The Iowa Corn Collegiate Advisory Team is a team made up of
students who are pursuing degrees related to agriculture at Iowa’s colleges and
universities, and who are preparing for careers in agriculture production and
allied industries.
Team members participate in programs developed by the Iowa
Corn Growers Association and the Iowa Corn Promotion Board, to learn more about
the Iowa Corn organization and the challenges and opportunities present in the
agricultural sector.
During the week of July 14th I had the
opportunity to travel to Washington D.C with the Iowa Corn Growers Association.
As a member of the Iowa Corn Collegiate Advisory Team I recruited 10+ members
to the Iowa Corn Growers Association, which allowed me to have the opportunity
to travel to Washington D.C.
While in Washington D.C the Iowa Corn Growers Associations
had specific objectives, such as to define the policy making process at the U.S
Capital, Describe agriculture production in the D.C Region, and to engage with
leaders.
On Monday, we arrived in D.C, and had the opportunity to
tour the DC Central Kitchen. The D.C Central Kitchen is an organization that
provides meals for the low-income and at-risk neighbors in Washington D.C.
Although D.C Central Kitchen is not a soup kitchen. The 5,000 meals they dish
out every day are loaded into our fleet of trucks and distributed at little or
no cost to 100 nearby homeless shelters, transitional homes, and nonprofit
organizations, saving them money and nourishing their clients.
D.C Central Kitchen also has many programs that include food
recycling from local restaurants, school food programs, healthy corners, and
their culinary job training program for unemployed men and women.
After touring the D.C Central Kitchen we had free time to
tour a few museums. For supper the CAT members met up for dinner at Estadio, a
Spanish restaurant where we enjoyed a wide variety of Tapas, which are small
Spanish dishes.
On Tuesday the Iowa Corn group loaded the bus and drove to
the Chesapeake Bay and the Delmarva Region. The Delmarva Region is a large
peninsula on the East Coast of the United States, occupied by most of Delaware
and portions of Maryland and Virginia, which has a strong representation of
agriculture.
Our first stop was Wye Angus, a cattle ranch that was once
home to William Paca, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and the first
governor or Maryland. Today the University of Maryland and the Maryland
Agricultural Experiment Station was charged with managing the herd on a daily
basis.
Next, we visited the Nagel family cucumber operation where
we saw the harvesting of cucumbers. I found it interesting that the machines
that are used to harvest the cucumbers very interesting. After getting to see
the harvesting process, we went to a cucumber grading station. At the grading
station we saw the cucumbers being unloaded and then sort through based on
their sizes. The cucumbers that we saw were only used for pickle production.
We stopped and had ice cream at Vanderwende Creamery. This
creamery makes all of their ice cream and cheeses farm fresh! I had the Black
Raspberry and it was SO GOOD!
Wednesday morning we started our day by attending the Iowa
Corn breakfast where we were prepared for the upcoming events in the next two
days. Capitol Hill visits were next on the agenda. We met with Senator Tom
Harkin, and Senator Chuck Grassley to speak with them about key issues
effecting Iowa’s Corn Growers. After meeting with the Senators we headed for
the Capital CornFest Reception where we were able to network with others from
states.
After the Reception we headed back to the hotel, and then
boarded a trolley, and began a nighttime tour of the Washington D.C monuments.
This was my third time visiting Washington D.C, so I was excited to go on the
nighttime tour since I had only previously seen the monuments in the daytime.
I would highly recommend a nighttime tour to anyone
traveling to Washington D.C! it is a whole new look at the monuments, and makes
for awesome pictures!
The next morning the Iowa Corn group headed back to Capitol
Hill to meet with Iowa Congressman Steve King, Bruce Braley, Dave Loebsack and
Tom Latham.
After meeting with the Congressman we headed to the USDA
NASS Agricultural Statistics Board and Lockup. Here we learned what a Lockup
is, and why they have to have a Lockup. The NASS puts out the annual crop
report and many other statistics that deal with Iowa’s and the United States
agricultural markets.
For dinner a few of us went to The Melting Pot in Arlington!
The Melting Pot is a restaurant that is all fondue eating. Our
meal started off with cheese fondue, then salad, next was the meat which came
to us raw, and them we either cooked the meat in broth or battered it, and then
fried it. Last was the chocolate fondue!
Overall my opportunity to travel to
Washington D.C with the Iowa Corn Growers Association was an awesome
experience! I have learned so much about the Iowa Corn Growers Association
throughout my year as a member of the Collegiate Advisory Team.
Growing up on a
farm I have knowledge in agriculture production, but before this year I didn’t
know what all went into the marketing, and support of Iowa’s farmers that the
Iowa Corn Growers Association provides.
I would highly recommend becoming an Iowa
Corn Growers member, and pursuing the Collegiate Advisory Team to any college
student who is interested in going into agriculture.
“Opportunities are like sunrises. If you wait too long, you
miss them.”
–William Arthur
