As you read this column, 28 Robeson County farmers and I are in Wichita, Kansas. We are involved in an intensive weeklong educational tour through Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Missouri.

The primary responsibility of the Cooperative Extension Service is to help the people we serve learn more about how to deal with the major issues and problems they face. This is true not only in agriculture but also in the other major areas in which we work, including 4-H and Youth Development and Family and Consumer Sciences.

There are a variety of ways to help people learn so they can properly make the decisions they need to make. In the area of agriculture, the most typical methods for Cooperative Extension is structured educational meetings; workshops; field days; on-farm demonstrations; farm visits; newsletters, using mass media such as this newspaper, radio, and television; and providing information over the telephone.

Another method is educational tours such as the one described in this column. With tours such as this, farmers are able to learn by personally seeing things that are directly related to the problems and issues they face on their own farms.

The farmers who are accompanying me on this tour are having the opportunity to see examples of how other farmers have successfully diversified their farms to generate additional income for their families. We have seen fruit orchards and ornamental nursery operations in the Little Rock, Arkansas, area. These families have gradually expanded an alternative form of agriculture as they found and developed new markets to the point that these operations are now the major source of income for the farm. In the Wichita, Kansas, area, we saw an impressive restaurant, along with an after-dinner theater that was constructed on a working cattle ranch in order to generate additional income so the ranch could stay in business. In Youkon, Oklahoma, we visited Express Ranch, which is not only the largest limousine cattle breeder in the world, but is also a recreational ranch with two Clydesdale hitches for shows and parades.

We saw how major agribusinesses process farm commodities for consumers such as you. In Jonesboro, Arkansas, we visited the Riceland Foods facility, which is the largest rice processor in the world. This company not only processes several kinds of rice under their own brand label, they also process for many other companies such as Uncle Ben's. They also process a variety of rice products as well as process and produce products from soybeans. In Springdale, Arkansas, we had the opportunity to visit the national headquarters and home offices of Tyson Foods, the largest protein processor in the world. With the recent purchase of IBP, which was formerly the largest beef processor in the world, this poultry-processing company now is able to market both beef and poultry products. In St. Louis, Missouri, we were able to see how Anhauser-Bush processes grains and how they use the by-products from that processing as animal feeds.

We had the opportunity to see how the equipment and products that are used on our Robeson County farms are engineered and manufactured. In Hesston, Kansas, we were able to see the assembly lines for Gleaner and Massey Ferguson combines and Hesston forage equipment. In Wichita, we were able to visit with the largest Caterpillar dealer in the nation and to see firsthand how this massive equipment is prepared for use on the large Midwest farms. In Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, we were able to visit Blumenthal Heavy Duty, which is a major manufacturer of agricultural and industrial transmissions and drive lines. Here, we were also able to visit CITCO, which is the major manufacturer of agricultural and industrial lubricants, oils, and greases.

We had the opportunity to see how research is conducted to provide better agricultural products. We visited the Purina Feeds research farm in Gray's Summit, Missouri, where animal feeds are developed and the response of animals to these feeds are monitored. We viewed the development of ectronic technology to provide Internet auction of beef cattle while at Mush Rush Ranch in Elmdale, Kansas. At High Plains Corporation in Cowlick, Kansas, we visited an ultramodern plant that is developing the process of using grains from the Midwest to manufacture ethanol as a gasoline additive, while using methane gas from the landfill of the city of Wichita to power the ethanol plant.

We had the opportunity to learn more about how agricultural products are successfully marketed. In Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, we visited the National Stock Yards, which is the largest cattle auction facility in the world. Here they sell more than 10,000 cattle each day.

The production of foods and fibers in the United States is the largest, most efficient, and most essential business in our nation. Our local farmers play a major role in this production, but they are just one small component. It is important that they have a better understanding of the total system and how all components fit together to feed millions of people around the world. We were able to visit with other farmers and ranchers in other parts of the United States to see and to better appreciate what they are doing and how they are doing it. We saw the natural grasslands in the Flint Hills of Kansas; the spacious wheat farms of Oklahoma and Kansas; modern cattle ranches in Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Kansas; and the fertile farmlands along the Mississippi River.

Because of this tour, our farmers were able to see a lot of new and different things. Hopefully, they learned more about agriculture in other regions of the United States. Hopefully, they picked up a few ideas they can implement into their own farm operations. Hopefully, they gained some knowledge and skills about marketing and alternative development. Hopefully, they learned more about how agricultural research is conducted so they can better apply this research to their own farm operations.

I have no doubt that those participating in this tour will state that it was fun and it was interesting, but I would bet that each of them would say that it was educational and that they learned a lot from what they saw.

E-mail address: Everett_Davis@ncsu.edu

Mailing Address:
P. O. Box 2280
Lumberton, NC 28359-2280

Phone: 910-671-3276
Fax: 910-671-6278

Date Created 2/5/02