Event welcomed non-farmers with tours

RIVER FALLS, Wis.- At last year's Wisconsin Farm Technology Days, someone stopped Jay Richardson to ask if he would explain a piece of equipment.

The stranger wasn't a farmer, and didn't recognize the disc bine.

That interaction sparked the idea for a new addition to the 2010 show. Richardson, a dairy farmer, organized Courtesy Tours to match non-farming people at the show with volunteers willing to take them around the grounds and explain production agriculture and different agriculture products.

With the show in Pierce County this year, near the Twin Cities, organizers expected to get a particularly high amount of traffic from urban residents.

"We want to roll out the red carpet for them," Richardson said. "This is an opportunity to answer questions. No question is a dumb question."

A group of nearly 50 dairy and crop producers volunteered to give tours. They took small groups on a pre-determined route, each lasting as long as participants had questions. They ranged from a half hour to two hours.

"People are interested, I think, in what farmers do," Richardson said.

He thinks the tours will remain a part of the show in future years.

Terry Thompson, a dairy farmer who volunteered to lead tours, took a young family who owns a horse farm to see robotic milkers, a display of soil levels that show the length of an alfalfa plant's tap root and soybean plants.

Educating people about agriculture isn't new to Thompson. He recently hosted a family reunion and explained his operation to his relatives.

He saw the tours at Wisconsin Farm Technology Days as a chance to help consumers understands their food comes from agriculture, rather than a store shelf.

Another tour guide and dairy farmer, John Vrieze, met with Noel Eggebraaten, president of Momentum West, a regional economic development organization for west central Wisconsin.

Through anaerobic digesters, Vrieze is working out his vision on his farm that agriculture could be the source of the nation's renewable energy. He also believes Midwest farms could produce more of their own vegetables in greenhouses rather than ship them from out of state. If farmers were to adopt this model of energy and food independence, they could support local jobs, the local economy and national security, he said.

Eggebraaten's job is to bolster business in the region, and he sees potential in Vrieze's ideas. He could be the one to get regional discussions about it going, he said.

The two also met with Alan "Benji" Benzschawel of Oshkosh Tent and Awning Company. His organization recently began making barn curtains. The potential exists for them to think about moving to hoop houses to be in line with Vrieze's ideas, he said.