S574: Wiggling and Weaving (Crop and Land)

Alright!  So I've finished my research for the crops and land aspect of my project.  I started off looking for this information in the books I had from the library, but I could only find a few things that I was looking to answer off of my chart.  Since many of my questions related to current market conditions, I ended up going to the internet to find my answers.  This meant I had to do wiggling again, figuring out which sites were reliable.  Luckily for me, many of the websites were .edu from various midwest colleges' departments of agriculture.  I felt I could definitely trust them because they were from colleges, and the fact that they are in states in the corn belt was just an extra bonus.  Some of the other websites were selling corn or machines, so I evaluated them as I would if I were actually buying from them.  If their site information seemed reputable, and their information and prices matched up with my other sources, I decided I could trust them.  I also looked at some organizations' websites for information, and again if their information matched up with each other, I relied on their information.

Since I had to use so many websites, I decided to use Delicious to bookmark all of the sites I used.  I used some of the sites to just find more resources, so they proved very useful in that aspect.  Here is the link to my delicious site:  http://delicious.com/smeckert/S574.  I tagged all of my websites for this class with a S574 tag.  I've used delicious quite a few times in the past, and it is really helpful to keep all of the websites you look at in order.  It's also nice to have the tags to find everything that relates to the same subject, saving you from searching through all of your bookmarked sites.  I think delicious wouldn't work very well for elementary students, but high school students may like being able to do online research and organize it so easily.

To answer my questions on crops, I consulted a few books to get ideas what to look for online.  I liked researching the crops because it allowed me to synthesize information, rather than just taking it right out of a source.  It also required a bit of math on my part to figure out how kernels would be in a bag, how many bags I would need per acre, and other similar math calculations.  I looked through a lot of websites to decide a number that averaged the results of many different studies and articles, so there is not a specific source I got my final number from.  Like the machines, I ended up nixing a few of the questions, namely What grows best here? and What seed is the cheapest?  I decided that I wanted to plant corn, despite what the answers to these questions would answer.  My grandpa grew corn, so I know that I want to grow corn, too.  I also decided that I am going to base my research on a 100 acre farm, as most sources say that 100 acres is about the minimum size you can make a profit on.  Here are the answers I have found to my questions from my chart:

What equipment will I need depending on what crop I picked?  I have answered this in my machine research.

How much will I get per acre?  The 2008 national average yield was 153. 8 bushels/ acre (www.biofuelsdigest.com).

How much would I need to buy?  Seeing at 36,000 per acre for 100 acres, I would need 45 bags of seed.

What would I like to grow?  Corn!

Where should I buy from?  Based on people in my family I have talked to, I should buy from a local grain elevator.

In my research on the land, I went through a similar process.  I started looking in my library books, decided I needed to go to the internet, and bookmarked the sites I found useful on delicious.  I also asked a realtor what the price for land was in my county.  I emailed her asking about prices on land in my county (who's name I deleted out of this post).  Here is the email I sent and the reply I received:

Question:


Tara,

I am doing a research project for one of my classes, and I am trying to figure out how much land in X County would cost.  I am looking a big plots of land for farming, and was just wondering if you could give me a price quote on similar properties in this area.

Thank you for your help,

Shea

Reply:

Shea,
In 2009 there were 13 agricultural properties sold.  The information is as follows:

17 acres/$338,000;
41 acres/$233,700;
10 acres/$100,999;
97 acres/$552,900;
50 acres/$285,000;
40 acres/$208,000;
36 acres/$169,000;
4.4 acres/$26,000;
72 acres/$374,400;
60 acres/$450,000;
20.7 acres/$162,645;
68.7 acres/$364,015; and
10 acres/$100,000

Average $/acre:
Min.  $3844
High $9500
Average $6066

Hope this is the information you were looking for.

Tara

This was a huge help; I hadn't even been sure she would have the information I was looking for.  However, this was exactly what I wanted.  This allowed me to see how much land around me was selling for and whether or not a 100 acre farm would be feasible in this area.  It was actually more than I had expected it to cost, but then again, I haven't been looking at land.  For the rest of my questions on land, I consulted internet resources and family advice, and I got these answers to my questions:

How much land should I get?  100 acres

Who would be a reliable resource to help me choose?  A realtor would help me know if I was getting a good price, soil maps would tell me if I am getting a good soil type, and family and friends will help me decide if it's the right property for me.

How much does land cost per acre?  In my county, agricultural land costs $6066/acre on average.

How much land earns a profit?  100 acres

As you can see, I decided to get rid of the questions Where has the best soil? How much land will sustain my family? and What soil is best for my crops?  I decided since I want to live in the same county and will be constricted by price, I will have very little say in what type of soil my land has.  From what I've read, all three soil types here are good for corn, as long as you have the right machinery for the job.

While I was working, I did begin to feel a bit overwhelmed because I had to consult so many resources to find my information.  Exactly as Kuhlthau said, I realized there was extensive work to be done, but the further along I got, my interest and dedication to my project increased.  I think this is a valuable thing to point out to fellow and new researchers, as they may get discouraged and never make it to the part when they get encouraged and energized about their project!  I would hate for them to get discouraged and give up on a wonderful project, just because they don't know that relief is coming.  I hope all educators, any model of the research process really, will be sure to tell students that the work will be worth it and their project will get easier the longer they work on it.  Especially if they are choosing their own topics, they should stick to it and push through to the final product.  Students will always be more interested in the projects they have a personal say in:  "As independent thinkers, children become researchers, writers, videographers, and activists rather than passive receivers of a textbook's content" (www.virtualinquiry.com).  Teachers do well to let students throw themselves into projects they are passionate about (like me and farming!) than force textbook learning as the constant, sole and primary means of educating.

I am relieved to be done with the bulk of my research, and have been thinking and planning for my wrapping stage for quite a while now.  I'm excited to get everything in order and posted for the next steps!