Modern Potatoes

Tracing My Roots

             With this assignment, we were asked to see if anyone in our family, now or in the past, has been involved with any sort of agriculture. This was a very easy question for me to answer because all throughout my life I have always known someone that has been involved with farming in some form or another. My dad grew up in Aberdeen Idaho where there are millions of potatoes that are harvested, among other things, every single year. A huge part of my father's childhood was out working on the fields, he says, "As a child I was always out working on the farm, being put to work, but I loved being a part of it," which is something that has continued on today. My mom also helped out on a farm growing up working a lot with her grandfather, but once they got older, the farm was not a huge part of my mom's life. She has definitely said that she has kept solid roots with farming because of marrying my father. As I have grown up, I was never really involved with working on a farm since my family lived in the city; we always traveled up to Idaho to spend time with the family. I always knew that farming was a huge part of our family, especially the potatoes. 

            Going up to Idaho always meant that we were going to have potatoes at every meal, even breakfast, because to us, that was normal. There are many different ways to make potatoes and they have definitely become a way of the "food life" in our family. I have always enjoyed that our family is able to produce potatoes and make that a big part of our meals together. My Uncle Brock is actually the one that owns his own potato farms and has a huge company, Driscoll Potatoes. His wife, Tena, and their kids, worked the most on the farm. My Aunt Tena said, "Farming is a real up and down game of life! Some year the prices are good, some are terrible. Farm life is a sacrifice and a lot of hard work, but it has been a good life for us," which was a great statement to show how much effort they put into their farm and how it might not always be easy, but it is definitely worth it. I also have other cousins, that grew up in Aberdeen as well, that helped out during harvest time. That was one thing my siblings and I were always jealous about, the fact that our cousins got to take two weeks off of school to help with harvest. We always said that we would rather go help with harvest than go to school any day. 

            The "Agriculture in the Classroom" timeline was a little hard to try and settle down with the exact time that I felt connected with my family because the latest it went was up to the 2000s, which we are still in, but the majority of the information came during the 1990s. Since my family is still doing farm work today, I found it hard to find certain connections that I was looking for because I felt slightly off base with the exact times they were given and what was present during those times. There was one aspect from the timeline that states, during the 1990s, "Information technology and precision techniques [are being] increasingly used in agriculture," that really connected with something my Uncle Brock said, "We have had many advancements to work with over the years, things are always changing, new machines, new equipment, which has been very helpful in being able to produce more crops," which in turn continued by explaining the machines and other aspects of technology. In this world today, we are very overrun with technology, my uncle said that, "technology has been good for us, but not always what you might have in mind," stating that, with any technology, you have to get used to it and be careful because you don't want to take out the greatness that comes from being able to grow food. 

            Because of the advancement that I was seeing with farming, through the timeline, and from my Uncle's perspective, I definitely wanted to dig a little more to see how much advancement were we talking about. Obviously, when farming was first beginning, man did most of the work before we had animals to help out, as part from what we learned in Guns, Germs, and Steel. Now, when we look at today, coming from The Advances in Agriculture website, it states that, "The 21st century and farming has gone all high-tech and is talking about GM food and agricultural biotechnology," showing how different the start of farming began and where they are finding themselves at today. Farming can still be a struggle and can even make people wonder based on these advancements. People might still be scared of how farmers are able to produce their food, but as my cousin Emily put, "Farmers, care about the land, they want to feed the world, and we can't feed them on organic alone. Their biggest drive is to produce more, because there are less people producing crops," by saying this, I think she is pointing out that people might be afraid of some advancements, but that farmers are still doing everything that they can to produce the best quality food that they possibly can. There are still many advancements that are taking place today, and we have come a long way, so it is very interesting to see what has been done with farming previously and what is being done today. This kind of information has really made me appreciate what my family has done with farming and what they are continuing to do today. 

My dad has a sign that hangs on the outside of his childhood door that reads, "Don't complain about farmers with your mouth full," and with my Aunt Tena's words by ending her interview, "In conclusion, EAT MORE POTATOES!" I am more grateful for what my family does with farming. I feel like there is a lot I am continuing to learn, but I am very happy for being able to grow up in such an amazing family and gaining a love for potatoes.

(Thank goodness for family reunions, and for having them this week, which is why I was able to gather quite a few interviews all at once!)

Works Cited

Anderson, Nathan. Personal Interview. 10 July 2015.

Anderson, Kristin. Personal Interview. 10 July 2015.

Driscoll, Brock. Personal Interview. 10 July 2015.

Driscoll, Tena. Personal Interview. 10 July 2015.

Driscoll, Emily. Personal Interview. 10 July 2015. 

NA. The Advances in Agriculture. 2006. Web. 12 July 2015.

http://www.ad-nett.org/