Agriculture and growing things is what Iowa has been about for the last 150 years. The Iowa we know and love, developed around farming as a way of life and a way of making a living from production on Iowa’s rich natural soil resources. In response to the goods and service needs of the people who farmed the land, towns sprang up and communities were established. Farming was hard, but rewarding. It was independence. It was a feeling of self-sufficiency and accomplishment. It was a good way of life.
Through the decades, advancements in technology lessoned the hard physical labor of farming and improved farmer’s lives. Machinery and technology changed forever how Iowans grow crops and livestock. Machinery, technology, facilities, and dollars replaced labor and families in the production of meat, milk, eggs, grain, and hay. The self sufficiency of the farmer was replaced by interdependency on markets, services, inputs, and companies. Monthly bills for electricity, food, telephone, insurance, television, DTN, cell phones, water, and computer technology all became commonplace. Today, both crops and livestock are grown in very specialized operations for the most part and for markets that we had not even thought of as little as five years ago. The Iowa many of us envisioned as a youth no longer exists. Farmsteads continue to vanish from the landscape as do the towns that supported the farms of the past. What is the future of Iowa and its people?
That is a rather simplistic introduction to community discussions being held in every county of Iowa in November of 2008. The discussions are being held at the direction of Iowa State University Extension’s Bio-economy Task Force. They are called Community Conversation II: Feed, Food, and Fuel and are meant to gather opinions and ideas about this new “Iowa Farm Economy”. Where are we headed? What are the concerns about where we are headed? Do we want to head in a different direction and can we influence that change in direction? The discussion about these issues in Adams County will be held Monday, November 17, 12:00 noon to 1:30 pm at the Corning Community Center. The discussion will be in conjunction with the Corning Rotary club’s weekly meeting. Interested guests are invited to attend and can reserve a space and a meal by calling me at Adams County Extension, 641-322-3184, no later than Friday, November 14th.
There will be six general topics that participants will be given background information on and then asked to respond to. The topics are: 1) Food and Fuel: Enough Grain but not enough Processing; 2) Iowa’s position in global agriculture and bio-energy; 3) Factors that determine the cost of food; 4) Rising energy and food prices: Effects on families; 5) Renewable energy’s place in the high energy cost picture; and 6) From vulnerability to resiliency: Iowa agriculture in the age of bio-renewables. If you would like copies of “white papers” on any of these topics before the November 17th meeting, please stop by or give me a call at Adams County Extension. I hope some of you will consider attending this meeting and share your thought and opinions about the future of Iowa. See you next week!