Extra-Curriculars

Ag Club

The 2022 spun into high gear for the Ag Club when they worked with members of the Ag Ambassadors and the Garden Club at freshman orientation and move in day, grilling pork chops in a glove, sponsored by the Alumni Relations Teams, where the menu also featured burgers, bratwurst and sweet corn. Members and faculty spent the day meeting new students and their parents. Members of the club also grilled for the “WOO Crew” at their year end event.

The Morningside Ag Club continues to offer its members a variety of opportunities to interact with other members of the local and campus community. In early August members of the club participated in Bucket Calf show during the Woodbury county fair. Rachel Kenny and Bethany Widman chatted with young bucket calf exhibitors as they participated in the ring portion of the contest. The Ag Club was also present at the campus wide activities fair. As October approaches club members will work with area FFA chapters and area businesses to sponsor “Feed the Farmer” . As part of this event, the club organizes cold lunches to be picked up and distributed to area producers by nine area FFA chapters. Members of the club will also be traveling to the National FFA Convention in Indianapolis.

Ag Club Faculty Advisor, Dan Witten

Garden Update

Student-centered learning continues to lead all activities in the garden. We are two weeks into the 2022 fall semester and day after day, students enter the garden to learn. Professors in our department are intentional about incorporating learning in the garden.

Dr. Annie Kinwa-Muzinga and business major, Josh Tibbits, utilized the garden for a summer research project. They measured the impact of incorporating vermicomposting on the growth of garden amaranth. In addition to the research, the west side of the garden was dedicated to an African garden. Throughout the summer, Dr. Annie worked with Jerry, who is also from the Congo. The African garden was a successful venture as they were able to harvest and sell over two-hundred pounds of garden amaranth to a local African market.

As the season ends for one crop, another goes in. Dan Witten’s class will be planting the fall cover crops. He assigned groups of students to small garden plots. Students prepare soil, choose cover crop seed, fertilizer rates, watering and management. Until our first frost, they will be collecting data and determining what cover crop plot is the most suitable for the Mside garden.

The Integrated Pest Management course, taught by Nick Schoenfelder, came to the garden to find insects. It was a great lab as this late in the season there are plenty of insects! They found cabbage worms, potato beetles, squash bugs, spiders, pill bugs, and more. The pollinator strips were a good source for identifying butterflies.

It is a joy to share the garden with students as well as community members. Throughout the summer we hosted community tours. The last was gardeners from Opportunities Unlimited. They picked flowers and compared the Mside garden to theirs. The highlight of that tour was seeing Morningside student Jennie Riedemann. Jennie was a student in the Garden May Term and works at Opportunities Unlimited. Jennie has applied what she learned in the May Term with the garden at Opportunities Unlimited.

The garden has more variety that ever before. The pollinator strips have added additional color and interest. Since 2018 we have harvested 9,185 pounds of produce with 6,402 going to the Café and 2,783 donated to local charities. Left to harvest this fall are garden amaranth, eggplant, tomatoes, peppers, broccoli and potatoes. If you’re back on campus, please stop in to pull a few weeds and catch up.

Happy Gardening! Dee McKenna

Department Ag Ambassadors

This year’s Ambassadors are: (L to R) junior Elizabeth Zobel of Battle Creek, Iowa; sophomore Dylan Hosek of Traer, Iowa; junior Willy Pinnow of Elkhorn, Wisconsin, and sophomore Thomas Moss of North Platte, Nebraska.

The Morningside Ag Ambassadors are a select group of young men and women dedicated to enhancing the image of agriculture, the Applied Agricultural and Food Studies Department and Morningside University. The student volunteers represent the Applied Ag and Food Studies program in a variety of ways. They:

Lead campus tours for parents, visitors and prospective students.
Give presentations about the AAFS Department to high school students and others.
Represent the AAFS Department at fairs and conferences.
And host alumni and dignitaries at department and college events.

Melissa Nelson oversees the Ag Ambassadors and they are a major help to her with program recruitment and outreach projects throughout the calendar year. The Ambassadors will be planning a Senior Visit Day event for students interested in studying agriculture at Morningside on November 5th. Reach out to Melissa at nelsonme@morningside.edu if you would like more information on this upcoming event.

Thoughts from a Returning Adjunct

As we start a new semester it is exciting and unknown all at the same time. Last year at this time, I was unsure and a little naïve to what this new adventure of teaching would be. After spending over 20 years in the Agricultural Industry in sales, stepping back into a college classroom on the other side of the desk was not something that I anticipated within my career. The learning curve was steep and rewarding all at the same time. Not only did I have to relearn the course content, but developed a way to explain the content to my students. Week by week during the fall semester the teaching process made more sense. I was able to get a better understanding of the course material and how the students understood the concepts being presented. The part of teaching at Morningside University that I didn't anticipate was the conversations with students and the relationships that are developed from the time spent together. The agriculture students within the department are like sponges. They are looking for information and real-world experiences to help them evaluate life choices. Our approach to Applied helps the students see how these concepts will be utilized in real-life experiences in the future. I believe my 20 years of real-life experience provides a level of practical application in the classroom that many universities throughout the country can't duplicate.

I am honored to be a part of this unique learning experience. The Morningside Ag program has great potential to provide students with an agronomic background that will last with them for years to come. I am honored to participate in this experience serving the students that are coming to learn.

Nick Schoenfelder

Summer Undergrad Research Project

During the summer of 2022, Dan Witten, Assistant Professor, and Emily Chicoine, a junior majoring in Applied Agricultural and Food Studies and Public Accounting, conducted research on the perceptions that producers and consumers have of plant based meats. This research was completed as part of the Morningside SURP program. The SURP (Summer Undergraduate Research Program) is meant to provide students with the opportunity to work with a faculty advisor in order to research a topic that interests them. The project was one of three different projects funded through SURP during the summer.

As part of the research, Witten and Chicoine received IRB approval to travel to different locations and ask participants to complete a pre-survey which included questions about their current use or consumption of plant based meats. Participants were then asked to sample a plant based meat and complete a post survey. This project took place from May to July. In late July they presented their findings during an organized gathering on campus.

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