanting to buy products produced a certain way or from a particular region, and companies held accountable by consumers and regulators, blockchain offers the most transparency in an efficient way. “Blockchain will be able to help farmers demonstrate that they’re doing things as efficiently as possible,” said Uldrich. “People are going to want to know are they lowering their carbon footprint, growing things organically or using GMOs. And maybe there are some consumers who are quite comfortable with GMOs, so there might be some who say, ‘No, I actually want to buy products with it.’ Block chain will help us prove we’re delivering what the end consumer wants.” A third application of blockchain in agriculture is how it is expected to transform ag insurance by creating “smart contracts” and speed up payments. “For a lot of farmers it took weeks or months to get their payments after the derecho hit. For a lot of Iowa, two years or more after a rainstorm or after a drought,” said Uldrich. “Now with satellite data and other data, if there’s a certain amount of rain that has fallen in an area, we know almost instantly that that’s going to damage the crops, that amount of water, or 17 days of drought is going to be devastating for a particular crop, or wind speeds up to X is going to damage a crop. With smart contracts, where data an be accessed in real time, the farmer can be paid almost instantaneously.” The technology of these smart contracts are good for farmers, but bad for some in the insurance industry. “We don’t really need an insurance adjuster to come to a farm field because satellite data can provide [information],” said Uldrich. “And so the insurance contract will be executed immediately. Or if they deliver their wheat or corn to a co-op, and the truck says it was delivered at this time stamped time, that’s exactly when the farmer should get paid. He shouldn’t have to wait a week, two weeks, whatever it takes for other people to pay them. So that should really excite them

– this whole idea of smart contracts.” The long-term benefit of blockchain technology is more money will land in the pockets of those who do the work. “Today, farmers do a bulk of the work but really receive the bulk of the payments and profits. There are a lot of people taking their little piece of doing things. With blockchain, in the long run, and we’re a long ways from this, is that the retailer or even the consumer should have a direct relationship with that farmer,” he said. With efficiencies created by blockchain, such as cutting out the middlemen, consumers could see lower prices as farmers net higher profits. “What’s really exciting is the opportunity to globally benefit all farmers,” said Uldrich. “What the public really wants to do is they do want to support those farmers and blockchain is going to give them a means and a mechanism to do that.” Challenges There is still much to be desired in rural areas when it comes to connectivity across rural Iowa, especially those relying on broadband to implement smart and precision farming practices. But that will change as satellites become the primary way of delivering internet access. “The number of satellites Elon Musk and other companies are launching in to space seem to be game-changers, so I think the delivery of 5G is going to facilitate blockchain,” Uldrich said. “I really think in the next 12 to 36 months it’s going to get really good.” Uldrich said the growing technology is going to catch a lot of people – regulators and politicians – by surprise. “They’re thinking, ‘How do we get high-speed Internet access to rural areas?’ Well, we’re not going to do it with wires. We’re going to do it with satellites, and it’s going to be affordable, it’s going to be good,” he said. While some of the infrastructure is a challenge today, Uldrich said it’s going to be addressed a lot sooner than people think. One of those reasons is because current technology is “very insecure. “That’s why a lot of farmers now have to purchase more cyber security

cont. page 15 AG Mag

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cont. page 13 insurance,” Uldrich said. “Blockchain, because it is so secure, will help, not eliminate, but significantly minimize cyber security issues.” As the ag sector shifts toward blockchain technology, Uldrich said its intermediaries, or the ones who have access to the capital today, will attempt to slow it down or make it work to their advantage, but the peer-to-peer nature of blockchain will supersede their efforts. When Uldrich says peer-to-peer, he gives the example of small to mid-sized farmers, who might have a hard time gaining access to financial capital. “With blockchain it’s entirely possible that 1,000 people could just get together and say, ‘You know what? I want to help this particular farmer. I can only throw in $50.’ But if you get 1,000 people all throwing in $50 bucks that’s $50,000. So potentially, 1,000 people can support one farmer through blockchain with no bank.” While some investors might want to make some profit off their investment, Uldrich said some may want to do it out of the kindness of their heart because of what that farmer is doing to the land of the farming techniques they use. “Some people are making the world better, not just based on money, but values,” Uldrich said. “I do get excited about that potential, but I don’t want to mislead people to think that will develop all that quickly. But that’s the long-term potential.”

Uldrich said he would love to support farmers who employ regenerative agriculture practices, understand biodiversity, and work to reduce their inputs.“If I could do that, there are other consumers out there that kind of understand blockchain’s potential, who are sort of driving this trend to create a better world,” he said. About Jack Uldrich Jack Uldrich is a well-recognized global futurist, speaker, and the author of 13 books, including award-winning best sellers. He is a frequent speaker on technology, change management and leadership and has addressed hundreds of corporations, associations and not-for-profit organizations on five continents. He regularly makes television appearances on PBS’s Frontline, the Science Channel, and the Discovery Channel, and is a frequent guest on major media outlets, including CNN, CNBC, Fox and National Public Radio. Jack is also an ongoing contributor on emerging technologies and future trends for a number of publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Wired Magazine and Inc. Jack is a former naval intelligence officer and Defense Department official. He served as the director of the Minnesota Office of Strategic and Long-Range Planning under Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura. His most recent book from October 2020 is Business as Unusual: A Futurist’s Unorthodox, Unconventional, and Uncomfortable Guide to Doing Business and his forthcoming book in early 2022 is The Rise of Generation RE.

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AG Mag

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