2017 community impact report. helping our communities work.

Transcription

1 2017 community impact report helping our communities work.

2 dedicated to helping our communities work As a mission-driven financial cooperative, we understand that serving agriculture means more than working for those who farm and ranch. Through volunteer efforts and local contributions, we are also committed to supporting the communities we serve. Our work in 2017 focused on expanding agricultural education, cutting-edge technology, supporting agriculture, hands-on learning and efforts to break the hunger cycle. We see these initiatives as critical to enriching the rural communities where our customer-owners live. In support of this focus, our employees dedicated more than 8,500 hours to community volunteer work. Farm Credit Services of America (FCSAmerica) also contributed more than $3.5 million to projects and programs that impact agriculture, including $772,707 through our Working Here Fund and expanded grant programs. In the following pages, we ve highlighted a few of the projects we supported in The impact map provides a visual snapshot of our community involvement efforts. I truly appreciate the passion and dedication of our team and members of our communities who work for the benefit of others. Along with our Board of Directors, we thank you. Mark Jensen President and CEO

3 2017 Community Impact Report / no. 3 4-H Stall Cards More than 58,400 stall cards provided to livestock exhibitors. Disaster Relief Employee volunteer hours and contributions supported local disaster cleanup efforts. Employee Match This program provided matches of up to $100 for each employee contribution to causes that were meaningful to them, totaling $19,526 in Employee Volunteers FCSAmerica employees volunteered 8,566 hours for nonprofit organizations in their local communities. Expanded Grants Up to $10,000 per grant totaling $220,170 for hunger and nutrition, ag education, rural disaster/essential services plus young and beginning producer initiatives. Farm Risk Management Tool Provided Grainbridge web-based farm risk management online tool and curriculum to 390 high school FFA chapters. FFA Support FFA handbook funding, eight national convention sponsorships and state convention support. Grain Bin Rescue Donated grain bin rescue equipment and training for 87 fire departments. Grants Provided 337 Working Here Fund grants totaling $552,537 for hunger and nutrition, ag education and young and beginning producer initiatives. Hunger Relief Provided funding and employee volunteers for mobile pantries, food rescue and food distribution to underserved counties with high percentages of food insecurity. Invest An Acre Matched crop donations up to $500 each, impacting the donating producer s local foodbank. Local Contributions Each of our 42 offices impacted communities with funding support for local programs and initiatives. Scholarships Awarded 32 $2,500 land grant and 44 $1,000 community college scholarships to students pursuing a career in agriculture. The Big Garden New community gardens harvested produce and taught children to grow food. Underwriting Support Funded support for Iowa State University Ag Business Club, Nebraska Community Foundation, Raising Nebraska, South Dakota Ag Foundation, South Dakota State University Precision Ag Facility and Wyoming Ag in the Classroom Stewardship Project. Women In Ag Funded 40 courses on farm business management, livestock management and succession planning. For more information about our community involvement, visit fcsamerica.com/community.

4 Growing the Future of Agriculture It had been 50 years since a student in Cozad, Nebraska, wore a blue jacket representing the local FFA chapter. The FFA program was discontinued in the community five decades ago, but that changed last fall, thanks, in part, to a grant from FCSAmerica. The chapter purchased blue jackets for FFA members who could not otherwise afford them, as well as an FFA gavel, chapter banner and other materials. More broadly, the grant helped support the resumption of an agricultural education program in a community that relies on agriculture even though most students are disconnected from it. Rebekah Kraeger, who was hired to spearhead the ag education and FFA initiatives, says she is excited for the students. They get to be a part of history, she says. They know the ideas they bring to the table may shape our program for years to come. Students at Wauneta-Palisade High School also are seeing an expansion of their agricultural education opportunities, albeit at a more micro level. The high school in western Nebraska purchased dissecting stereoscopes to help students identify parasitic organisms. The new equipment allows students to zoom into the mouthparts of a parasite or closely examine the veins in the wings of a fly. Teresa Hayes, agricultural education instructor in the district, says the stereoscopes and preserved specimens purchased with grant funds improve the educational experience. When you re looking online or in a book, you often don t get a sense of the actual size of an organism, Hayes says. You learn better with physical specimens, and, of course, I m always excited to learn something new along with the students. They know the ideas they bring to the table may shape our program for years to come. Rebekah Kraeger FFA advisor in Cozad, Nebraska

5 2017 Community Impact Report / no. 5 Cutting-Edge Technologies Give Students New Perspectives A drone is helping students in Willow Lake, South Dakota, explore a cutting-edge technology for crop and livestock production. After researching FAA regulations related to drone use, students practiced safety with flights around the school before taking the drone into the field to do crop scouting and check on livestock. New Animal Lab and Shrimp Aquaculture Projects Offer Hands-On Learning Students at the West Delaware High School in Manchester, Iowa, are learning hands-on about animal science and local government through the construction of a new animal lab on school property. The facility will house up to six cow-calf pairs. The idea for the lab originated with students, says Tammy Schnieders, agricultural education instructor for the district. To make the idea a reality, the students did four presentations to the school board, attended three city council meetings to address questions about the project, and even went door-to-door to answer questions from neighbors of the facility. Schnieders says the hands-on nature of the project is key. When students are being taught hands-on, they see the effects of the decisions they are making, she says. I can stand in front of the classroom with a poster, but until the students are physically with an animal, they will never really have the knowledge or confidence. Just south of Manchester, the ag students at Central City High School are trying their hands at a different kind of animal agriculture. The students are repairing equipment to grow shrimp. They also are researching the production process from start to finish, including identification of a freshwater shrimp variety and the details of feeding programs. The aerial view offers a completely different perspective that you can t get from walking a field or driving through a pasture, says Dan Tonak, agricultural education instructor for the district. The kids love it. This is one of the coolest things we ve done in the 31 years I ve been teaching. Their instructor, Kiley Baerg, says the project is teaching responsibility. We ve told the students they are responsible. We ve said, You have a budget, now make decisions and take ownership of this. New lab technology also is improving the educational experience in Sutton, Nebraska. Previously, students could do basic tests, such as measuring ph levels using test strips. Now, students work with sophisticated sensors for ph, carbon dioxide and moisture levels. They capture results that are fed via a wireless connection to a touch-screen interface that helps with analysis and graphing. This gives the students more of an applied experience, says Jesse Bower, agricultural instructor in Sutton. The students get to do things we were only able to talk about before. That gets them excited for potential careers in plant sciences.

