In collaboration with Wesley Horner Productions and Iowa Public Radio, the Center for Documentary Studies is producing an occasional series on the Griffieon family farm, of Ankeny, Iowa, for NPR’s™ All Things Considered™ . These pieces follow the Griffieons through a year of life while exploring challenges and tensions faced by a Midwestern farm family in 2008. Series segments will be added to this page as they are broadcast. The series is produced by John Biewen of the Center for Documentary Studies, with help from Rob Dillard of Iowa Public Radio.
#1 - April 28, 2008
It’s a good time to be a farmer in Iowa. Corn prices are soaring, and with help from chemicals and biotechnology, Midwestern farmers produce more corn on an acre of land than ever before. Craig and LaVon Griffieon and their four children are the fifth and sixth generation on the family’s farm near Des Moines. They raise corn, soybeans, and livestock on 1,100 acres. They say times are good financially, but they’re ambivalent about the direction of American agriculture. Craig and LaVon disagree over how they should manage their farm and their land.
#2 - May 27, 2008
The United States was born as an agrarian society. As recently as 1950, 15 percent of Americans lived on farms; today, it’s barely 1 percent. So for most of us, the annual gamble of spring planting has become a remote, almost exotic experience. Recently, the Griffieons of Ankeny, Iowa, have been sowing seeds—Craig, on the family’s 800 acres and on several hundred acres owned by neighbors, and LaVon, in gardens next to the farmhouse. The Griffieons are determined that their children will continue to plant crops on the family’s land, the sixth generation to do so.
#3 - June 23, 2008 The June floods in Iowa devastated some towns and farms, while leaving others largely unaffected. The Griffieon farm, just fifteen miles north of Des Moines, is at a safe distance from the Cedar and Des Moines Rivers, which overflowed into Cedar Rapids and Des Moines. The Griffieons are following the weather—and another ongoing news story: soaring grain prices that are putting food out of reach for some of the world's poorest people. Many analysts say one factor in the food crisis is the U.S. government's embrace of ethanol. The policy means a growing fraction of the nation's corn crop is fueling American cars. It's a point of disagreement in the philosophical divide between Craig and LaVon Griffieon.
#4 - July 31, 2008 For many American children, summer vacation means freedom from homework or from any work at all. But not if you’re a farm kid. On their 1,100-acre farm near Ankeny, Iowa, Craig and LaVon Griffieon raise corn, soybeans, beef, pork, and poultry. They’ve also raised four children: Autumn, Nick, Phillip, and Julia.
#5 - September 19, 2008
Late summer is state fair time. For most city dwellers and suburbanites, the fair means rides on the midway and deep-fried foods on a stick. For farm families like the Griffieons, of Ankeny, Iowa, the state fair is still about agriculture—and hard work. The two youngest Griffieon children are teenagers and active members of FFA, formerly known as Future Farmers of America.
#6 - October 13, 2008
Farmers in the Midwest are preparing for a fall harvest of billions of bushels of corn and soybeans. Craig Griffieon and his wife, LaVon, farm more than 1,100 acres near Ankeny, Iowa. We've been following the progress of their crop, and the couple's discussion about farming with or without the help of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Craig practices conventional farming, with chemicals. But at LaVon's request, he reserves a small plot of land for experiments with organic farming. We join Craig and LaVon for a field inspection of their corn, planted in May, and now nearly ready for harvest
#7 - January 2, 2009
The growing season is over in all but the warmest parts of the country, but for most farmers the work doesn't stop. This year the Griffieons of Ankeny, Iowa, raised successful crops of corn and soybeans, amid a continuing family debate over the use of farm chemicals. Husband Craig uses chemical pesticides and fertilizers and genetically modified seeds. His wife, LaVon, wishes he wouldn't. On the livestock side of the family business, though, LaVon mostly prevails. She and the couple's daughter, Autumn, sell beef, pork, and poultry in local markets.
#8 - March 3, 2009
Late winter on an Iowa farm is a time for taking stock: for assessing last year’s growing season, preparing for spring, and planning for future generations on the farm. In the final story in our series, Craig and LaVon Griffieon revisit a running debate over their farming practices. Craig uses chemicals and genetically modified seeds, while LaVon prefers to farm organically, without chemicals. The Griffieons are joined in that debate by Autumn, the oldest of their four children.
PREVIEW AUDIO CLIPS
Todd Hager, Colrain, Massachusetts
Todd Hager is the youngest of Chip and Sherry Hager’s four children. As a teenager he left the farm, started a family, and worked as an auto mechanic, among other jobs. He returned recently and now works full-time on the farm along with his parents, his sister Kim, and Kim’s husband. Todd lives nearby with his wife, a registered nurse, and their three young daughters. He spoke while repairing maple syrup lines on a snowy hillside in February.
Eddie Wise, Whitakers, North Carolina
Eddie Wise, 65, raises pigs on 106 acres near Whitakers, North Carolina. He’s a fourth-generation farmer but the first in his family to own a farm. He learned to farm from his father and grandfather, who were sharecroppers. Eddie and his wife Dorothy bought their farm in the 1990's after Eddie retired from a career in the Army. Today, Eddie feeds more than 200 hogs and is working on doubling his herd over the coming year.
LaVon Griffieon, Ankeny, Iowa
LaVon Griffieon grew up on a farm in northwestern Iowa, where her father grew crops without the use of chemical pesticides or fertilizer and raised a wide variety of crops and livestock. Today, most Iowa farms produce “monocrops”—vast tracts of corn and soybeans. Thanks largely to LaVon’s influence, the Griffieon farm is a blend of old and new; in addition to Craig’s conventionally grown commodity crops, the family produces beef, eggs, and chickens without the use of hormones or antibiotics.
David Pecusa, Bacavi, Arizona
Thirty-two-year-old David Pecusa farms with his father near the village of Bacavi on the Hopi Reservation in northeastern Arizona. David’s father and grandfather taught him to grow ancient varieties of corn and beans, along with vegetables and fruits, using largely traditional, dry-farming methods. His brothers and sisters have left the reservation, but David has chosen to continue his family’s farming tradition.
Annie Main, Capay, California
Annie Main and her husband, Jeff, became organic farmers after graduating from the University of California–Davis in the 1970s. They committed themselves to growing healthy food on healthy soil. They’re impassioned about their work, despite the modest financial rewards.
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Craig Griffieon on his cell phone in his soybean field, Ankeny, Iowa. Photograph by Elena Rue.
