This post is a part of a new series I started about the faces behind my food.
Miss Jent is a good friend of mine and truth be told, I just adore her family. The Campbell’s raise corn, soybeans, wheat (Jent’s favorite crop), hogs and a few beef cattle.
(Thanks for the pic Katy)
Their kids will be the 7th generation to farm the same land.
I asked Jent why they farm…
“Chris never wanted to do anything else, a farmer is what he wanted to be when he grew up, just like his Dad. We love what we do, it isn’t always easy but then whose job is?”
I then asked her where her products show up in the food system…
“Currently all our hogs are sold to Tyson, we don’t raise for them but they are the local buyer that we sell to right now. All of our corn is sold to processing company’s whose end market is varied. We also keep some corn for our hogs. Our soybeans are mainly sold to a processing company that presses the oil out of them and then the remaining product is soybean meal used in livestock feed.”
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Recently I attended a Corn Tour with Indiana’s Family of Farmers to learn more about the seed choices farmers make and one of the stops on the tour was Jent’s farm.
Listening to Jent at one point it clicked with me that for a lot of farmers growing corn is very personal—Jent’s exact words were that corn is “emotional.” She explained corn is different (more tedious) from other crops and often a great sense of pride for the farmers that grow it. It takes a lot of skill, experience and hard work to produce a good corn crop all while being at the mercy of Mother Nature.
When I say we talked through seed decisions with each farm family, I wasn’t kidding. Jent’s husband Chris graciously answered all our questions and at one point all three Campbell kids chimed in.
The Campbell’s choose to grow non-GM corn because they have a nearby market for it, the non-GM seed is cheaper and it performs well on their land.
Jent’s youngest– 11 year old Cole –had us all blown away with his knowledge and experience on the farm. He has a passion for what he wants to do for a living that is rare among adults- let alone someone his age.
There is no doubt in my mind that Cole will be the next generation of farmer.
He already is.
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I asked Jent what she wished consumers knew about farmers like her family?…
“We are consumers just like them – I buy all of our groceries at the same stores they shop at – I trust the American food supply 100%.”
I asked Jent to share a recipe with me for my readers and she shared her Hog Farmer’s Chili. She says she usually keeps it warm in the crock pot all day. Sounds like my kind of recipe!
Curious about the faces behind your food? Check out the rest of my ongoing series.
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