8/5/2009 9:16:00 AM A view of farming from East Coast students
Linda Wuebben/CorrespondentStudents from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln stop for a home-cooked meal at the St. James Marketplace while traveling from one farming operation to another.
ST. JAMES - Sparked by their educational opportunities at Tufts University of Boston, two undergrad students have spent the summer traveling through farm county.
The farm country isn't just the United States but also Latin America. This week, they will spend time in the St. James area talking to corn farmers and taking lots of photos.
Kate Berson and Nora Chovanec received a generous grant from the Tisch program at Tufts that allowed them to develop their independent study summer project - a study of farmers in North America and South America.
Tufts University specializes in educating new leaders ready to fulfill all the global opportunities waiting in this new century. The undergrad program also encourages local service projects and emphasizes community service.
The two students come from broad backgrounds but found a project to which they could both contribute.
For two months, they traveled first to Mexico. Chovanec is the photographer and said she has taken at least 9,000 shots. Berson is the journalist and they focused on corn farming because it seems to be a political issue many times with the commodity market.
The area they visited near Mexico was a poor community, and farming is very labor-intensive - done by hand on steep slopes.
For over a month, they then viewed farmers with horses and eventually those with small tractors.
It was almost culture shock to come to America and see farming on a much grander scale. Farmers in Mexico were proud to say they owned three to five hectors, which translates to about 10 acres. American farmers owned much more land and spend more time in their tractors than on their farm ground.
The pair traveled through Illinois, Iowa and Nebraska.
But they found one common similarity between the north and south farming operations. The farmers generally farmed because their parents had. Passing the farms on to the next generation was important.
The two college students found it would be easier to pass the farms of Mexico on to the next generation.
When the independent study project is completed, Berson and Chovanec hope to be able to publish it. A farm publication in Iowa is interested in printing it, and the duo will develop a Web site.
Chovanec will graduate next spring with two bachelor degrees - including one in fine arts. She worked in the inner city of Boston and said that is why she went to Tufts for her undergraduate study.
Berson said she also found the community service projects she participated in at Tufts pointed out the tough issues with immigrants and refugees.
She graduated in May and plans to leave for Israel when she returns, where she will be employed working with immigrants and refugees in Jerusalem.
Reader Comments
Posted: Saturday, August 15, 2009
Article comment by:
Irena Brubaker
Since I grew up on the farm (in Poland) I have a special interest in the subject. The second reason this article is special to me is my niece: Nora Chovanec -)
