KLA Cadets Visit Maple Leaf Farms
September 29, 2018 at 7:27 a.m.
KLA Cadets Visit Maple Leaf Farms
By Staff Report-
The session covered livestock, field crops and a birds-eye view of the county, according to a news release from KLA.
Janelle Deatsman represented Maple Leafs Farms, which is celebrating its 60th anniversary.
Maple Leaf, which has gone from 180,000 ducks its first year to 10 to 15 million now, is the reason Indiana is ranked first in the nation in duck production, the release states. It makes up the majority of the 25 million ducks produced annually in the United States. This has been the trend since 1986, when they first became North America's No. 1 duck producer.
Cadets met at Maple Leaf's world headquarters in Leesburg, which opened in 2011. Maple Leaf operates off its "trident stewardship”: duck well-being, bio-security and natural resource conservation.
Kyle Tom, of Tom Farms, also presented about how as an eighth-generation farmer he is helping Tom Farms produce over 30 million pounds of seed corn, 100 mill pounds of commercial corn and 13 million pounds of soybeans each year.
Tom Farms is one of the leading suppliers to Dekalb seed production and one of leading producers of seed corn production for Monsanto, according to the release. Tom Farms uses technology to improve yields and reduce waste, leading to 5 percent growth per year since 2010.
Tom said, "Farming isn’t a lifestyle anymore, it’s a business. Our manufacturing isn’t any different than DePuy or Zimmer Biomet, outside of the fact our roof leaks.”
Kyle's father, Kip Tom, recently was nominated to be an ambassador as the United States representative to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture at the State Department.
Kelly Heckaman, from Kosciusko County's Purdue Extension, gave an overview of the county's agricultural state. According to the most recent data available, Kosciusko County is ranked seventh in Indiana for total acres, sixth in Indiana for the number of farms and third in agricultural income.
The next KLA session will cover state and local government at the Warsaw Police Department on Oct. 9.
For more information about KLA, visit kosciuskoleadership.org.
The session covered livestock, field crops and a birds-eye view of the county, according to a news release from KLA.
Janelle Deatsman represented Maple Leafs Farms, which is celebrating its 60th anniversary.
Maple Leaf, which has gone from 180,000 ducks its first year to 10 to 15 million now, is the reason Indiana is ranked first in the nation in duck production, the release states. It makes up the majority of the 25 million ducks produced annually in the United States. This has been the trend since 1986, when they first became North America's No. 1 duck producer.
Cadets met at Maple Leaf's world headquarters in Leesburg, which opened in 2011. Maple Leaf operates off its "trident stewardship”: duck well-being, bio-security and natural resource conservation.
Kyle Tom, of Tom Farms, also presented about how as an eighth-generation farmer he is helping Tom Farms produce over 30 million pounds of seed corn, 100 mill pounds of commercial corn and 13 million pounds of soybeans each year.
Tom Farms is one of the leading suppliers to Dekalb seed production and one of leading producers of seed corn production for Monsanto, according to the release. Tom Farms uses technology to improve yields and reduce waste, leading to 5 percent growth per year since 2010.
Tom said, "Farming isn’t a lifestyle anymore, it’s a business. Our manufacturing isn’t any different than DePuy or Zimmer Biomet, outside of the fact our roof leaks.”
Kyle's father, Kip Tom, recently was nominated to be an ambassador as the United States representative to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture at the State Department.
Kelly Heckaman, from Kosciusko County's Purdue Extension, gave an overview of the county's agricultural state. According to the most recent data available, Kosciusko County is ranked seventh in Indiana for total acres, sixth in Indiana for the number of farms and third in agricultural income.
The next KLA session will cover state and local government at the Warsaw Police Department on Oct. 9.
For more information about KLA, visit kosciuskoleadership.org.
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