 If you enjoy watching Common Ground online please consider making a tax-deductible donation at lptv.org Lakeland Public Television presents Common Ground brought to you by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and the citizens of Minnesota Welcome to Common Ground, I'm your host Scott Knudson. In this two-segment episode join us at Brainerd Central Lakes College's agricultural showcase for the future of modern food production. Then members of Bemidji Square Dance Club tell us of the joys and challenges to promenade this tradition through our modern culture. Within our food chain it is absolutely essential that we have trust and that is that that consumer trusts that producer. And so when we can open the doors today and bring in the consumers in this case and have that one-on-one communication with a grower or at least see the techniques and the concerns that are going on. So when we walk into a grocery store we know that when we're buying the cava corn or the potato, what have you we know that on the other side there was a producer that he or she is interested in utilizing the latest technology from an efficiency standpoint just to remain in business and to protect that natural resources. So really I look at today as that bridge-building piece between that producer and consumer. I'm Keith Holander, Director of the Ag and Energy Center here at Central Lakes College, Dean of Agricultural Studies. So really what that means is I oversee all of the agriculture programming here at the college. The center specifically here just off the Staples campus has to do with applied research and demonstration. So that involves the latest in science and the latest in technology as it relates to cropping. And we talk about that from local foods all the way over through the agronomy arena and the natural resources. We have multiple partnerships, probably 40-50 private partnerships. The University of Minnesota, North Dakota State University, USDA, Minnesota Department of Ag. Our local FFA chapter was here. The Lions Club helped put this on. Living Legacy Garden was also a part of the process and that's available as well for the people here today. But it certainly is just something that we're able to collaborate and coordinate with the partners. Midwest Machine around the machinery side already off it was on some of the land and technology side with them. So it's just this idea that we're able to facilitate and be a catalyst for partnership in agriculture. We had specific speakers, three that I'd like to talk about specifically. Jake Bryce is a regional manager here for Midwest Machinery and John Deere. And that really allows us here to have the access to that technology. Very site specific technology in all aspects of what we're doing in agronomy. So we're talking about exact seed placement of the right genetic material in the right place for maximizing production and utilizing that soil's resources. Then we had Commissioner Fredrickson came in, kind of gave that legislative update to agriculture. So as an agriculturalist, which we all are because we consume and wear it daily. But it's that idea of what are the issues on a state level and how are they going to impact us and where is our partnership lie with MDA as well as we have a local partnership with Minnesota Department of Ag. And then finally, federal representative Colin Peterson has been very supportive. Obviously, agriculturally he ranks on the committee from a democratic side, but just instrumental, you know, and it's really a non-partisan piece that we have in agriculture and that's really important that we are legislating federally. Part of that we sometimes get a misconception out there, be it GMO or avian flu or what have you. And so to have a friend in the legislature federally is really important and on a national scale because obviously everything we do in Minnesota, we not only affect the rest of the nation, but it affects us globally. So if we look at technology and agriculture, the positive ramifications of that, if I take nitrates, which you think of nitrate and water is such a bad thing, but we have the technology in place now where we're identifying plant need at a very specific site at a very specific level and delivering that nutrient on a timely basis as the plant consumes it in the right levels. You know, we have that very precise process and as that plant grows, it doesn't matter what plant we're talking about, it's wheat or corn, obviously soybeans produce their own, but just the precision, when we talk about precision agriculture, there's a lot of levels to that. That just mitigates that leaching that we have had over years of the nitrates and we do the same things with that chemical. We have reduced our chemical applications dramatically in amount just because we can be so site-specific to identify the particular, if it's a weed or an insect or whatever the problem may be to ensure a safe and cheap food source for our country to just really be specific in everything we're delivering and all of this technology converges and continues to converge on how do we become more efficient. As we look to precision ag, we're a leader in the United States and obviously CLC and the Staples Campus, we're proud to host a lot of that technology here. So obviously the newest wave in technology, especially to agriculture, is the UAS or the unmanned vehicle system, drone as we commonly call them. So we had a quadcopter here today, that's relatively new to us, but we're just demoing today, but looking at that in terms of how do we remote sense