Iowa Farmer Today
06-10-06
Weekend program gives students taste of farm life
By Hannah Fletcher, Iowa Farmer Today
CLARKSVILLE -- A weekend trip to the farm may be just what Portia Allen
needed to thoroughly understand Iowa’s agriculture and aid her future career in
large animal veterinary medicine.
“I guess this will make me more qualified to be in the College of Ag,” she says
with a laugh.
Allen is an Iowa State University senior in animal science and grew up in
Pocahontas. This spring, she participated in ISU’s Ag Weekend Experience
program (AWE), which allowed her and other students to tour various operations
and spend the night on a host families’ farm.
Neither Allen nor the other five AWE attendees in Northeast Iowa grew up on a
farm, even though many have majors relating to agriculture or within ISU’s
College of Agriculture.
Allen has high hopes for her future as a veterinarian, but her background
sometimes leaves her feeling out of place with her classmates.
“I usually don’t even know what they (classmates) are talking about or they say
things in a way I don’t understand,” she said.
Through her classes, Allen has learned a lot about the livestock industry but little
about other areas of agriculture, she said.
When Allen heard about AWE, she thought it would be an opportunity to learn
about agriculture beyond what is taught in textbooks and lecture halls.
With more than half of College of Agriculture students coming from non-farm
homes, it is easy to see why there may be disconnections for many students,
said Alicia Clancy, AWE coordinator and ISU senior.
“This is a way to enhance their classroom learning,” Clancy said. “It’s a chance
for the students to learn about what they are doing in school on a different level
and better understand the culture of Iowa.”
The program was first offered to eight students in the spring of 2005. This year,
the experience involved a packed schedule and 14 students — five in Northeast
Iowa and nine in Southwest Iowa in Crawford County.
AWE was the brainchild of Don and Marylou Ahrens, Osage farmers who are
involved with ISU’s College of Agriculture and agricultural endowment board.
“Don has a real soft spot for students,” said Marylou, vice president of ISU’s
agricultural endowment.
“We want to show them the parts of agriculture they don’t get to study so they
can get the big picture. We want to broaden their horizons before they graduate,”
she explained.
To do that, the Ahrenses and three other farm couples covered several areas of
agriculture during their visit. They talked about their families and school, but
overall, topics of conversation rarely drifted from agriculture.
Over lunch, host Monica Lursen talked about her experience with the Iowa Corn
Growers Association and showed the students a cup made from corn-based PLA
plastic.
“That’s made from corn?” asked an impressed Lim Kok (Ron) Keong, a
sophomore in microbiology from Malaysia.
Clancy said the students have various backgrounds and unique reasons for
being involved with the AWE.
“I want to have a job in my major, but I want to come home and have a reason to
be outside,” said Jacquelyn Bures, a freshman in ag systems technology from
Hiawatha.
Through their tour of a farmer-invested ethanol plant, a hog facility and a dairy
operation, the students were shown several aspects of agriculture.
In the car ride to tour a hog facility, host Jeff Rients explained reasons why he
invested in it.
Rients focuses on growing grain but started the hog operation with partners to
add value to the grain.
Waving to passersby, he took several opportunities to discuss various aspects of
land management as they passed from field to field on their trip.
Nearly halfway through their experience, all the students on the Northeast Iowa
trip said they were learning more than they had expected.
After their tours were complete, the students split up and went home with their
assigned family for a night on the farm.
As Clancy made arrangements to pick up the students for the following Sunday,
host Larry Lursen asked, “And, what if they don’t want to go home?”