Riverland Community College

AFSE 2024

“The 2024 edition of AFSE Day’s theme was “Food. Fuel. And You.” Topics ranging around how Ag, Food, & Natural Resources (AFNR) impacts the human food supply, powers our lives as a fuel source, and how the students can be a part of this conversation were constructed. Held on Wednesday, July 10th, the participants took part in various sessions that ranged from 45-90 minutes in length. Topics covered included plant science, animal health, food product development and food safety, developing leadership skills, and STEM-related technologies.

The students learned about agronomy by participating in a variety of crop scouting activities, including insect ID, stand count, and soil sampling, and collecting plant leaves to measure plant health and performance. These activities encouraged the students to learn about agronomy and plant science. The students were instructed by Nathan Augustine, Megan Solland, Nick Weigel, and Dave Vaughan of Nexus Cooperative at a local farm.  “It was fascinating to see the students get energized about using sweep nets, flying a drone above plant canopies, and using a soil probe to perform a soil sample of the farm. They were also able to learn about what it takes to do a plant tissue test. Knowing this is important, but it was even more fun for the students to learn about how to evaluate plant growth stands to measure planter performance. Once the students were able to learn these basic skills, they were able to discuss weed, insect, and disease control that agronomists use on a daily basis. The neatest thing too was that students had to work as a team and on occasion, hear from the farmer they worked with,” co-coordinator of AFSE Day Nick Schiltz said.

The students then traveled to Read’s Brown Swiss dairy farm where they learned about animal nutrition and animal health. Students worked together through complex scenarios that educated them on proper animal husbandry and how to safely milk cows. The hands-on animal activities they took part in developed their skills towards animal science. For all students, they saw the opportunity of visiting a local dairy farm as a valuable experience.

“I liked working with animals and taking care of them. The dairy farm was my favorite activity,” an AFSE participant said.

AFSE Day students were coached on developing and honing their leadership skills. Minnesota 4-H State Ag Ambassadors led the students on workshops that helped students develop communication that they can use in any field of study and career and in any teamwork environment.

AFSE Day covered the agronomy and livestock sectors of “Food. Fuel. And You.” The group next learned about the biofuels industry by touring Absolute Energy Ethanol Plant near St. Ansgar, IA. They learned about the ethanol production process - how corn is converted from grain to fuel and how a by-product, dried distillers grain (DDGs), is used as a feed source in the livestock industry. This fascinating tour was led by Absolute Energy staff. Students were involved in every step of the ethanol fuel process - touching, smelling, and seeing the process unfold. They also had an opportunity to learn about how important industries like ethanol are to agriculture and rural economies.

From here, AFSE Day continued with a Food Innovation activity with Hormel Foods Research & Development Labs’ Research Scientists inside of the Riverland Community College Food Science Lab. Students were given bacon and various seasonings. Their job was to develop a new food product using what they had, experimenting with ingredient sizes to get the right taste. Seasonings included apple cinnamon, dill pickle, French toast, maple black pepper, and hot honey. The process of adding flavor to the bacon involved weighing out the seasonings and then properly adding them to the bacon. Their classmates had to taste test each others’ new bacon products and discuss what they liked and did not like. Students then had to go back to the drawing board and improve their product. The group chose bacon with dill pickle flavoring as their favorite.

Many thanks to the sponsors of the 2024 Agriculture & Food Science Exploration (AFSE) Day that helped make this day successful: Riverland Community College, Mower County 4-H Extension, Mower County Farm Bureau, Mower County American Dairy Association, Mower County Corn and Soybean Growers, Reads Brown Swiss, Absolute Energy, Nexus Cooperative, Hormel Foods, and The Hormel Foundation.”

Stay tuned for AFSE 2025!