ASSOCIATION

tural Step!

the College of Agriculture at

Iowa

State University,agrees.

He

addsthat otherimportantskillsare theabilityto

communicate,

be analytical

and make

decisions.

For

the individual

who

has these qualities, Bruene sees a lot of opportunities in ag banking.

"As

the farmer

becomes

very sophisticated, financial decisions

become

very heavy,"heexplains.

"A bank

needsan individual

who

really understands ag technology

and

thedecisions thatneed to be

made."

Many

collegemajorsarecompatible with an ag lendingcareer, such as ag business, animal science or ag education.

Banks would

also like prospective ag bankers to have

some knowledge

of accounting

and

other business areas, but Bruene has found that

"some

^{of the}

banks

^{really prefer}

Above,

Dave

Binder

spends much

of histimemeetingwithfarmerslike

Sherman

Nielsen, another

FFA

alumni.

strong strengths in a technical

area-

like dairy science, ifthe

bank

is in a dairyarea.

They want

theindividualto

know

the kinds ofquestions to ask a farmer."

Students can start to develop these strong skills in

FFA and

join a

bank

immediately after college, or like

Dave, they can

work

in another ag career

and

strengthen theirskillseven

more

before entering banking.

Starting

salaries

depend on

education,experience

and

geographic area

— ^Iowa

^Statestudents enteringag

banking

with a bachelor's degree in 1981 averaged $14,000 to $16,000 a year.

Added

tothisarethe benefitsthe

bank

provides in the

way

^{of paid}

vacation,insurance

and

profitsharing.

Butoneofthebiggestbenefits forag bankers like

Dave

Binder is simply being able to

combine

a love for agriculture

and working

with people into a challenging career. •••

Yes, send information about ASA's youth

program.

_F2.174

I I

Name

I

Member

of:

4-H Q ^FFA

I I

Age

Address

City State Zip

Join the

Simmental

explosion.

Fun, competition, education, awards!

Simmental— new

to

America

in

1968 and already one of the major beef breeds. But there's

still

time for you

to

get

in

on the ground

floor.

Our innovative and aggressive youth program

will

make

^it

interesting. And worth your while:

Field demonstrations, judging and showmanship

contests, leadership development, scholarships.

Plus a chance to work ^{with great} cattle and start acquiring some of your own.

Take that

first

step today. Use the coupon to

tell

us of your

^interest.

A ^{Potato Farmer's}

Challenges

Between flamethrowers,

aerial-spray helicopters

and water

flumes,

one

thing is

obvious about

this

FFA member's family-operated potato

farm: it's not

your average

run-of- the mill

crop

^..

.

v4T .r

ijjftf

i.a*VaiHf»

_

Mi

"

More ^{and more}

crop farmers these daysarebeginningtounderstand averysimplebutimportantfactabout their business:

you

not only have to produce a

good

crop, but

you

also

must know how

to

market

^itas well.

Conroy

Soik, of Stevens Point, Wisconsin, understood this concept sincehefirst

began FFA

asa

freshman

in high school.

Now,

the 20-year-old formerstate staragribusinessman

and

1982 sales/service winner has

more

than just a passing interest in agri- culturalmarketing

—

heplansto

make

a career out of it. He's developed a planto

implement

a customized

mar-

keting

scheme

for his family's potato

farm

after graduating

from

the Uni- versityofWisconsinat River Falls.

Conroy and

his family raise 700 acres of potatoes,

and

300 acres of snap beans

and

sweetcornon

some

of Wisconsin'smostproductive vegetable- producing land, located in Portage County.

The

county ranks first in

Wisconsin in potato production,

and

in thetop five in other vegetables.

But

growing

potatoes ^is not quite like

growing

cotton orsoybeans, says

Conroy.

Everything has to be letter- perfectthroughoutthe

growing

season for the final crop to be

"OK'd"

for marketing.

And

although he

knows

the potato business inside

and

out, that's exactly

where

his goals lie:

marketingthe product.

"What we do now

isput thepotatoes in the bags

and

contact different brokers in the area," says

Conroy.

"They

sell

around

thestates

—

but they take

much

of the profit.

