Ag Week luncheon to salute farmers’ capabilities

 

By DON PEASLEY
Special Correspondent

 

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McHenry County’s tribute to farmers during Agriculture Week will salute farmers’ productive capabilities and call attention to agriculture — the county’s second largest industry.
At the Ag Week luncheon Tuesday, March 18, members of the news media will be guests to talk with local farmers about the significant changes taking place in the industry.
One change is the much higher than average prices being paid to farmers for corn, soybeans and wheat. This is counterbalanced by increases in prices of fuel, fertilizer, seed and equipment, emphasized Dan Volkers, McHenry County Farm Bureau manager. The farm bureau and Hughes Hybrids are hosting the luncheon.
During the luncheon, guests will have an opportunity to participate in an Illinois Energy Bike project. Guests will pedal the stationary bicycle with a generator that delivers electricity to a display board. The cyclist powers incandescent and fluorescent light bulbs and other appliances to show the difference in energy efficiency between incandescents and fluorescents. Larry Reinhard, Ag in the Classroom coordinator for the farm bureau, will take the energy bike to schools for demonstrations with students.
Harry Alten, a Harvard farmer who is chairman of the McHenry County Land Conservation Commission, will talk to the news media concerning efforts to preserve farmland from improper development. Alten will stress preserving farmland for recharge areas as a valuable way to protect water resources.
One goal of the Land Conservation Commission is to raise funds to purchase development rights to farmland, ensuring that it will be permanently protected from development. The land would be farmed by the owner. It could be sold for farming but not for future development.
During the luncheon, participants will be reminded of the food production efficiency of American farmers. On average U.S. citizens spend less than 10 percent of their disposable incomes on food. In comparison, people in Mexico spend 33 percent and people in Japan spend 26 percent for food.
Reinhard will report on the agriculture community’s plans to host Ag Expo Tuesday to Friday, April 8 to 11, at the McHenry County fairgrounds. Farmers representing 20 agriculture-related stations will talk to more than 3,000 third- and fourth-grade students from throughout McHenry County. Volunteers will staff the booths and serve as guides from station to station.
U.S. Department of Agriculture statistics show each American farmer produces enough to feed more than 144 people, a dramatic increase from 56 people announced at the first McHenry County Ag Day luncheon in 1975. At that luncheon, the farm bureau dramatized what, at that time, was an impressive statistic by having farm bureau president Don Luerssen dine with 55 other people in the upper level of the Old Courthouse building on the Square.
Cliff Ganschow, nationally known agricultural journalist and editor, said feeding 144 people is a fine accomplishment for the average farmer, but top farmers in America are producing enough to feed more than 330 people a year. Ganschow came across this information while producing a newsletter called “Top Farmers of America.”
One reason for the greater production efficiency of today’s farmer is increased equipment capability, improved genetics in crops and different methods of raising crops, such as minimum tillage, which requires significantly fewer trips across the field to raise corn and soybeans.
Farmers also are taking advantage of the latest in biotechnology and in satellite guidance systems. For example, John Deere’s assisted-steering system, GreenStar Auto Track, guides the tractor in a straight line down the row. The operator turns the tractor at the end of each pass and steers around obstacles such as trees, ditches and waterways. Alten said the technology reduces farmer fatigue and reduces input costs after the initial purchase.

 

This article was published in the March 12, 2008 edition of The Woodstock Independent.