Wordless Wednesday: Foot At First

Recently, in my Agronomy 342: World Food Issues class, we had an enthusiastic speaker from an Ames organization called Food at First. This impressive group of 100% volunteers diligently prepare seven hot meals per week as part of a free, no questions asked service to the local community. The majority of food served comes as donations from area retailers and the ISU cafes or dining system. Fresh fruits and vegetables are also gleaned from farmer's fields and the organization has recently started a small garden that contributes a bit of fresh produce. I look forward to featuring this group on the blog more in the future, but for now, enjoy this Wordless Wednesday post of the delicious and nutritious meals they provide as well as the hardworking people that make it all possible.

I look forward to sharing more with you about these inspiring volunteers and their impact on the surrounding community. If you're looking for an opportunity to get involved, please check out their Facebook page. Thanks for reading!

Wordless Wednesday: Ag Business Learning Community Adventures

One of the most rewarding things I've been a part of on the Iowa State campus has been the Agricultural Business Learning Community. As a freshman, this group helped me find the clubs I'd most enjoy, answered my questions about business dress codes, and guided my class choices for the rest of my college career. For the past two years, I've been employed as a peer mentor in this program teaching students how to prepare for career fair and helping them discover their passion in agriculture.

The program is a class that meets twice a week. Most of the time we listen to guest speakers, explore campus resources, or work hard on improving resumes and 4 year plans. Occasionally, we have time to let loose and enjoy the fall season. This week, after many students completed their first round of midterms, we painted pumpkins for a local nursing home and visited Center Grove Orchard. The orchard took time to give us a behind the scenes tour and teach our team about marketing strategy. This week's Wordless Wednesday features the adventures of our relaxed week.

I hope you've enjoyed this glimpse of our Learning Community adventures as much as we enjoyed getting creative, jumping on the jumping pillow, and munching on caramel apples! Happy fall! Thanks for reading!

Monday Night Movie Night, 8th edition!

This weekend many of my classmates went home to help with harvest. My Facebook news feed was full of family pictures in front of combines, meals taken out to farmers in the field, and wagons full of grain. As I drove to Des Moines via the scenic route on Saturday, I found myself going below the speed limit gawking at the scenes of huge green and red combines hard at work against the gorgeous, crisp blue sky. Old red barns and bright orange leaves passed by making me wish I was anywhere but the car. In that spirit, I decided to dedicate this entire Monday Night Movie Night to harvest videos. I hope they make you as proud to be an Iowan as they do me.

This video was shot in South Dakota, but features the same crops we raise here in Iowa. I found this clip very interesting because it uses a GoPro camera mounted on a drone. Drones are fairly new technology that have a lot of potential in the agricultural industry. Check out this video to see harvest from a different angle!

Harvest season takes help from the whole family, young and old. This homemade movie shows just how much pride farm families take in their operation. Take a look and follow this little boy and his family through the harvest time.

This video is a little longer, but I really love it's historical perspective. It includes photos of this farm's past and present. You may recognize "God Made a Farmer" by Paul Harvey, re-popularized by a recent Super Bowl commercial, in the background. Enjoy a glimpse of several generations participating in harvest, and other farm activities by clicking below.

I'm sure you can tell if you've been following my blog the past several weeks, I just love this time of year. (Fall on the Farm, Fall Industry Tour) It makes me so thankful for all the farmers who feed our world, the beautiful crisp weather, crunchy colorful leaves, and the privilege to be a part of the agricultural community. Thanks for reading!

Wordless Wednesday: FarmHer

For this week's Wordless Wednesday I'm sharing another guest photographer's amazing work! Last week at the AgEI Entrepreneurship Roundtable, I was blessed to meet Marji Guyler-Alaniz. This sweet lady is on a mission to share the story of women in agriculture through her talents behind the camera. Her photos are currently featured at the Des Moines Social Club and have been picked up by Huffington Post and the popular site, Upworthy. I hope you are inspired by each of these photos as much as I have been!