"What

^I

want

to

do

isgo tocollege

Above

left,

Conroy

tends to a main- tenance

problem on one

ofthe farm's centerpivot irrigationsystems. Below:

a task

common

to almost all farmers, spring plowing.

The National

FUTURE FARMER

and

learn

how

to establish our

own

marketing system

on

our

own

farm, with our

own

contacts all over the state."

Normally, area potato farmers sell

throughabroker

— someone

incharge of finding a need for the potatoes, a buyer

and

transportation forthecrop tobe

moved from

oneplacetoanother.

But

Conroy

wantstocutout thatstep.

"We'retryingto get

from

thefarmerto the

consumer

in the shortest possible route," he explains. He's currently studyingag marketingatcollege,where heis a

sophomore.

Conroy

talks in a

smooth,

almost gentle voice. But he

knows

exactly

what

he'sdoing. He's seriousaboutthe

farm

marketing plan

—

^so

^much

^so,

that he's already planned for a

new farm

office, completely separate

from

the

farm warehouse and

processing operation.

He

saysheplansto initiate his plan through his

own farm

first,

and

eventually

expand

tootherpotato farmers inthearea.

He

got the idea

from

anearby

farm

which did the

same

thing. He's also

had much

experience marketing the Soik potato crop before he

began

college studies. "I just

want

to

add

another aspect to the farm," he says.

"It should help

expand

the

farm

greatly."

Growing

potatoes

and

other vege- tableshereinPortage

County

requires a precise

and

watchfuleyefor success.

For

example, potatoes need just the right

amount

of irrigation,

which Conroy

says istedious but necessary.

"We

use a lot of irrigation," he explains."If

you

stretcheditalloutit'd

be a couple of miles.

You

wouldn't

make much

without it." Besides the center pivotsystem,

which

covers

most

of the acreage, the Soik's also use

"irrigation guns"

which

shoot water high

and

far into the air.

With

six

pumps,

the guns

must

be

changed

every

two

hours every

two

to three days,

sometimes

for 12 to 14 hour- days.

When

it'snotraining, thepotato crop is given

between y

8 to '/linch of irrigationwater.

Another

area, perhaps even

more

critical than irrigation, is spraying to fight crop disease.

"We

spray twice a

week

every

week

all

summer

long,"

Conroy

pointsout.

The

foe isdouble trouble

—

both early

and

late potato blightcansetininstantlyifthespraying isn't accomplished

on

time.

Conroy

looks thoughtfulfor a

moment,

ashe

remembers

a blight battle

from

an earlier

growing

season.

"A problem

with a crop-spraying helicopter resulted in

no

aerial spray for only

two and

a half weeks," he

recalls.

"We

werefinallyabletospray, but late blightset in;the

damage was

done.

"We

put thosepotatoesinstorage

—

when we

took

them

out,

you

could push yourfinger right through

them"

hesays."That's

what

latepotatoblight does."

Butunlikeothers, theirharvestbegins in late July

— and

doesn't let

up

until

Below, Conroy makes

a plowing adjustment. Atright,

he

demonstrates how

potatoes are hand-inspectedand sorted in the fam-

ily's

processing

warehouse.

From

there, the crop is

washed,

bagged

or boxed,

and

sentto foodstores,restau- rantsor potato-chip companies.

October.

They

harvest

two

separate potato crops, one used mostly for potatochips,the otherforrestaurants

and consumer

use.

The

potatoes are harvested with threeSoikharvesters,

and

hauled with afleetof17trucks.Butbeforetheycan be harvested, a chemical is applied which kills the plant

and makes

the skinstougher, so potatoescanbe kept instoragelongerwithoutspoiling.

To

speed the process, the Soik's use a flamethrowertokilltheplantfaster,so thatharvestcan behandledfaster

and

easier.

Once

harvested, the potatoes go either directly to storage ina holding tank at Soik'spackaging warehouses, ortothegradinglineforprocessing.

A

special flume system uses water to

wash

the potatoes

from

storage to processing

—

since they'renevertouched withshovels or other instruments, the water causes a lot less bruising

and

waste, saysConroy."Italsosavestime

and

labor."

The

potatoes are sent to different grading lines

where

they are washed.

Then

they enter a roller-assemblyline,

(continued

on

nextpage)

Photoby JerryUher

February-March, 1983 41

moDE^n

FA=im