Our Agricultural Future: Students and Farmers

One aspect of my job I love is that I am always meeting new people.  Bayer is so big and there are new people to meet all the time.  There are also many people that come and visit us which provides another opportunity to network with new people and groups.   This week I met people from two different organisations that are really driving results in area of agriculture.

Agriculture Future of America

The first group I met with this week as they were visiting Bayer were some student leaders for the Agriculture Future of America or AFA.  The Agriculture Future of America was "created by the late R. Crosby Kemper, Jr. and other Kansas City business leaders to provide personal and professional development experiences for college students and young professionals in food and agriculture.  Today AFA focuses on personal assessment, communication, change management and lifelong learning to develop professionalism, entrepreneurial and intellectualism."

I personally was able to sit down with three of these students and two other Bayer colleagues to talk about our careers and potentially instill some insight for these future leaders.   In hindsight I think it may have been been them giving me some perspective and insight.   As I get older it is sometimes easy for me to forget what it was like being a college student and trying to find my way.   "What do I want to be when I grow up" is a heavy burden for many students and one that we all can help them with.   These young students reminded me how important it is for those of us in agriculture to share our experiences and share our love and passion for this career path.  It is easy to forget that that year after year students graduate and have to decide what they are going to do.  Talking to these students I know firsthand that having someone share their experiences goes a long way into helping them make their own choices.    I also realize that by not being proactive there is a lot of talent that may never even know how much they would enjoy a career in agriculture.

If you are like me you probably remember the FFA or Future Farmer's of America.  The AFA is another resource for our youth that should not be overlooked.   The AFA networks with academia and companies to provide scholarships, training, and internships for those that are interested and apply for these opportunities.  A clear message you will hear from those who have taken advantage of the AFA is that the AFA is about "Building Bridges."

Here was one page from an AFA brochure that gives more info:

Go check out the AFA site for more info:  http://www.agfuture.org/s/1342/rd16/start.aspx
Follow them on twitter:  @AgFutureAmerica ‏


Global Farmer Network

The other organization that visited us was the Global Farmer Network.  I was two for two this week because I had not heard of the Global Farmer Network either.  I had to look up more info on this group.  Here is a quick recap of what I found:

We had 4 farmers from this network come visit for a Q&A with Bayer employees.  They were a joy to talk with and had very diverse backgrounds since they came from New Zealand, India, Argentina, and the US.    It was great to see how much the farmers support agricultural technology including GM options.  Even with all of the anti-GM opposition in India, Farmer Ravichangdran who is from India was advocating for science.  Go follow him on twitter:  @FarmerRaviVKV  He is very active on twitter and can give you a great perspective on agriculture in India.

With so many false claims running rampant on social media, we need farmers like Ravi spreading truth.

He is just one of many farmers in the Global farmers network that are out there raising awareness on multiple agricultural topics.  This is a group I will definitely pay more attention to going forward.  There website is full of lot of great information.

Go check out their website:  http://globalfarmernetwork.org/

Here are other twitter names to follow for the GFN
@World_Farmers 
@GlobalFarmerNet


My eyes are opened everyday to those who are advocating for science and agriculture.   Our youth is our future and it is easy to forget that we really need to take the time to support them.  Just sharing our own experiences and listening to their concerns and challenges goes a long way.  Other times we are in  a constant fight against the myths everywhere.   In a conversation I heard it mentioned that false information is like a virus and it spreads quicker than ever with internet and social media.  Just a few sentences can create fear that is so hard overcome.  Become an advocate and share the science.  These groups represent some great resources to get you started.

Astrophotography: Comet Johnson C/2015 V2

I still remember 1986 when Halley's comet came through.  I was only in third grade and I never actually saw it in the sky.  I just remember hearing the headlines about it and I have a vivid memory of sitting in school and we all talked about comets and looked at pictures.   Halley's comet is supposed to come back in 2061.  I will be 83 years old when it returns and I surely hope I can put this comet on my bucket list.

It was Halley's comet along with a solar eclipse when I was in 2nd grade that first started my love of space.  I remember the excitement and joy of those events like they were yesterday.

While I have a long time to wait for Halley's comet, there are always comets in our solar system making their lonely trip around the sun and some get close enough that I can try to photograph them.   Comet Johnson C/2015 V2 is a comet that is currently taking a closer view of our sun.

J.A. Johnson discovered C/2015 V2 on November 3rd, 2015.  Since the discovery Comet Johnson has steadily been making its way towards our sun.   When a comet reaches the closest point to the sun it is called the perihelion and C/2015 V2 reached perihelion on June 12th, 2017.  It is usually right before that a comet is its most visible from the Earth before it gets lost behind the sun.  As a comet gets closer the sun it brightens up as it trails a tail of dust and gas.  In May of 2017 this comet was visible with binoculars so it did get fairly bright.

