News
A not so traditional Spring Break
Army captain and Harvard Kennedy School of Government student TJ Menn thought his fellow classmates were getting a misconstrued view of US Farm Policy. “Professors have simplified a pretty complex piece of legislation, in the Farm Bill,” he says. “Down to the statement of ‘Here in America we pay farmers to do nothing and to not farm the ground’.”
Menn tells Brownfield hearing that oversimplified view of the Farm Bill frustrated him – so he decided to offer students the opportunity to see for themselves. “The trip is made up of about half and half US and foreign students,” he says. “They’re very excited to see where their food comes from, they’re excited to take part in some of the farming activities people take for granted on a day-to-day basis. And they’re excited to understand and to meet the local people and learn more about some of the issues challenging that region.”
Over the next week, on their Spring Break, 24 students will visit Menn’s family farm outside of Carthage, Illinois. But they will also have the opportunity to visit an Amish farm and lumber mill, see a large grain farm and a hog operation, as well as spend time learning more about modern agricultural practices from companies like DuPont, Monsanto, and John Deere.
If you want to follow the group’s trip – they’re using the #FarmTrek2015 on Social Media.
They should visit the Galva IL ethanol plant and/or Pioneer seed corn and beans processing plant on I 74 at Woodhull.