For 42 elementary and high school teachers in Lake and McHenry Counties, summer school has taken on a whole new meaning. The second annual Educator Field Trip also has been an eye-opener for those in the group who never have been closer to a pig than a pork chop.
Conducted by the McHenry and Lake County farm bureaus, the four-day field trip is part seminar and part agricultural expo. It is designed to give the teachers background information on how food is produced, processed and ultimately sold to the consumer.
Teaching the teachers, according to the program’s theory, allows them to pass their experiences on to their students.
“We want to show the complete cycle, from breeding the pigs to selling the bacon,” said Jean Schiller of the McHenry County Farm Bureau. Schiller’s Shamrock Beef Cattle Farm in McHenry was one of the stops on Monday’s itinerary.
“You’d be surprised how many kids don’t know where food comes from, other than from McDonald’s,” Schiller said.
The excursion began Monday morning at Richardson Christmas Tree Farm in Spring Grove and is scheduled to wrap up Thursday afternoon at the McHenry Farm Bureau office in Woodstock. Stops in between include visits to local beef and pork producers, a dairy farm, Abbott Agrichemicals, a winery, apple orchard, the Chicago Board of Trade, a supermarket and the U.S. Department of Agriculture office at O’Hare International Airport.
Halfway through Monday’s tour, the group already was an hour and a half behind schedule.
“These people are really into it,” Schiller said during the day’s lunch break. “They’ve been asking so many questions it’s slowed things down a little.”
Cost of the four-day program, which includes a charter bus, meals and promotional materials, is being underwritten by the Illinois Pork Producers, according to Greg Koeppen of the Lake County Farm Bureau.
Along the route the teachers met farmers such as Allen Weidner, who owns and operates a 650-acre pig operation in Marengo.
“Hogs are a major maintenance problem,” Weidner explained to the teachers. “They manage to mess up anything; they’re worse than cattle.”
Vern Schiller, who has been farming the 600-acre Shamrock farm since 1964, explained how market forces have transformed the cattle industry.
“First the housewives tell us to get rid of the fat; they want leaner beef,” Vern Schiller said. “Then they tell us it’s too stringy. So we just have to keep looking for the right balance.”
The farmers explained that their occupation is not only a business and a way of life–it has a political side. Weidner said he is very much aware of the “perfume” an operation the size of his can produce. And he’s careful to bury the waste under 6 inches of soil.
“We work hard to be good neighbors,” Weidner said. “We try to keep any odors down as much as possible. But at the same time, this is a farm and this is how we produce the food you depend on.”
Among the eye-openers for the teachers were some of the statistics. In Illinois, more than 24 million acres are devoted to crops, according to Joe Bybee of the Illinois Department of Agriculture. Yet only 2 percent of the U.S. population is engaged in farming.
Although the program is only in its second year, Koeppen said it has caught on with the teachers and he expects to see it grow in the coming years.
“We could easily handle at least two bus loads,” Koeppen said. “With the response we’ve had already, we’ll probably see it double in size before too long.”