I went out in late May and try to get a view of Comet Johnson.  Here was my very amateur attempts.

Light Frames 71 x 60 seconds
Scope:  SV90 refractor
Mount:  Celestron AVX
Guide camera:  ASI120
Processing:  DeepSkyStacker and PixInsight

A Day of Gleaning and Some Great Organizations

Every year, employees from Bayer CropScience in RTP, NC go out to a farm and glean.  Gleaning the practice of gathering leftover crops after the harvest and the collections from gleaning are given to a food bank to help feed people in need.

I participated in the Bayer gleaning day this year and for me it is not only amazing to see Bayer and fellow colleagues dedicate their time to helping out in the community, but it shows just how many other people and organizations have dedicated their time and resources to helping people.

I wanted to go through the various people I met throughout the day and how their big hearts are truly making a difference.

THE FARM - WILLIAMS' PRODUCE

The farm we went to was in Autryville, NC and owned by the Williams' family.  I arrived a little early to the farm and I knew I was in a good place when Dwight Williams came up to me and introduced himself.  Pretty quick after that he told me to jump in his pickup and we were riding down he road to the field mark off where we would be gleaning.   A reporter had come and I mentioned that I would walk back to grab her.  Walk?  Nope.  Dwight told me to jump in his truck and drive it to get her.  You know you have met a good person when they are offering you their farm truck after only meeting you for 20 minutes.

Beyond the fact this family lets people come and harvest produce for the hungry, they also have a beautiful operation.  A stand was set up in the front with lots of watermelon, corn, tomatoes, and all the other good summer vegetables.  They have a Facebook page with more info and I know they would enjoy a visit if anyone is ever in that area.

https://www.facebook.com/williamsproduce/


SOCIETY OF ST. ANDREWS

I did not know too much about the Society of St Andrews.   Now i know a lot more after seeing what they do and meeting some of their staff.   Gleaning is what this organization does and is all about.  They organize lots of gleaning events across many US states, including North Carolina.

This organization makes a huge impact in our communities.  They helped us coordinate our gleaning event and do this same coordination for lots of organizations.  As we were gleaning they were helping to count and load all the corn we were collecting.  Just to give a snapshot of the impact they have take a look at these numbers:

http://endhunger.org/


BAYER CROPSCIENCE

I work for Bayer CropScience and am always proud to work for a place that puts its words into action.  We talk a lot about sustainability and giving back to our community.  Our mission is "Science for a Better Life,"  so when we do go out into the community to make a difference it is important to me.

We had over 60 volunteers come out for gleaning and many of them even brought their children.  We were mainly working in a cornfield and harvesting leftover corn.   I can tell you we harvested a lot of corn!  We put as much as we could in a bucket, brought it to a truck, and then kept harvesting.

MAKE A DIFFERENCE FOOD PANTRY

This food pantry has made a lot of press in the past because it delivers a lot of food to a lot of people that need it.   Mackenzie was only ten years old when she established this food pantry and it continues to grow and provide food.  4,250 pounds of corn that we gleaned by Bayer went to Make A Difference Food Pantry.

http://www.madpantry.org/

https://www.facebook.com/MakeADifferenceFoodPantry/


DORCAS MINISTRIES

About halfway through the morning, it looked as though we had gleaned so much corn that the Society of St. Andrew's would not have enough room in their truck to fit it all.  Dwight from the farm knew I had driven my truck and Michael from the Society of St. Andrews looked for a second food pantry that I might could drop a load off.    They contacted Dorcas Ministries in Cary who was excited for the delivery of corn.  Dorcas is actually more than a food pantry.   They have many services they provide for the community with a food pantry just being one of their outreach programs.

http://dorcas-cary.org/

The Bayer CropScience volunteers filled another 2,250 pounds of corn in my truck and off to Dorcas I went.  I rang the doorbell to their food pantry and I was greeted by some wonderful people who helped me unload my truck into their pantry.

All in all the day makes you realize just how many people really are working to feed people in need.  I volunteered for half a day, but some of the people I met are doing this as full time jobs.  There are days that we all wake up and things seem bad.  The news seems bad, the weather seems bad, maybe even conversations go bad.  But then there are days like this one, that you see only the good and you realize that while there are many who are doing bad things by our Earth, there are plenty who are doing everything they can to do good and right.

And the reporters that did show up had their stories as well.

http://www.mydailyrecord.com/eedition/a-main/2017/06/29/a-trip-to-the-farm-to-glean/

http://www.fayobserver.com/news/20170628/volunteers-glean-field-to-benefit-mobile-food-pantry