Volume 44| September 01, 2022 | |
Elected Official Farm Tour on August 12, 2022 | |
Far left: Hank from Ozinga Concrete visits with the group, and Representative Tim Ozinga added to the background of their plant on the elected official farm tour. | |
Elected official farm tour hears about the differences in concrete and cement inside the control room at Ozinga Concrete. | |
Representative Tim Ozinga visits with Steve and Karen Warrick. | |
John Henrich from Prairie Creek Barge Facility explains to the group the differences in DDGS, and how many tons that they ship to gulf coast, along with grain. | |
Some of the crew learning about the barge loading at Prairie Creek in Joliet. | |
Symerton Homecoming Pedal Pull 2022 | |
Young farmers work crew for the Symerton Homecoming pedal pull on August 21st l to r: Corey Brandau, Adam Maves, Kevin and Lauren Ardaugh, Kyle Johnson, Amy and Clyde Brandau, Austin Brown, Anita Schneidewind, Luke Baskerville and Mark Schneidewind. A total of 44 kids participated in the pull. A big thanks to Werner Farms for sponsoring the prizes for the event! | |
The winners of the class “A” pedal pull was l to r: First Place with a pull of 23 foot even went to Luke Schneider of Grant Park, Second Place went to Maggie Nugent of Manteno with a pull of 20 foot 10 inches and Third Place went to Quintyn Lemenager of Ashkum. | |
The second heat during the Symerton Home Coming pedal pull event final results were l to r: First Place with a pull of 45 foot 7 inches was Cole Lemenagar of Kankakee, Third Place went to Logan Johnson of Peotone with a pull of 36 foot 1 inch and Second Place went to Kase Quigley of Frankfort with a pull of 38 foot 4 inches. The prizes were donated by Werner Farms. | |
The final pedal pull heat during Symerton Homecoming was class “C” and the final results were as follows l to r: Second Place went to Grace Gallagher of Manhattan with a full pull of 80 foot in first round and a second pull of 48 foot even, First Place went to Reed Mewohr of Manteno with a full pull in round one and a second pull of 50 foot 6 inches and Third Place went to Jett Quigley of Frankfort with a pull of 44 foot 4 inches in round one. | |
Set up crew for this year’s Will County Fair l to r: Hop Crow, Steve Malcom, Rick Johnson, Mike Robbins, Darren Deutsche, Jeff Brandau, Jim Robbins, LuAnn & Steve Matejcak, John Kiefner and Lloyd Christiansen, not pictured Wayne Walz. | |
Setting up fences for the fair were Hop Crow and Jeff Brandau | |
Putting up and digging the holes for the tent center posts for the fair l to r. Lloyd Christiansen, Darren Deutsche and Steve Matejcak. | |
The tent is ready to go!!! | |
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Congresswoman Lauren Underwood came by the Farm Bureau tent
at the Will County Fair !
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Ron Meyer from the fair board visits with Congresswoman Lauren Underwood
about the activities and ag issues on August 26th.
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Congresswoman Lauren Underwood milked a live cow during the Will County Fair.
Our thanks to the Vaughn Family for providing this experience
and to Ron Meyer for making this happen.
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Pedal Pull at The Will County Fair | |
Pedal pull workers at this year’s Will County Fair l to r: Jarred Mulderink, Kyle Johnston, Corey Brandau, RJ Nugent, Austin Brown, Riley Koehn, Adam Maves and photographer Amy Brandau. | |
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Maggie pedals hard for her full pull in the competition while Riley Koehn and Jarred Mulderink walk along side her to get the exact length of pull during the
2022 Will County Fair.
| The top 3 pulls for class “A” during the Will County Fair l to r: Second Place with a full pull in round 1 and a second pull of 30 foot 4 inches Maggie Nugent of Manteno, First Place with a full pull round 1 and a second pull of 45 foot 1 inch went to Keegan Smit of Peotone, Third Place with a first round pull of 38 foot 6 inches went to Ilona Morrelle of Crete. | Class B competition during the Will County Fair was as follows. First Place went to Levi Pickens of Grant Park with a full pull in round one and a second pull of 30 foot, Second Place went to Henry Morrelle of Crete with a full pull in round 1 and a second pull of 24 foot 11 inches and Third Place went to Colin Reilly of Homer Glen with a first round pull of 27 foot 3 inches. | The winners of the 3rd class during the Will County Fair were l to r: First Place went to Lester Taylor of Aroma Park with a pull of 40 foot 8 inches, Second Place went to Abbigail from Joliet with a pull of 33 foot even and Third Place went to James Mancille of Braidwood with a pull of 32 foot even. | |
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Will County Farm Bureau participated in the Will County 4H livestock auction August 27th and purchased 2 items from the kids.
Here they were posing for a picture with Reganne Price.
L to R Mark Schneidewind, Steve Warrick Sr., Reganne Price and Kelly Reus.
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Tent was full most of the time during this year’s Will County fair with huge crowds Wednesday and Saturday and Sunday! | |
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Winner of this year’s Will County Fair pedal tractor raffle was Oliver Stroh, shown with his mommy, Hannah Stroh. Oliver was excited to ride this tractor when he arrived home. The pedal tractor was donated by Prairie Creek Grain .
The raffle raised over $1,000 for the Will County Farm Bureau Foundation 2023 scholarship program and it was sponsored by the Will County Farm Bureau
Young Farmers Committee.
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Last Chance to Order Fall Flowers!