I'd love to share more about my time with Marji and her business, but since I cheated last week, I better keep this Wordless Wednesday on track. Please visit the FarmHer website for more details and "Like" the FarmHer Facebook page to see the latest happenings with the project. Thanks for reading!

Agricultural Business Club Fall Industry Tour Recap

A couple weekends ago, Thursday through Saturday, I had an awesome opportunity to attend the Agricultural Business Club Fall Industry Tour. This was my first time participating in the annual trip, but it's a long standing tradition for the club. Our group visited a total of six businesses, and I can honestly say I thoroughly enjoyed each one.

First, we were hosted by Flint Hills Resources in Menlo, Iowa. Our group of nearly 50 students was divided in half for tours of the ethanol plant and a company overview presentation. During my internship with Iowa Corn I had the opportunity to tour another ethanol plant, and it was really interesting to compare the two businesses. Although their layout and facilities were a little different, they are both supporting local corn farmers and producing ethanol and dried distillers grains (DDGS). Ethanol is blended into the fuel supply because it's renewable and cleaner burning. DDGS are a protein and energy rich feed ingredient often fed to livestock raised in the area. 

It was a little rainy, but Flint Hills Resources was a great host. 

After the stop in Menlo, we drove the rest of the way to Omaha, Nebraska. Upon arrival, we quickly checked into our hotel rooms and put on our walking shoes to head to dinner with Scoular at Upstream in the Old Market area. If you've never been there, the Old Market area is definitely worth checking out, and Upstream is quite a treat!

We all enjoyed dinner and conversation with Scoular. Each table was fortunate enough to have a company representative to talk with for the evening.

In the morning, we were up bright and early to visit Scoular in their beautiful Omaha office. Todd McQueen, Senior Vice President, gave a company overview, introducing grain merchandising positions and more. Later, our group divided up to tour the remodeled office space. As we took in the Scoular Ballroom and the rest of the gorgeous facility, Kevin told us about grain merchandising and their efforts in sustainability.

The ballroom hosts many company and outside events each year.

After a great time with Scoular, we walked several blocks down the street to Gavilon. The two businesses have some very similar roles in the industry, so it was a great opportunity to compare company culture and work environment side by side. It was so interesting to see how the organizations have differentiated themselves.

The huge trading floor at Gavilon was quite impressive!

Gavilon served us lunch and presented on many aspects of their business. It was really helpful to hear from economists, operations managers, grain merchants and human resource staff.

After a wonderful lunch, we hopped on the bus and went across town to visit Claas, a German company that specializes in harvesting equipment. Our club toured the assembly plant and networked with sales staff. The international nature of their business and the fact that it is still family owned fascinated me.

Our group enjoyed investigating the large machinery in the Claas showroom.

Once our time with Claas was up, we loaded the bus one last time to head to Farm Credit Services of America for our final stop of the day. Along with a company overview, we were invited to tour the business campus. Their buildings were beautifully decorated with local art and agricultural themes. 

Each element of the office was carefully selected to represent the agricultural clients they serve.

After an excellent visit with Farm Credit Services of America, we headed back to the hotel to hang out and venture into the Old Market for dinner on our own. A bunch of Junior girls and I enjoyed a meal at the Tap House after getting recommendations from a local guy. It was a great experience.

At Tap House we all enjoyed funky burgers and our fill of fried pickles, cheese curds and sweet potato fries.

Saturday we got to sleep in a little and relax strolling through the famous Omaha Zoo. It had been a long time since I'd been to a zoo, so it brought back a lot of fun memories. No matter how old I get, I'm sure watching the monkeys interact with each other and the delicate jellyfish swim through the water will always capture my attention.

The zoo was a welcomed break from the previous day's fast pace.

I had a great time visiting Omaha, learning more about ag businesses and making memories with my classmates. I'm already looking forward to next year's trip! Thanks for reading!