Jerry Visits Faribault’s Lincoln Elementary School

This morning I had the privilege of visiting the third-grade classes at the Lincoln Elementary School in Faribault. This is one of the major projects organized by the Faribault Chamber of Commerce Agribusiness Committee. By being involved with the Faribault Chamber of Commerce, we were able to get permission to go into the classes to talk with the students.

We start with samples of corn and soybeans and then have items from the grocery store that the students would recognize. Corn Flakes, pop, beef, jerky, salad dressing, popcorn, corn oil, vegetable oil, and many other items the students would know. I ask the students how many got dropped off at school by parents or came in a school bus. That is my link to renewable fuels, ethanol from corn and biodiesel from soybean oil.

It really added a lot today because Ramon Rodriguez came along. Ramon grew up in Spain. He now is a farmer working for Ruff Acres Farms raising tomatoes in a greenhouse. They also tap maple trees to make maple syrup. We keep it pretty simple as these students are about 8 years old. We do not get into issues like size of farms, GMO, organic or other controversial issues.