(click on form to print)
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At The Farm Gate
September 2022
By Joanie Stiers
Agriculture cultivates better communities
“My life is one big volunteer commitment. LOL.”
That’s an accurate assessment.
I inquired about a project of our FFA Alumni organization, and my aunt was fresh off two community events for separate volunteer groups that weekend. Mind you, this is after a week of watching grandkids, preparing meals for the farm crew and caring for aging parents. It seems appropriate to insert a cross-eyed, slightly stressed emoji face to our message exchange. Her bank account didn’t reflect it, but she impacted many lives for the better and profited in satisfaction.
My aunt’s level of commitment to giving and volunteerism places her in an elite category of service and selflessness. But generally speaking, farmers and other agriculture professionals are among the most giving people I know, and their explanation for this servant attitude is about as simple as the desire to farm: It’s in their blood, and it’s the right thing to do.
Previous generations taught us to volunteer out of duty and necessity. In small towns like ours, volunteers even handle firefighting and first-response medical care. Thanks to volunteers, our communities are safe, my kids have a 4-H fair and youth in our small town have soccer and summer baseball programs. Volunteers provide amenities in our parks and coordinate the town’s largest events. They share hours of their time, skills and resources to improve schools, churches, hospitals and non-profit groups for the betterment of our community. Rural areas lack paid staff to handle such life-impacting essentials.
Across Illinois, Farm Bureau families make impacts when they sponsor youth safety programs from bikes to farm equipment. Volunteers coordinate blood drives and health screenings at their county Farm Bureau buildings. The same families give their time in the church kitchen for a community dinner. They organize the school carnival, decorate for the annual FFA banquet, and understand the commitment of running a quality food stand as a fundraiser.
Just before COVID, our community won the Governor’s Cup for exemplary volunteerism to build our small town’s playground. In a tremendous effort, volunteers raised $150,000 in funds and physically built that two-story, barn-shaped playground using their farm-based skills and donated use of resources, from power tools to tractors.
At that same park, more than 100 local FFA and 4-H volunteers will gather this month to transform that space into an agritourism attraction with free admission for more than 20 activities – a bale climb, farm chore course, high-tech sprayer simulator, and farm animals among them. Local youth eagerly help organize and operate this annual agriculture festival, and seasoned volunteers find satisfaction knowing they have instilled an ethic of service in the next generation.
About the author: Joanie Stiers farms with her family in west-central Illinois, where they grow corn, soybeans, wheat, hay and cover crops and raise beef cattle, backyard chickens and farmkids.
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The Zipline: Working Together to Protect Water, on and off the Farm | |
Millions of Americans in the western United States continue to struggle with the effects of persistent drought. Even families living in areas not impacted by the hot, dry weather are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of protecting this precious resource as they see communities suffer from the dry conditions. Water keeps our bodies healthy, grows the food we need to survive, and helps bring balance to all of nature. To put it simply, water is life. Perhaps no one knows that better than the farmer. We look to the skies for rain and rely on waterways to help us grow crops and keep animals healthy as we work to feed America’s families. That’s why protecting this resource is such a priority. Modern farming techniques have enabled farmers and ranchers to feed millions of people, using fewer resources than just a generation ago. We’re also using science to ensure fertilizer and pesticides intended for healthy crops don’t make their way into streams and rivers. I had the pleasure of meeting a young farm family last summer in Iowa who model the kind of care farmers across the country are committed to. While the small children wanted me to meet their new piglets, their daddy was interested in showing me how he was protecting water on and near his farm. His corn fields were planted using a no-till method, which reduces erosion and helps trap carbon in the soil. Buffer strips around his fields help keep runoff from entering nearby streams. The family was just as proud to show me what looked like an ordinary field of grass near one of their crops. But it's what was underneath they were so proud of. Buried underground were wood chips, which are part of a bio-reactor. It sounds hi-tech, but the process is amazingly simple yet extremely effective. As water seeps from the field, it’s filtered through large underground troughs of wood chips, which absorb almost all of the nitrogen from the run-off before it continues to a nearby waterway. This Iowa farm is just one of thousands of family operations doing their part to protect the environment. Conservation tillage, including no-till, make up two-thirds of all acres planted in the U.S. today. The Natural Resources Conservation Service estimates average annual water and wind erosion have fallen by 70-million and 94-million tons respectively during a 10-year period. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issued a report in June recognizing agriculture’s efforts to reduce run-off. The report stated total phosphorous concentrations have declined and river water “has become clearer and aquatic plants more abundant, improving habitat for some fish and wildlife.” In the Chesapeake Bay, sediment, nitrogen and phosphorous loads have all decreased. The efforts of farmers are helping to conserve water and address algae blooms in the summer. Farmers know that every living creature relies on this resource, and we must rally with many other industries to protect the overall health of America’s water supply. Farmers are committed to constant improvement and working on solutions to environmental challenges. We can continue to build on our successes through partnerships—collaborating with universities and nongovernmental organizations, and participating in voluntary government programs to help build on the important work being done to protect our water. We all rely on clean water to provide for our families and sustain a healthy planet, and it will take all of us working together to ensure it remains a healthy resource for the next generation.
Zippy Duvall
President
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~ Attention Prime Timers! ~ | |
Shop Mark's Country Store
located in The Will County Farm Bureau Building!
Monday-Friday 9am-4pm
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Mark's Country Store is getting ready for Fall!!!
(Select items of Naked Bee are now 30% off!)
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We accept Cash, Check, Visa, Mastercard, or Discover! | | | | | |
