On January 21, the West Concord Historical Society had an appreciation event for local farmers and agribusinesses. Students in the Triton Agriculture Economic class attended the event to see how agricultural markets have changed over the years and to interview those actively engaged in agriculture. We started with going to the Flame Room where everyone was eating and we grabbed a few snacks to eat. Next we talked a little bit about what we are here for and to interview old farmers. They played a video about farming and family and dairy farming. All of the students had sheets with questions on them to ask the farmers. One farmer said that they were farming fields. A woman is a master gardener and a beekeeper. She had been doing this since 2010. Her husband has been doing this beekeeping pretty much his whole life. Everyone had different things to talk about like dairy farming and family farm planting and harvesting. Bill Smith said he has been working for 53 years. He said he used to dairy farm now he is a pea corn and sweet corn farmer and a beef farmer.
After we all were done with the interviews we went and walked around the museum and learned about the history of West Concord. Many of the students were grateful to have the opportunity to visit with community members and learn how the concepts they learned in class impact people in real life.
Autumn Froyum is interviewing Bill Smith and learning about his operation.