problems within the field. So it saves us time obviously from that aerial view and perspective, but with the technology now, we use infrared technology to determine differences in soils, water needs our availability, and then also insect festation. So then that leads us to a point we don't need to treat a whole field area with adjusting the soil nutrient or treating it with a chemical, we can treat specific areas. And that's really where that drone technology is leading us and linking that, but that's really new in its development and doing that, so it's really in that trial stage and that's really what we were about today. In the local foods arena, we had demonstrations in the local foods in orcharding, currently we have an orcharding in North Workshop actually going on right now, but all about those hardiness strains in an orchard setting obviously, apple specific with that. Local foods in terms of the blueberries that we have growing here on site, and then we have greenhouse and high tunnel and production within those, teaching our youth about how to grow the vegetable within that, and of course handle those environments as well. On the agronomy side, we have a lot of research and demonstration going on today in the area of water movement across the soils, and of course when that water moves, what nutrients is it taking with, and so we're looking at monitoring that and what is going on with that. Another arena is how do we mitigate water use, so we're trying to amplify the amount of water holding capacity of sand, so that's another piece that's going on. And then we have a basic variety of trials if you will, and it's that whole idea of we have about a hundred trials going on just within specific varieties, within different seeds, and so comparing those technologies specifically the genetics of those seeds and those comparisons were all available as well today. We have an orchard here on site, so viticulture and analogy. Participants were able to come in and just get some concepts of what we're doing here as far as hardiness with vines. My name is Dennis Emsley Drummond. We're at the Staples Ag Center, part of the Central Lakes College. I teach winemaking and viticulture at the college, basically online, and I've been doing this now for about four years. Today I'm doing tours of the vineyard. We have 32 varieties on about an acre. Most of them are in 10 vines per plot, and we're doing a teaching on training vines, how to deal with mildew, which is one of the biggest problems with grapes, and then different varieties and what can make it in a region three, which is what we are here in Staples. I started working first in Illinois for the family farm. I wandered out west, got into grape growing. Decided on a tan very well and started working, got my master's degree from UC Davis in California and been a winemaker now for about 30 years. I teach fruit winemaking online throughout the U.S. I have about 10 students starting up first of September, and we go over the legalities because the rules are a little different for fruit wines, and then I have some examples here today for the visitors. Well, we have winter here. The wine varieties that they grow in California on the east coast don't make it. They don't survive this winter. So U of M, through Elm Swenson, who was a dairyman in Osceola, have been doing this for about 50 years now developing grapes that are hardy. And so we are trying them in probably the northern part that some of those vines will do, and then there are some independent growers too that we are working with. So some of their grapes are doing quite well in our climate. The grapes behind me, they are called valiant. That's probably the hardiest grape that I know of. It doesn't make the best wine, but it still is worthy of trying because it's so hardy. Well, it's definitely a value-added product. As in you can start with grapes and make something that's worth some money. And it's fun. It's a real fun thing to do. People enjoy drinking wine. It seems to be catching on there about 50 wineries now in Minnesota, and there's about 70 licenses. So there's a lot of people planning to open soon. So it's a really growing deal. So part of what I do is help start up wineries. My favorite part is actually the winemaking because that I think is where the finesse is and where we have to keep our standards up. Growing the grapes is mercy of Mother Nature. We've had a couple of winters here that really haven't helped. Development of vines. A lot of the wineries had to get grapes from other states because of the winter we've had. But hopefully the University of Minnesota has come up with a new variety of two that are coming down soon to be released, and we're hoping we have very high hopes. So it's a very much a growing industry and another reason for people to come out and visit the countryside is to go visit all the scattered wineries. The reason for today is to help people who have started vines and how to grow them. And the second is to promote the online classes that I'm part of. And the third thing is to try and show people what varieties are hard enough for this region. I mean, this is pretty much on the edge of grape growing for it to be profitable. So we need to make sure that they're growing the right varieties and show them how we can test them up here. I recommend to a new wine grower or winemaker to buy northern wine works. It was started by a couple of guys that done a lot of research, travel around the world finding grapes. And it's very well written and it gives some very good tips