My Farm Roots 2015 NPR Digital Services RSS Generator 0.94 NPR Digital Services RSS Generator 0.94 My Farm Roots 2015 Sun, 23 May 2021 06:15:27 +0000 https://www.harvestpublicmedia.org Luke Runyon Jeff Siegfried knows just about anything you’d ever want to find out about a 50-acre corn field in northern Colorado. The 24-year-old easily rattles off the various gadgets he uses to measure soil moisture, plant health, air temperature. Standing underneath one of his research station’s at a Colorado State University experimental farm, Siegfried is decked out in a CSU green and gold hat and polo shirt. Siegfried studies precision agriculture at the campus in Fort Collins. Siegfried’s corn field will play a vital role in his final thesis, figuring out better, more efficient ways of delivering irrigation water to fields. “We’re using technology to make better management decisions,” he says. “So we’re putting the right input in the right place, at the right time and in the right amount. The studies have to be conducted in such a way that eventually it’s the technology that we could be using in the field.” Siegfried’s choice of study, and future career, represents a much larger trend in https://www.harvestpublicmedia.org/post/my-farm-roots-looking-future 231 as https://www.harvestpublicmedia.org Wed, 02 Sep 2015 11:05:00 +0000 My Farm Roots: Looking To The Future Kristofor Husted Kendra Lawson doesn’t have the typical schedule of a nine–year-old. With just a week of summer left, she spent her days working with her dad and mom on the farm and preparing her pigs to show at the state fair. Here in central Missouri, the Lawson family raises cattle and pigs with a lot of help from Kendra. I met her at her house near Centralia, Mo., where she had just come back from helping her dad in the hay fields. This summer there are some new additions to the farm family she was eager to show visitors. She lead the way to a large shed where a mama pig was sprawled out with her babies, clamoring to suckle. “There are seven piglets,” Kendra said. “They were just born about a week ago. In a few weeks we’ll put them on feed. Then we’re going to cut their tales so the others don’t bite all over them. We have already cut their teeth and (given) them shots so they don’t get sick and bite each other. Then later on we’ll ear notch them and sell them.” Just outside the shed, Kendra cares https://www.harvestpublicmedia.org/post/my-farm-roots-learning-ropes 230 as https://www.harvestpublicmedia.org Wed, 19 Aug 2015 21:43:00 +0000 My Farm Roots: Learning The Ropes Amy Mayer In the Midwest, agriculture can be such a strong lure that there are some farm kids without farms. Ally Babcock lives with her family in a modern subdivision in Ames, Iowa. Tucked under the home’s back deck is a tiny barn space, enough room for her sheep and rabbits. “It’s a little difficult [not living on a farm],” Ally said, “because you gotta work with where you can keep animals. There’s not a lot of opportunities right here at home, so I’ve got to go places and find things. I’ve got to seek out opportunities to be involved in agriculture, with my grandparents and with other things that I do.” A high school junior, Ally, 16, is the North Central District FFA secretary and serves on the state 4-H Council. She knows her experiences with agriculture are different from the other FFA and 4-H members who actually live on farms. “Those other kids that have grown up on a farm have more of like a day-to-day, it’s what they do,” she said. “Since they were young they’ve raised cattle or raised https://www.harvestpublicmedia.org/post/my-farm-roots-farm-kid-without-farm 232 as https://www.harvestpublicmedia.org Wed, 12 Aug 2015 18:06:00 +0000 My Farm Roots: Farm Kid Without A Farm Abby Wendle https://www.harvestpublicmedia.org/post/my-farm-roots-room-roam 233 as https://www.harvestpublicmedia.org Wed, 05 Aug 2015 12:01:00 +0000 My Farm Roots: Room To Roam Grant Gerlock Show day at the Pierce County Fair in Nebraska starts early and goes fast. I arrived around 9 in the morning, but Emily Lambrecht had already spent an hour and a half in the wash stalls, scrubbing and shampooing her calves so they would sparkle in the show barn. This was showtime. The 17-year-old 4-H and FFA exhibitor spent months working up to this one day. Listen to Emilys story There was the time spent selecting show calves from the family herd, then catching and taming those calves so they would walk obediently with a rope halter, like a dog on a leash. Once they’re used to a halter, the calves need to know how to stand square for the livestock judge to scrutinize their genetically derived attributes. The purple and blue ribbons given to the county fair winners are nice rewards, but Lambrecht doesn’t just show animals at the fair to chase garlands. She also does it for the connection she feels both with her cows and also the other competitors. “I just like running into people with https://www.harvestpublicmedia.org/post/my-farm-roots-showtime-fair 234 as https://www.harvestpublicmedia.org Wed, 29 Jul 2015 12:00:00 +0000 My Farm Roots: Showtime At The Fair Peggy Lowe Farm dog? Check. Barn cats? Check. Muddy work books lined up at the back door? Five checks. We kick off our fourth season of “My Farm Roots” with the Renyer Family, five farm kids I had the pleasure of meeting last week. https://www.harvestpublicmedia.org/post/my-farm-roots-farm-kids-big-life-lesson 229 as https://www.harvestpublicmedia.org Wed, 22 Jul 2015 15:13:00 +0000 My Farm Roots: Farm Kids’ Big Life Lesson