Stark reality in the classroom
The Minneota kids were leaning in their chairs, ears picking up every word Gene Stengel was saying. More than one mouth began to gape as Stengel told the kids how he lost one of his best friends.
“He lost his life in a grain bin,” Stengel said. He began to unravel the tragedy of, “One of the founders,” of “Ag in the Classroom,” Richard Rosetter.
The annual event intended to teach fourth graders about the business of agriculture also came with a stark reminder of the safety needed on the farm.
“There were 37,000 bushels of soybeans in there. We had to cut the grain bin apart and let the beans pour out. Seven and a half hours later we found Richard at the bottom of the bin.”
Stengel had the kids attention, but it was exacting a price on him as he gulped more than once, and wiped several tears away from his eyes.
“It’s a tragedy, but it’s a reminder that things can happen,” said Stengel. As the kids filed out, Stengel had set up a machine called, “Tug of War with Grain.”
It showed an individual falling deeper and deeper into the bin and it contained a pully gets pulled to feel the pressure created inside the bin.
Some pulled, others filed out, a serious look still enveloping their faces. Stengel, who is from Granite Falls, is the Yellow Medicine County Farm Bureau president.
“All I can think about is what was going through his mind,” as it was happening, said Stengel about his friend Richard.
He turned to the reporter and said, “This is how I deal with it. Why I deal with it puts meaning to Richard’s life.” Part of the story will always haunt Stengel. “I found out later by checking his cellphone records that he’d tried to call me when he was in the bin. But the signal wasn’t strong enough.” Stengel shook his head.
Richard Rossetter died in that grain bin in 2014 and later the family, “Took all the grain bins down. And I can’t blame them,” Stengel said.
Today, Stengel uses the “real life tragedy” to drive home a point about “farm safety” to the young kids.
This was perhaps the loudest, and hardest lesson these young kids heard on Thursday at Minnesota West Technical College in Granite Falls.
Minneota Elementary and St. Edward Fourth Graders were among the 342 students introduced to such things as soybeans, corn, beef, dairy, pork, turkey and other products.
And what astounded them the most seemed to be the variety of by-products used from each product and the huge variety of items created by those by-products. In the “corn” classroom, Mitch Brusven of Clarkfield held an ear of corn into the air and asked, “What kind of corn is this?”
A couple of the kids recognized it as, “Indian Corn,” then he held them to “popcorn,” and “sweet corn.” While Brusven got his point across that, “Corn is a great habitat for wildlife,” he had the kids ooohing and ahhhing when he said there was, “Corn in candy.”
Kids smiled as Brusven and Don Buesing of Granite Falls produced shirts, blankets, clothes hangers, corn flakes and even “ice cream” that was made using corn by-products.
There was almost a sense of unbelieveability when Brusven and Buesing said corn products were in crayons, tires, paper cups, envelopes, even diapers.
“They keep the baby dry and they deteriorate in the landfill,” Brusven said. But the most astounding fact caught the kids by surprise.
“Corn is the most important crop in America and the second most important in the world.”
The kids continued to get facts thrown toward them like “Soybeans were discovered 5,000 years ago in China,” and, “The United States grows half the world’s soybeans and is the second largest cash crop.
And, soybeans make hundreds of different products.” Kids ran their hands across newspapers when they were told “Soy Ink” was used to print newspapers because it’s better for the environment and easy to use.
Many years ago, Roger Dale of Hanley Falls helped get the “Ag in the Classroom” off the ground. He retired and left the event to Carl Louwagie, who farms between Clarkfield, Minneota and Cottonwood. Dale stepped down but is still around to help. “It’s been growing ever since,” he said.
“Most of these kids don’t realize where the food comes from,” Dale added. He and Louwagie hope to bring the kids the idea that, “Agri-business is so big — it’s not just farming, it’s an industry.”
“We grow the food — but we need our city cousins to buy it and to give us input,” Dale said. The kids went home from the one-day crash course, full of the knowledge that there’s a whole lot more in an ear of corn or a handful of soybeans than they ever imagined.
And it’s likely they won’t soon forget the message Gene Stengel brought them about farm safety. No doubt this one day was an eye-popping experience for a bunch of young kids.