Although I didn’t attend this field trip, I found the class discussion very interesting. The farm being an organic operation calls for certain procedures to stay within the organic standards. Two main things I found neat were the bully boxes for the chickens to hide from more aggressive chickens and the windows allowing natural light into the houses.
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Field Trip Fifer Orchards
This was one of my favorite field trips. Being that I grew up on a vegetable farm I was aware of the necessary steps to have a successful vegetable farm. However, I found the apple grading and packing line very interesting. It is similar to a watermelon line but has some unique factors that allows apple growers can take advantage of.
Field Trip Hoober
My family has been doing business with Hoober for almost twenty years. Therefore, going to a Hoober location was not a new experience for me. However, being able to see the progress that agriculture is making due to technology is truly astonishing. Seeing the drone technology tied in with other technology allowing a single machine to have records of every square inch of a growers field. The men and women at Hoober truly are some of the best in the business and their customer service is second to none.
Field Trip Newark Farm
Being able to see all of the different aspects of the Newark Farm makes me truly admire every research farm supervisor. This job requires the most diverse background in agriculture that can be possible. My favorite part of the field trip was seeing the feed study that was taking place with the dairy cows. It is truly amazing to see the types of studies that are going on right here in Newark, Delaware. Going on this field trip helped me truly realize the dedication that institutions around the world are doing to grow and understand agriculture.
Guest Lecture Dan Severson
Growing up I have always showed animals at the Delaware State Fair, the most interesting thing I learned during this lecture had to be the fact that when judges at the fair are judging animals, in some species, the judge high lights certain characteristics of an animal and those traits are not desirable when trying to produce these animals on a large scale. Mr. Severson proceeded to highlight the main production animals in the state of Delaware and what traits growers desire while raising these animals.
Guest Lecture Delaware’s Green Industry
During this lecture I was able to learn about an industry that I thought was extremely small, I was proved wrong. The Green Industry is a major industry in the state of Delaware. Mrs. Wooten and Mrs. Gudischak elaborated on how diverse the industry has become and the endless job opportunities that lie within the industry. I was extremely interested in this because at my family business I am constantly thinking about other possibilities and nitch markets that we can get into and this showed a lot of promise given the similarity of our business to the Green Industry.
Guest Lecture Dave Mayonado
Dave Mayonado is a technology development representative for the Monsanto Company. Mr. Mayonado elaborated on the different opportunities he is presented while at his job. Mr. Mayonado explained to the class about a few of products that the Monsanto Company offers and a brief overview of their purpose. He mentioned that his job however as much as he enjoys it, he said his greatest fear is that he goes to work not completely sure if or what he will be doing or if he will have a job. As these type of thoughts would generally scare most people Mr. Mayonado explained that he enjoys the opportunity to explore all aspects of the agriculture industry. Mr. Mayonado stressed the importance of due diligence when talking about new technology in the agriculture sector.
Guest Lecture Secretary Ed Kee
This by far was my favorite class of the entire semester, in any class. Secretary Ed Kee is truly one of the greatest men the state of Delaware has ever seen. He has taken the states agriculture department to new levels. He spoke to us about some of the key things the state of Delaware does on a national level and is truly recognized for. My favorite statistic and perhaps Delaware’s greatest statistic is that we as a state rank first in the United States in value of agricultural production per acre. Delaware is an agriculture powerhouse, and Secretary Ed Kee has lead us to a place of well deserving recognition.