Mountain Lake farmer hosts Farm Camp Minnesota students
Written by Jonathan Eisenthal
Every farmer thinks in acres. It’s second nature. But what do students know about acres? Mountain Lake farmer Brandon Fast asked a group of student visitors to estimate the measure of an acre. “It’s about the size of a football field,” he told them. Suddenly, the immensity of a farmer’s task, growing crops on hundreds or thousands of acres, becomes more comprehensible.
He further demystified modern farming by having the kids climb into a sprayer, a planter and a combine, to check out the controls and the monitors. Technology resonates with kids practically born with smartphones in their hands.
The tour visited the Fast farm courtesy of the Farm Camp Minnesota, a program of Minnesota Agriculture in the Classroom. Thirty 5th–8th grade students from Immanuel Lutheran School in Lakefield, Minnesota, toured two farms and an equipment dealership on May 1, 2025. This hands-on educational adventure was made possible by a transportation grant from Farm Camp Minnesota, which fully covered the cost of the roughly 100-mile round-trip—a critical opportunity for a small school with limited transportation funding.
Fast serves on the Minnesota Corn Research & Promotion Council, which invests the proceeds of Minnesota’s corn checkoff fund. MCR&PC has supported Minnesota Agriculture in the Classroom (MAITC) for more than 35 years, underwriting the development of classroom materials and helping teachers find ways to bring the facts of modern agriculture into their lessons, and meet state curriculum requirements, in a range of subjects from language arts to social studies to math and science. Still Fast did not have firsthand knowledge of what MAITC does, so he was eager to take part in the Farm Camp experience.
Fast said, “The goal is to educate about agriculture, of course, which means showing where their food comes from. We also want them to know that these are family farms and not corporate farms. When all they know about farming comes of TV, they think we’re like the Beverly Hillbillies, with pitchforks in our hands. But when they see all the technology we use, and all the data that drives decisions and planning, it really opens their eyes. None of these students may end up being farmers, but the number of roles in agriculture, in the technology and business support of farming is really blowing up.”
“We are incredibly proud of Farm Camp Minnesota and Brandi Wulkan, its program Director,” said Ann Marie Ward, executive director of the Minnesota Agriculture in the Classroom Foundation. She said, “The continued support of investors like Minnesota Corn and exceptional Ag Hosts like Brandon Fast make these experiences and all the MAITC programs possible. Impacting Minnesota educators and their students through agriculture-based lessons, connected to academic standards opens minds about the industry. Farm Camp Minnesota provides exposure and lessons for students to learn about the opportunities: there are vast career possibilities within agriculture. MAITC continues to expand its impact every year.”