6 Investing in Technologies that Support Agriculture Students in Redfield, South Dakota, are more comfortable in the shop after the purchase of a new welding simulator. Some of our students are scared to use welding equipment for the first time, says Lynn Brace, agricultural education instructor. The simulator gets them comfortable with the speed, angle and distance of the welding process before they do it for real. It s a great technology that takes away the fear. It gives the students confidence to explore welding for a potential career or even to be able to do repairs on the farm. As part of its Youth Eating Smart (YES) program, Ground Works Midwest hosted summer camps for kids from kindergarten age through eighth grade that use teaching gardens for lessons about food production, nutrition and overall wellness. There are a lot of misconceptions about food and agriculture, and it s often a shock how little the students know about nutrition and where food comes from, says Cindy Heidelberger Larson, associate director at Ground Works Midwest. Of course, even experienced farmers and ranchers can benefit from exposure to new technology. That s why Ashley Garrelts, Converse County extension agent in Douglas, Wyoming, is excited to expose some industry veterans to innovative tools such as portable soil moisture probes and Cow Cam water tank monitoring systems. These are a couple new technologies that ranchers are asking us about, Garrelts says. Through winter workshops and summer field days, she will demonstrate how to use the technologies and answer questions. I see a lot of potential for the soil moisture probes to inform grazing decisions and for the water tank monitoring systems to free up time to do other things on the ranch, she says. I m excited about new technology, and the ranchers in our area really appreciate the opportunity to see it in action. Gardens Provide Valuable Lessons as Well as Food In one of the most productive regions in the world, there are still people who don t have enough to eat and who don t eat enough of the right things. An innovative project in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, is helping educate consumers about food and nutrition. It also is bridging the gap between those who live in cities and those who work on the farm. The organization makes it real for the kids through lessons such as Dirt Made My Bacon Cheeseburger. We deconstruct the elements of a bacon cheeseburger the wheat bun, ground beef, bacon, cheese, lettuce and tomatoes and explain how they are produced, Larson says. We use our gardens to teach the kids, and then they go home and talk with their parents. That has an impact, too. working here fund grant dollars helped support these and other projects in communities where farm credit services of america customer-owners live.

7 2017 Community Impact Report / no. 7 In Waterloo, Iowa, another community garden is making a difference in the lives of kids and their parents. The Northeast Iowa Food Bank is using its garden, along with a commercial kitchen on the property, to expose students to different types of fresh produce. One event Pizza Day was particularly successful for the organization. We gave kids the chance to put anything edible from the garden on their pizzas, and they were excited with the freedom, says Bobbi Jacobs. They tried everything from flowers to kale. The community garden in Waterloo also serves several refugee populations in the area Burmese, Congolese and Bosnian by growing cherry bomb peppers, okra, collard greens and other produce. Our clients are excited to see produce from their traditional diets. It s hard to keep that produce on the shelves of our food pantry, Jacobs says. The Big Horn County Extension office in Greybull, Wyoming, also is working to break the hunger cycle. Last summer, staff planted a 2,000-square-foot garden to address a shortage of fresh produce in the area. We brought produce from the garden to nutrition classes, where we talked about ways to eat better for less, says Kristy Michaels, nutrition educator. We discussed meal planning and preparation and then gave away produce from our garden. In addition, produce was donated to local food pantries and distributed to low-income families in South Big Horn County. The garden also provided a teaching opportunity for students from the local elementary school. They planted pumpkins from seedlings they had started in class and eventually were able to harvest pumpkins in the fall, Michaels says. Grain Bin Rescue Program Saves Lives Since 2013, FCSAmerica has funded grain bin rescue equipment and training for 360 rural fire departments, including 87 in Dale Ekdahl, an instructor with equipment manufacturer Outstate Data, says the training is based on successful rescues and is constantly evolving. One of the biggest misconceptions is that there s one kind of grain bin rescue scenario, Ekdahl says. But we walk through several situations that differ based on whether the person is conscious, the position in the bin or even if multiple people are involved. The training typically lasts up to three hours and includes area fire, police and emergency medical staff. Everyone is so appreciative to get this training, Ekdahl says. They almost always say, I hope we never have to use it. But some do. Outstate Data s specially designed equipment and training has resulted in 14 successful rescues nationwide. It s really rewarding to know this equipment and training can save lives, and it has, Ekdahl says. Everyone is so appreciative to get this training. They almost always say, I hope we never have to use it. Dale Ekdahl Grain bin rescue instructor

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