[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 60 (Friday, March 31, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Page S5022]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                    EIGHTH GRADE YOUTH ESSAY CONTEST

 Mr. LUGAR. Mr. President, I rise today to congratulate a group 
of young Indiana students who have shown great educative achievement. I 
would like to bring to the attention of my colleagues the winners of 
the 1994-95 Eighth Grade Youth Essay Contest which I sponsor in 
association with the Indiana Farm Bureau and Bank One of Indianapolis. 
These students have displayed strong writing abilities and have proven 
themselves to be outstanding young Hoosier scholars. I submit their 
names for the Record because they demonstrate the capabilities of 
today's students and are fine representatives of our Nation.
  This year, Hoosier students wrote on the theme ``Indiana Farmers--
Producers of Food, Jobs, and World Trade.'' Students were encouraged to 
consider and creatively express the role of Indiana agriculture in our 
country and in the world marketplace. I would like to submit for the 
Record the winning essays of Jamie Shonk of Clay County and Joe Roth of 
Pulaski County. As State winners of the Youth Essay Contest, these two 
outstanding students are being recognized today, Friday, March 31, 
1995, during a visit to our Nation's Capital.
  The essays follow:

       Indiana Farmers--Producers of Food, Jobs, and World Trade

                     (By Jamie Shonk, Clay County)

       Indiana agriculture has a far reaching effect on Hoosier 
     economy and world trade. Indiana is one of the top five corn 
     producing states in the United States. Corn production 
     influences the Indiana job market and economy in various 
     direct and indirect ways.
       Corn production begins with research in test plots, 
     laboratories, and Purdue University, where germination 
     testing is done. Planting seed corn requires laborers and 
     detasslers. It is processed, bagged, and distributed, meaning 
     jobs for sales people, secretaries, truckers and advertising. 
     Farmers purchase seed, chemicals, fertilizer, fuel and 
     equipment. Average costs per acre is $135.00. At harvest, 
     grain is either stored or sold to local grain elevators. From 
     there, corn is shipped by train or truck to central 
     elevators. Corn is then sold to cereal mills and food 
     processors. High oil corn is sold for livestock feed. 
     Brokerage firms benefit because more farmers are selling on 
     the futures market and the board of trade. Farming magazines, 
     radio,
      and T.V. brings revenue to the advertising industry. Corn is 
     also used to make ethanol.
       Corn is also a major source of food, from the Corn Flakes 
     we eat in the morning to the oil we use for cooking. As 
     Americans are becoming more health conscious, we are shifting 
     away from animal fats to corn oil.
       Corn is sold to other countries where crops cannot be 
     grown, and is profitable to Indiana in world trade.
       Modern corn production in Indiana involves high technology, 
     business, marketing, research, advertising, and labor. This 
     will be demonstrated in 1995 by the Farm Progress Show at the 
     Jarvis Farm in Terre Taute. Area motels were booked full four 
     hours after the location announcement. Corn production 
     touches all Hoosiers some way by food, jobs, or trade.
                                                                    ____


        Indiana Farmers--Producers of Food, Jobs and World Trade

                     (By Joe Roth, Pulaski County)

