Field Moms Talk One-on-One to Farmers

This past weekend, the 2014 Field Moms met in Mazon, Illinois, at the Jeschke Farm, about 70 miles southwest of Chicago, to learn about their corn and soybean farm. We were met there by enough Illinois farmers to field a baseball team. One of the great things, and there are many, about this program is that Illinois Farm Families makes an effort to show us, not just tell us, what farming in Illinois looks like. While time permits us to go to just one farm each Saturday, on that day we meet many more Illinois farmers just like the ones who own the farm we visit. We talk to them, in small groups, and we ask a lot of questions about the stories you see and hear in the news (or on your front porch). We aren’t just taking the word of one person or one farm. We are seeing that the group, Illinois Farm Families, which was formed with the intent to educate Chicago-area consumers via moms, is made up of farmers that represent the family farms that make up 94% of farms in Illinois. To date, we've toured two farms and a grocery store (where we talked about food labeling), and so far, in total, we've talked with more than 20 different farmers!


While the farmers we meet are independent of each other, they are often connected in some way. Many of the younger ones we met last week (in their 30’s to 40’s) grew up showing animals together at 4H events or county fairs. We learned that many of them knew each other at college (U of I). If they didn’t know each other growing up or through their education, they come to know each other through the Illinois agricultural community, which seems big when looking at the land area and quantity of food produced, but in the scheme of things is a relatively small group of people. 


And that small group of people, especially the younger generation that I mentioned, is college educated. Most have a bachelor’s degree and several that we've met have a master’s degree in a specialized field, such as dairy cattle or swine. Many, in fact, left their family farms to “see the world” and later returned to farm. When you talk one-on-one with someone, you have the opportunity to have a meaningful dialog. These folks know organic chemistry. They know animal science. They know technology. They know botany. They are active in their communities. Every single one of them we have met is passionate about what they do. They are also modest and humble and don’t claim to know everything and look forward to improvements in all of the above and more.

Perhaps our consumer perception of the American farmer is off the mark. I can’t speak for everyone, but when an Illinois consumer action group comes knocking on my door, as it did last night, and paints a picture of farmers as a group who are irresponsibly handling animal antibiotics, if I didn't know better because of what I've learned on our hog farm tour, what am I to think? Do farmers completely understand the consequences of their actions, like spraying pesticides or giving their animals antibiotics, for example? The farmers we have met are mostly from two generations, the new generation of farmers (in their mid 30’s and 40’s) and their parents’ generation. Whether they have a college degree or not, they really do know what they are doing, they are constantly improving, and more to the point, they can talk about it. 

As I gave the gentleman at my door last night some of the facts I've learned first-hand as a field mom, it knocked him off of his rehearsed spiel and the depth of his pitch became transparent. He politely left my porch after telling me I’m misinformed and handed me his pamphlet so that I could read more about it. He probably won’t go to Illinois Farm Families website to validate what I was talking about, but then again, maybe he will.

The longer we sit and talk with a farmer on our tours, the more detailed information we receive. It’s not rehearsed or scripted or designed to move us emotionally or persuade us. I would challenge anybody to think about talking to a group of consumers about what you do in your profession and what that entails. The farmers we are talking to have a lot of knowledge about a lot of different things, they are in tune with our world, and they’re sharing what they do, and why, with us field moms hoping that we’ll, in turn, share it with others. I hope I do them justice.

More on that baseball team of farmers we met at the Jeschke Farm in my next post.

Heather Guido

Heather is one of the Illinois Farm Families 2014 Field Moms. Throughout the year she visits Illinois farms to learn more about where food comes from. Following each visit, the Field Moms share their thoughts by blogging about what they experience on these farms. Want to learn more? Read Our Story: Chicago Moms Meet Farmers. Read more from Heather on her blog, Field Mom Journal.