on how to grow grapes and what wine making to do. And it's a very good start. So I teach three classes for Vesta. It's online. I have anywhere from five to 15 students. And we go over all the legalities. And it's what I like about it is the students can be wherever they are in this evening class so they can work full time and still do my classes, all the Vesta classes, and actually get a very good education in wine making and grape growing and wine business, which I would have loved to have done. I spent about eight years in college and I wish I'd done this online thing but I kept working and still learned the same amount of information. We look geographically. We probably carried somewhere around a hundred mile radius. But really the people that were interested around here are those growers and producers in those specific arenas. So those that might be interested in that wine production or specifically grape growing, maybe in that orcharding piece or local foods, how to improve the techniques they may have at home or somewhere just investigating. And then on the other side of the agronomy piece, we're all interested in natural resources and preserving them. So how are we mitigating water leaching through the soil and taking nutrients with and then also watching the agronomic practices that we have going on. So just that chance to get out and kind of see what the latest is, as well as we have a line of machinery here, a brand new, and so it's got the latest in technology. And in this case today we're really allowing the public just to open the door and crawl into a tractor that probably they've never operated before or never even interested, but just to understand the technology that's going into agriculture today. I think we all have to view ourselves as, you know, we're consumers of agriculture. We wear clothes, those kinds of things. So I think that we all have to see ourselves as vested in agriculture and so therefore I would challenge all the viewers to be knowledgeable in agriculture. Know where that food source is and investigate that and I think this is a wonderful arena here at the college to be able to do that. And it doesn't have to happen in an August day. It can be anytime during the year that we can arrange tours and I have those set up multiple times during the year where you get a chance to ask openly about what's this going on because in our case we're not private so we can display a lot of the data and pieces about what's going on really and kind of be that non-biased truth, if you will. Sometimes people approach someone they think of the corporate farms or what have you and they don't think there's always truthfulness there and I would welcome them to come and share here and I think we could share that very truthfully in that story, you know, so that they take ownership of where their food comes from. Both locally at the local store as well as how it fits in nationally and globally. I'm Tammy Rogers with First City Squares. I'm currently the vice president of First City Squares and we have a group that meets twice a month during September through May and I have children and a husband that come and square dance with me and I consider these my great friends. Our dancers come from not only the immediate area but some of them come from Grand Rapids, from Park Rapids, from Fort Francis. We have about two dances a month during the season and then we do some other things during the summer like the 4th of July parade. I'm Royce Nelson. Besides being a square dancer I am the club caller for the First City Squares here in Bemidji. Square dancing is just moving to the beat of the music. It's entirely different than a waltz or a two-step. You're not out there counting one, two, three, one, two, three so you don't even need to know how to count to do this. It's an interaction. You as a dancer interacting with seven other dancers on the floor doing what the caller commands you to do. The better you are at what you do, the more enjoyable it is for the other seven dancers in the square. You generally know who your partner is, but to meet six other people, interact with them, dance with them, have a great time. It's a tremendous activity. Square dance music has to have a certain steady beat to it and the caller typically takes out the words. He sings the words, he'll sing a few phrases and then he'll give a call. He'll say dos, I do, or element left and then he'll sing a few more of the words. So you have to stay in motion even though he might be singing words or giving you a call. My job as a caller is to give the commands to the dancers. None of this is rehearsed. They do not know what I'm going to call, probably for the better part of it, I don't know what I'm going to call. We start out, they know the commands but it's up to me to put the commands together in a smooth flowing dance sequence and then after I've moved them around they think I've mixed them up. Hopefully I haven't. But at some point in time then it's my job to solve the puzzle I've created, get everybody back with their original partner and get them back into the position where they started. It doesn't really matter very much what type of music it is, if it's contemporary or soft rock or country, as long as the beat is steady. It's really up to the caller what type of music he chooses and they can speed it up or slow it down, especially for lessons. If someone is just learning or if it's a younger group he'll do it at a slower pace but it really is the caller's choice what type of music he uses and so there are different