       I am a bushel of corn. On October 16th I was harvested from 
     a farm in North Central Indiana. I was put in a bin on that 
     Indiana farm where I was dried to a suitable moisture for 
     safe keeping until January. Already in my short life I have 
     helped employ several people. People who design, build and 
     maintain farm equipment, and people who manufacture, sell, 
     and transport fuel for this harvesting equipment and gas for 
     the drying process.
       Come with me on the rest of my journey until I have become 
     a finished product. From the farm I am loaded into a tractor 
     trailer truck that transports me to a large elevator. Here at 
     the local elevator some of the corn is ground for feed for 
     local livestock feeders, but I am being sent to the East 
     Coast for export to a foreign country. I have been weighed, 
     checked for moisture and quality, and loaded into a 100 car 
     train. Here I have helped employ several more people. Once I 
     arrive at the Baltimore seaport, I am unloaded from the 
     train. Again I am checked for quality and loaded into a large 
     cargo ship. My destination is a corn processor in Europe. 
     Soon I'll become feed for livestock, or if I'm good enough, 
     maybe corn flakes for human consumption.
       Along the way I have helped employ hundreds of people, 
     people involved in the manufacturing, sales and service of 
     farm machinery, transportation equipment, fertilizer, seed 
     and agronomy people, the petroleum industry, people who labor 
     in the feed mills and the elevators, people who work in the 
     commodities
      trading business, and last but not least, the people who 
     work in the food processing business.
       I am just a bushel of corn, and right now I am only worth 
     $1.86, but if you stop and think about how many people I help 
     employ, you will soon realize just how important I am to 
     these people. I help make Indiana and the USA the greatest 
     supplier of food in the world.


                        1994-95 district winners

       District 1: Jenny Marsh, Joe Roth.
       District 2: Allison Westrem, Charles Geller.
       District 3: Amanda Miller, Tony Goyer.
       District 4: Miriah Chapman, Brett Steffen.
       District 5: Ashley Beth Greenwood, Adam Chandler.
       District 6: Becky Black, Patrick Aitchison.
       District 7: Jamie Shonk, Gregory James Scott.
       District 8: Lori Parcel, Justin Russell.
       District 9: Katie Parker, Jeff Buchanan.
       District 10: Hannah Dunn, Adam C. Cord.


                         1994-95 county winners

       Allen: Allison Westrem, Charles Geller.
       Bartholomew: Melanie Foster, Marcus Chui.
       Benton: Grant Miller.
       Carroll: Melissa Wise, Tony Goyer.
       Cass: Amanda Miller, Ryan Baker.
       Clay: Jamie Shonk, Gregory Scott.
       Dearborn: Elizabeth Fricke, Joseph Berndsen.
       Decatur: Julie Kiefer, Bob Johannigman.
       Delaware: Sarah Reiley, Clayton Callan.
       Elkart: James Phillips Mauck, III.
       Fayette: Justin Russell.
       Franklin: Kylene Kaiser.
       Fulton: Army Runkle.
       Greene: Kellie Abel.
       Hancock: Valerie Vail.
       Harrison: Marissa Joyce, Marc Richardson.
       Hendricks: Adam Chandler.
       Henry: Casey Ash, Patrick Aitchison.
       Jackson: Kirstie L. Hackman.
       Jay: Miriah Chapman, Jeremiah Roush.
       Jefferson: Melinda Duncan, Matthew Barron.
       Johnson: Lori Parcel.
       Knox: Anna Marie Cardinal.
       Kosiusko: Cherish Beam, Mike Shingledecker.
       Lake: Tina Srisuwananukorn, Mirko Acomovich.
       Lawrence: Megan Synder.
       Madison: Kylie Barker.
       Marion: Becky Black, Kyle Mallison.
       Marshall: Wendy Wagner, Drew Hudkins.
       Monroe: Michele Renee Knoy.
       Montgomery: Kyle Smith.
       Morgan: Joseph Crone.
       Newton: Natalie Clark, Eric Dombroski.
       Parke: Dane Leatherman.
       Pike: Dezarae Miller.
       Posey: Amanda Greenwell, Jeff Buchanan.
       Pulaski: Jenny Marsh, Joe Roth.
       Spencer: Amanda Wilkinson, Nick Kern.
       Starke: Brooklyn Boo, Mark Childers.
       St. Joseph: Alissa Brasseur, Eric Vandewalle.
       Switzerland: Michelle Duckworth, Adam Cord.
       Vanderburgh: Katie Parker, Garret Swartzentruber.
       Wabash: Sarah Smith, Matt Dillman.
       Warrick: Libby Schmidt, Adam Tieman.
       Washington: Kelly Hoar, Josh Elgin.
       Wells: Susan Barth, Brett Steffen.
       

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