K-M FFA feeds farmers

Harvest season is one of the busiest times of the year for farmers. In order to show appreciation for the work that farmers do, a group of Kasson-Mantorville FFA students took to the fields to help the farmers during this time. 
On Oct. 8, several students from 8th grade through 12th grade delivered 125 meals to local farmers as a part of their Feed the Farmer event. FFA Advisor Lori Pagel said that this is the sixth year that the students have taken part in this day of thanking farmers. 
Pagel started taking students to the fields and elevators after coming to a realization about many of the students’ familiarity with farming. 
“One year, in my Intro to Ag class, I said to the kids ‘Go take this survey to a farmer,’” Pagel said. “And they all had blank stares on their faces. What does a farmer look like? How would you find one? How would you know? And I realized I had to do something for my students so that they got out in the community and saw what farmers are doing firsthand and maybe visited for a minute about that or watched them do the harvest, just because a lot of them don’t have that background.”
Since then, the event has been something that Pagel has had no struggle in finding students who want to participate. She said that both students and farmers appreciate and enjoy the Feed the Farmer day. 
Pagel modeled the event after a way that AgStar shows their customers appreciation. Students are split into groups and then travel to fields, dropping off lunches purchased from Erdman’s County Market. Lunches are taken to whoever students spot, and Pagel says that many of the farmers look forward to this. This year, five groups of students hit areas all over Dodge County, taking lunches to farmers spotted in fields surrounding the K-M school district. 
Pagel believes that the students do gain a lot of understanding about farming from seeing the farmers harvest. While sometimes the farmers can be too busy to answer questions, adults chaperoning can answer questions students may have. And some of the farmers