Kent Casson View from the Cab life-style agriculture column

Because the summer time truthful circuit involves an finish, I’ve to say I used to be actually impressed with what I noticed on the numerous festivals this summer time in the case of educating others about agriculture.

Despite the fact that we now have festivals in native agriculture cities like Melvin, Pontiac, Fairbury, and even Bloomington-Regular, lots of these attending don’t have any thought the place their meals comes from or how it’s raised.

The McLean County Truthful’s Meals and Farm Enjoyable Zone helped to dispel any myths on the market about farming. They’d indicators to handle the concept some have that one firm provides the entire corn and soybean seeds for the USA and farmers should plant these seeds. The reality is, farmers have loads of selections to purchase from completely different corporations similar to individuals have selections for the merchandise they use on a regular basis like toothpaste and detergent.

In line with www.watchusgrow.org, standards for selecting seed embody a farm’s soil kind, location, planting date and variety of rising days. Farmers might select to go along with one other seed model the next yr if that seed doesn’t meet expectations.

One other signal on the McLean County Truthful addressed the parable that GMO crops usually are not totally examined so know one is aware of if they’re actually secure. The reality is, GMOs are secure in accordance with dozens of the world’s most scientific our bodies, together with the American Medical Affiliation, World Well being Group and Nationwide Academy of Science. This data was courtesy of www.gmoanswers.com.

Signage on the Illinois State Truthful taught guests that Illinois pig farmers are proud to supply wholesome, healthful pork. Illinois Pork Producers Affiliation offered indicators that mentioned corn gives power to pigs whereas soybeans present protein and fats. Mercer County is ranked fourth within the state for pork manufacturing because the county raises round 200,000 pigs yearly. These pigs devour over 4.5 million kilos of soybeans and over 112 million kilos of corn.

One enjoyable reality revealed on the State Truthful is that about 70 p.c of a pig’s weight loss plan is corn. Annually, 84 million bushels of Illinois corn feeds pigs and 11 million acres of corn are planted within the state yearly. Meaning 4 p.c of all corn grown in Illinois can feed all Illinois-raised pigs.

The State Truthful’s Piglets on Parade exhibit featured new child piglets accessible for viewing. Indicators on the wall indicated a piglet is born at two to 3 kilos and nurses for 3 weeks. A weaned pig is weaned from the sow at 21 days previous and weighs round 15 kilos.

Dairy producers had a powerful dairy constructing on the State Truthful with the butter cow and details like over 95 p.c dairy farms are family-owned and new applied sciences assist farmers take higher care of their cows.

Now we’re all somewhat smarter as summer time involves an finish and fall knocks on the door.

For the most recent ag information, market updates and ag podcasts, go to www.centralillinoisfarmnetwork.com and comply with the Central Illinois Farm Community on social media.