Ag Day theme for Hickman County Leadership Group

(Editor’s Note: The following was submitted by Hickman County High School students Rhett Dalton, Emily Johnson, Karen Ellegood and Victoria Hendricks)

On a cold winter morning, the Hickman County Chamber Leadership Group went on their Ag Theme Day field trip. They visited Burgess Grain Company, Hutson, Nutrien Ag Solutions, and lastly a local Hog Farm.
At Burgess Grain Company, the group learned about the market prices for grain and how the prices can go down and farmers lose money. Farmers try to sell their crops at the best time to get the best prices, which is why they store their crops in bins before selling them. When Farmers bring their crops into Burgess, it is tested and weighed. Then taken to the big grain bins. Then Burgess has semi-trucks that take the soybeans, corn, or wheat to different locations to sell it.

The students then toured Hutson, they learned how the employees do everything they can to serve the farmers in their community. Hutson mechanics fixes the farmers’ equipment in the shop or go to them in the fields and do everything they can to get the farmer’s equipment running as soon as possible. If there is a part someone needs, and Hutson doesn’t have it in stock, then they order it and get it in for their customer. The people at Hutson work together like a big family. At this franchise, they have about 18 employees. The group also met a former Chamber Leadership Member that had graduated and currently works at Hutson. The company sponsored him for mechanical training and now he works for them and enjoys his job.

After that, the students went to Nutrien Ag Solutions. Nutrien is committed to being the main provider of agricultural supplies such as, fertilizers, seed, and crop protection in this area. There is a train track right behind the office, which makes it easy to get their sprays and other products. They then toured the office building, storage buildings, and other parts of the Nutrien grounds.

The last place visited was a local Hog Farm. As the owners gave the students a tour, they enjoyed fresh sausage provided by the owners. They learned how a load out works and about the late hours the farmers have to stay up for a load out. For example, this hog farm has load out at 11 p.m. As they prepare for it, they have about 60 hogs in each pin in the barn and they have to get out the ones that are big enough.

This can be challenging because if the farmer only has a few pigs to get out of one pin then they have to make sure none of the other hogs get out.

The Chamber Leadership group is now educated on how the grain company works, why providing parts and service for farming equipment is important, why there are different kinds of spray and fertilizers, and lastly how the hog farm works.

The Chamber Leadership Group greatly appreciates the time each of these people took out of their day to tell them about their jobs and how they are important.