Field of dreams: Agriculture program helping students reach future goals
Kenneth Gibbs wants to break ground on a local vineyard. Gretchen Batts wants to have a self-sustaining farm. Jama Waller wants to try to take over his family's Morganfield farm.
And eventually, all three students at Henderson Community College believe they will achieve those goals. But first, they need to get through Laura Winstead's Introduction to Fertilizers and Soils class, which is just one segment of the agriculture program on The Hill.
Fortunately, they've got the help of Pioneer Seeds, whose Web site describes it as the world's leading developer and supplier of advanced plant genetics to farmers worldwide.
But Pioneer is in Henderson, too -- and its latest venture is to partner with Henderson Community College's agriculture program to create a field laboratory.
"It's the first time for this project," Winstead said of the various soybean plants that now cover the old soccer field near the stop light on U.S. 60-West before the entrance to the college. The class will harvest both established and newer varieties of planted soybeans around the first week in November.
The program will continue year after year, and the sales from the harvest will fund the agriculture program at HCC, helping to purchase teaching supplies and equipment, she said. As the agricultural technology program coordinator, Winstead is the program's only full-time instructor.
"The Henderson County agriculture program is up and coming," said Clate Jones, 18. "Something like the agriculture lab will really improve it."
The freshman from Sebree has experience working on a farm, and because of that, there are no real surprises this semester in terms of what to expect from the class. Yet he and his classmates have made multiple trips to see the growth of the beans and to take soil samples.
Jones plans to go to Murray State University, where he will continue as an agronomy major and then return to this area to farm.
Eighteen-year-old Barrett Ranes of Onton has similar goals. He said the soil tests have helped him learn about the importance of compaction levels and what that means for the farmability of the land.
"You can look at the soil and guess how good the farming will be," he said.
Zack New of Henderson said that while he has had a little bit of experience working on a tobacco farm in Henderson County, he can see how the class would help those who don't know much about farms.
Even with his little bit of experience, however, he didn't know much about the depth of the soil tests, which are soil samples of about six to eight inches in the ground.
(Also as part of the class, a soil scientist took a core sample, probing four feet into the ground. That allowed students to look at the physical properties of the soil and how it's made up, Winstead said.)
Stuart Posey, 19, said the class has allowed him to get into crop production in more depth. He hopes to eventually have a career in the field.
For Paul Duncan, 39, "it's been a positive experience," he said. While he said he is somewhat at a disadvantage in the class because most of the others have done some work on farms, "it's given me a broad sense" of what the field is about.
He said he is leaning toward an agricultural career or some form of landscape design.
Batts, too, is someone who isn't thinking of using what she learns solely for farming. The 28-year-old plans to become a veterinary technician, but she also wants to be able to feed animals on her self-sustaining farm, where she'd like to grow hay, alfalfa and corn.
"The class gives suggestions for what soils are best," she said. "When I go to purchase a farm, I will do the soil tests to see if I want to purchase (the land)."
Her friend Gibbs, a sophomore from Henderson, is coming at the class from another angle, too. He started his own garden, growing onions, tomatoes, peppers, sunflowers and eggplants. And next year he hopes to use compost from his own house for the garden.
Eventually, he would like to have his own landscaping business, preferably one that creates a habitat for local wildlife.
And on the side, he said, he'd like to own his own wine-making business in this area, using grapes he grows himself.
"I have to get my degree and make something of my life," he said. "This is not just another class."
Added Waller, who wants to take over his family's farm in Morganfield, "The class has been a good class. It's been helpful and it's taught well."
