Miami East-MVCTC FFA tours Gleaners Food Bank and Fair Oaks Farms

When given the opportunity to travel beyond western Ohio, 36 members of the Miami East-MVCTC FFA Chapter took the challenge head-on through an educational field trip. Members traveled to Indianapolis for a tour of Gleaners Food Bank of Indiana and Fair Oaks Farm, Fair Oaks, Indiana.

Gleaners Food Bank serves thousands of school children, elderly, and impoverished individuals in 21 counties in Indianapolis through food pantries, food mobiles, and boxed or bagged food. In a tour of the food bank, members saw first-hand the donations received by community members and businesses and the logistics of how to most efficiently and effectively serve those in need. Community Engagement Coordinator Darlene Graham provided an informational tour as she shared, “$1 in donation can feed four individuals a meal through the Gleaners program.” Representatives from the National FFA Organization Jenna Genson, Michelle Sullivan, and Stefonie Sebastian joined the tour and shared ways that the FFA has partnered with Gleaners Food Bank in the past and how FFA members can get more involved in the community to prevent hunger.

At Fair Oaks Dairy and Swine Learning Adventure members toured the large dairy and swine farms. On the dairy tour, members saw a 70 cow carousel milking system and visit to the calving barn. Fair Oaks Farm consists of 11 dairy farms with approximately 3,000 cows per farm. Members also toured the 2,500 sow growing, breeding, and farrowing swine farm. Fair Oaks Farms brings Reduce, Reuse, Recycle to a whole new light.  The entire facility runs on cow and pig manure.  They transform the farms’ waste into energy by way of anaerobic digesters, reducing their dependency upon natural gas and electricity during the milk and manufacturing process. Attendees sampled cheese and ice cream produced and processed at Fair Oaks.

Funding for the trip was made possible by a $2,500 grant from local dairy farmers Jeff and Kathy Knoop and the Monsanto Fund’s American Farmers Grow Communities Program. Members in attendance included: Sidney Pelfrey, Emma Linn, Makenzie Comer, Carly Gump, Kayla Zirkle, Katelyn Burch, Kira Cron, Katie Bodenmiller, Lorenza Savini, Eliza Hershberger, Kelly Rindler, Lindsey Roeth, Lauren Williams, Allyson Supinger, Eli Gillum, Colton Kowalak, Kyle Martin, Trey Rush, Andrew Kowalak, Lance Reynolds, Jeremiah Batdorf, Kayden Gustin, Andrew Harmon, Nathan Teeters, Ryan Williams, Kyle Persinger, Trent Church, and Micah Gaines. Additional participants included Jackie, Jarrett, and Dustin Winner, Patti Gostomski, Jessica Zirkle, and Luann Jordan.