For 50 years, Mike McLaughlin’s view on his farm in Le Roy, Ill., has been the same. The McClean County farmer has been farming for the past five decades, and the landscape of agriculture has changed, but harvest is the constant every year.
“This year, yields are good,” McLauglin says. “This could be one of the best crops I’ve ever had.”
‘Harvesting For Our Future’
In a year of low commodity prices, when every bushel counts, this just might one of the most selfless harvests McLaughlin’s ever had.
“You hope you’ve done enough over the years that when you get toward retirement, that you can do some things like this,” he says.
This harvest, Mclaughlin, along with his wife and farm, decided to give back.
“We’ve got grandkids and then my wife’s a 30 year retired kindergarten teacher, so she has an appreciation for learning experiences for kids,” he says.
McLaughlin and other farmers were bringing in grain that will be donated to a very special cause called “Harvesting for Our Future.” The gifts from the grain drive will go directly to the Children’s Discovery Museum in Normal, Ill.
“Here’s the cow,” says Cathy Wentworth, a retired teacher, farmer’s wife and grandparent, who is helping with the cause explains as she gives a tour of the museum. “You can actually milk them and feed them.”
20-Year-Old Ag Exhibit
An exhibit that’s nearly 20 years old, the agricultural part of the Children’s Discovery Museum still houses a treasure trove of agriculture treasures, allowing kids to immerse themselves with life on the farm. But now, there’s a new growth this museum is nurturing: to modernize the museum and better reflect modern ag.
“The goal is to have kids enjoy agriculture and think about future careers,” says Shelly Hanover, director of experiences and engagement, Children’s Discovery Museum. “The very first gift of our campaign was actually from a farm family that stepped up and said: ‘Let’s be a part of this.’”
Built By Farmers’ Generosity
That sparked another idea, what if this museum was built by farmers’ generosity?
“And then Dennis and Cathy Wentworth had the awesome idea to have farmers donate truckloads of grain to the project, and it just kind of blossomed from there,” Hanover says.
As grain rushed in from the field this fall, farmers like McLaughlin could either donate money or a truckload of grain. And it’s all to elevate the museum with a multimillion-dollar renovation.
“We are really leaning into the agriculture exhibit as being the heart of the museum,” Hanover says. “Everything starts in the ag exhibit and kind of moves out from health and nutrition, even into transportation energy on our first floor. We’re really seeing that ag exhibit as being the heartbeat that drives everything else.”
A $4 Million Renovation
A $4-million renovation is a monumental undertaking, but one Wentworth knew the farmers of McLean County were up for.
“If a farmer wants to tell the story, they need to be able to do it,” Wentworth says. “Instead of having somebody come in and say, ‘This is what it’s all about,’ they need to have the opportunity to tell their story — and this is it.”
When the renovation project was just a whisper, Wentworth read an article about a community in southern Illinois who was collecting donated grain for a farmer who had fallen ill.
“The farmers got together; they gave grain, loads of grain, truckloads of grain and made it possible for this person to survive this awful disease, and I thought maybe in McLean County, knowing many of the farmers, we could also do that,” Wentworth says.
So she got to work contacting grain elevators, posting signs and spreading the word far and wide.
“This is going to show the community that the ag community is not Green Acres or what they see on TV,” Wentworth says. “It’s a very modern community with satellites, six satellites on the combine, computer systems, all these things going on. But not only that, it feeds the world.”
A Chance to Talk in a Farmer’s Shoes
Her grandkids are regulars at the museum, and seeing the joy it brings all of them is what keeps them coming back for more. But for kids who know nothing about agriculture, stepping foot into the museum might be their one chance to walk in a farmer’s shoes.
“With the exhibit being as old as it is, there’s just a lot of farming trends that are outdated,” Hanover says. “And so, we want to make sure that we’re showcasing kind of the farm of the future for our kiddos.”
Since first impressions are everything, the Discovery Children’s Museum wants to make that experience engaging and endearing.
“We’re going to enhance our combine,” Hanover says. “There’s going to be some more technology in there with a few more video screens, so it’s a more immersive experience for the kids to really feel like they’re harvesting grain.”
Elevating Agriculture
From adding an ag lab to explore the science behind it all, to putting in a new grain leg system that can help describe the entire journey of the grain, after harvest, one of the coolest features might be the biggest wild card for farmers every year: the weather.
“In the exhibit space all across this, the second floor will have different video panels in the ceiling that the weather is constantly changing and that sort of thing,” Hanover says, “so the kids get that idea that they’re encompassed in that.”
It’s a grand feat, but a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get it right, and it’s agriculture that is rising to the occasion.
“It’s been work, but it’s been fun,” Wentworth says, “and it’s amazing how nice the elevator people have been. The farmers I’ve run into, the farm families have always been welcoming and love to hear this story and wanted to be part of it. And that’s really the amazing part is the ag community embraces this.”
“It makes my heart so happy that we have our farm families involved,” Hanover adds. “My hope is that we are like a showcase exhibit when we are done here to have our local farmers invest in this and put back into the community like this is a pride point that I just think is phenomenal.”
