By Therese Boyd, ’79
The life of a farmer has so often been romanticized as a simple existence, living in tune with nature, growing crops, raising livestock, up before the dawn and to bed at sunset. It was never truly that easy a life—a year’s success or failure could be completely dependent on something as uncontrollable as the weather—but it was a less complicated life. “It used to be that the farmer just grew the corn and shipped it off to the processor,” says Melissa Kohler, instructor in business administration at Penn State Altoona.
But not anymore. These days even selecting what kind of seed to buy is complex: Seed with a guaranteed high yield? Drought resistant? Hybrid? Heirloom? What kind of herbicide to use (or not)? And then there’s the question of how much to invest in equipment, how much crop insurance to buy, and even where the corn is going to be marketed. Is the corn staying in the area or being shipped elsewhere? In the 21st century farming is no longer local and uncomplicated. As Senior Instructor in Agriculture Science Gail Good says, “Agriculture is very global.”
Children are taught “where food comes from”—the farmer, the farm—and most adults are aware that some food available in grocery stores is grown in this country and some is imported. But barring a drought, a price hike, or an E. coli scare, we may not give much more thought to our food sources than that. But so many other forces come into play before any food gets to a grocery. These two instructors, Kohler and Good—one in business, the other in natural sciences—have joined forces to teach students about the very important connections between agriculture and economics.
In the spring of 2015, Good and Kohler co-taught AG SC 499A/MKTG 499A: Exploring Greek Food Systems and Marketing. Fourteen Penn State Altoona students who were enrolled in either the agriculture or the business program signed up for the course to study the global food system, focusing on Greece and the United States, to examine the differences and connections between the two. Good says, “We started by providing background information for Greece, including topics such as history, culture, food production practices, and current events.” The 3-credit course culminated in a ten-day trip to Greece so that students could see what they had been studying.
One goal of the course was raising awareness among the business students about the business that is agriculture or, as Kohler says, “getting business students to understand that agriculture is so much more complex than the stereotype they had in mind. We really wanted to show this link—the science aspect, the technology aspect, the business aspect.” Beyond that, Good and Kohler work to draw the lines connecting “the product itself, the value to the consumer, the logistics of getting the product to that consumer, and the partnership between them.”
Marketing is a large part of the modern farmer’s world, Kohler says, whether the crop is just going to be sold at a farmstand or shipped elsewhere. Agriculture “has always been a business, but the market aspect has become much more important.” The farmer “has to think about where the corn is going to be marketed.” If it will be sold locally, “he has to make sure he is meeting his neighbors’ needs, which products are going to be in higher demand with his neighbors.”
The instructors took advantage of the Juniata Farmers’ Market, which is open on campus June to October, and at the Wehnwood United Methodist Church and the Station Medical Center during the winter months. Vendors were invited to “come into the class and talk about the challenges” of farming and business, and how they have found marketable niches such as making and selling soap. Kohler explored the farmers’ market from the business side—the running of the market and the importance of having a variety of vendors.
At the end of the semester, Good says, “we moved this whole concept to Greece,” where they visited Marianna’s Vineleaves, a grape leaf manufacturer. According to the company website, in the 1980s “Marianna Kazakis . . . starts packing vineleaves (or grapeleaves) . . . using the pasteurization method taught to her by her own grandmother in order to preserve spring freshness throughout the winter. . . . At the same time, Dimitri Kazakis is becoming more and more involved with his father’s vineyards in Nea Gonia, Halkidiki (Greece), as a means to get away from the frantic rhythms of Thessaloniki . . . [and adding] to the family income, by exporting Victoria grapes to the markets of Western Europe.” But “the civil war in Yugoslavia at the beginning of the ’90s results in the loss of the German market for Greek grape producers.” The Kazakises “decide to innovate. The vineyards are converted to Sultanas, because the same plant that produces the world’s finest raisins also gives the best vineleaf.”
Marianna’s Vineleaves is therefore a product of the couple’s awareness of the market, “similar to the vendors at the farmers’ market,” says Good. The company is an excellent example of diversification and the students learned how the company changed its business plans and strategies in order to survive.
While in Greece the group stayed at the American Farm School of Perrotis College, “a smaller, ag research–based college in Thessaloniki,” Kohler says. “They’ve done research on improving olive production, such as developing mechanized equipment for harvest and new growing techniques to improve efficiency. The college also emphasizes entrepreneurship with students in their senior year taking a new product through the entire development process from product testing to marketing to launch.”
The timing of their trip put them in the midst of the 2015 debt crisis in Greece. “Discussing and actually experiencing the current Greek economy was very humbling,” Good says. “But we were there two weeks before they closed the banks. It was national news. They were interviewing school groups and people who had run out of money. It was quite an experience to be there.”
This trip was the third time Good and Kohler have combined agriculture and business students in a class with a travel component. The first two trips, to Germany, were “similar,” according to Kohler. “This was our first 3-credit class. We knew we wanted more classroom time before the trip so that we could look at the content on the trip at a much higher level. For each course, we follow the same concept of comparing food systems of our country and the country we visit.”
The two instructors’ experience intersects in agriculture. Before teaching at Penn State Altoona, Kohler worked as a marketing consultant to small to midsize agricultural companies while earning her master’s degree in business and workforce development. Good began her career with a background in animal science/education. “I worked in admissions and advising, but I still had ag in my blood. I currently teach general agriculture classes and serve as an academic adviser to the ag students.” She says while trying “to figure out what classes to offer ag students” she met Kohler, “who was overseeing a 4H club that my children had joined. I was impressed with Melissa’s background and organizational skills, so I asked her to teach an intro to the economics of agriculture course.” That was eight years ago. Since then, Good and Kohler have worked together to develop embedded study abroad experiences in Germany, Greece, and Mexico, all exploring the challenges and opportunities of a global food system.”
Among the Commonwealth campuses, Penn State Altoona students have an excellent opportunity to study agriculture, both instructors are pleased to note. “Other campuses may offer one or two classes in agriculture,” Kohler says. “We offer over ten agriculture-related classes. Many turn it into a minor in agronomy or horticulture.” And most of the business students who sign up for this class, Good says, “have an entrepreneurship minor. Ag products fit into that model.”
Good and Kohler know the importance of balancing agriculture and business for success. They also understand the worldwide impact of proper management for both. That’s why classes cover a broad range of subjects, “ethics and issues. We talk about the environment. We talk about food policy,” says Good. With a growing population and a shrinking planet, successful agricultural practices become a matter of survival in the 21st century. Having both farmers and businesspeople aware and engaged in agriculture plays a critical role in that survival.