callers. I got into becoming a caller I learned to dance in 1972 when I was just out of college I would have liked to have become a square dance caller at that time but one of my best friends was the instructor and caller then and we didn't need another caller and by the time I'd gotten through college my high school music teacher had pretty much convinced me that I couldn't sing. So I just put it off, I took a 35 year break in there to have a career and raise a family and in 2001 I got back into square dancing the gentleman that started the club had resurrected the club here in Bemidji had just gotten it going decided to retire from his job and moved to Arizona which left the Bemidji club without a caller and I thought that was a prime time to give it a try so I bought some used equipment on eBay came with about a dozen old scratched up records and that's where I started. In a square dance everybody does have a partner a square would always be a square of eight people or four couples the people that come just on their own they would pair up with one of our regular members. There's one couple that will have their back to the caller then going around the square counterclockwise there'll be a side couple an opposite couple and a left hand or a corner couple as the dance gets underway there will be different calls the dancers will move not necessarily in sequence but they're coordinated some dancers might be going right some dancers might be going left but never should they run into each other and it should be a smooth flowing activity square dancing hand movements are generally right left right left so if I do my job well at the end of the dance you will have had a pleasant and enjoyable experience with no herky jerky action. Members can make requests of the caller for a certain type of music that they want but typically it is up to the caller what he decides to play and call to. The music over the years has evolved and people have a lot of preconceived misconceptions about what the music is they think it's all country western twiny banjo fiddle music and in my list of music I have got Bruno Mars I've got Lady Gaga I do an Adele the movement is toward non-traditional music and if the tempo is right it has a required beat you can dance to just about anything. First thing that someone would notice when you walk into a room with square dancers is probably the dresses and skirts of the girls a lot of frills and then you'll also notice the boys are wearing western style shirts and bolos which are it's kind of like a tie but western style then you'll notice how coordinated square dancing is probably it's very coordinated unless the square dancers aren't doing very well and then well you can imagine I have probably danced hundreds of tips that I have gotten through without making a mistake and I can't remember a single one of them but the ones that I have the most fun with are the ones that we messed up so bad that we got laughing and just couldn't continue to dance so it's great fun and if I've told everybody when I'm teaching lessons if you're not having fun you're not square dancing you're doing something else and I don't know what it is but square dancing is meant to be fun and that's the name of the whole game to become a square dancer it takes several years to get really proficient at it to learn the basic movements you can learn them in a couple weekends if you're really going at it but to become really proficient it takes quite a few years at a square dance event you don't necessarily go to that event and dance for two hours straight typically you're going to dance for about 15 or 20 minutes and then take a break and then somebody else might come in and that's called a tip when you're square dancing the music that you'll listen to mostly is a western style music lately they've come up with more modern music as well for a long time the majority was western and that was because of the beat square dancing relies a lot on the beat of the music you need to be able to hear that and western style music had that so that's what stayed with mostly until recently it would be nice if people understood the value of square dancing we don't want it to die as an art it's good for families, it's good for young people it's something young people can do with older people it's not difficult to learn it's a little more difficult when you get older but the callers know how to teach and how to go through the same steps over and over until you're comfortable with them and then they put them into a different sequence and they go over that sequence over and over again even those of us who don't dance well we don't know how to walls we weren't taught square dancing you know when we were young you can still learn how to square dance we get requests every now and then for special events whether it be the fair dancing at the midget state park we just put out the call for dancers and get a group together and go do our thing when I'm square dancing it's really nice because it's just something it's almost second nature when you really get into it thank you so much for watching join us again next week on Common Ground if you have an idea for a Common Ground piece that pertains to North Central Minnesota email us at legacy at lptv.org or call us at 218-333-3014 to view any episode of Common Ground online visit us at lptv.org to order episodes or segments of Common Ground call 218-333-3020 Common Ground is brought to you by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund with money from the vote of the people November 4th, 2008