Home on the range has a different meaning to agriculture students than it does to other ACC pupils. The board of trustees of Allen Community College extended a listening ear Tuesday night to a variety of patrons about the possibility of selling the Allen Farm.
The college farm’s purpose is to serve as a laboratory for the agriculture program courses. It also functions as a residence experience for eight students, as one of several practice areas for Livestock Judging.
The farm is five miles north of Iola and has 240 acres, a farm manager’s house, the Zahn house, which hosts eight scholarship students, a south barn and a north barn.
Jon Marshall, vice president of academic affairs, said the farm and the college’s ag programs are under-utilitzed.
Marshall reported that during the 2012-2013 redevelopment meetings, ag instructors were asked how they would incorporate the farm as a learning laboratory. Marshall said he received no responses. The farm is used for entomology and livestock evaluation.
Low student enrollment is what peaked administration’s attention to the agriculture program. Marshall said student enrollment for on site courses on the Iola campus have averaged 9.47 students over the last five academic years. On average, 15.53 seats per course were left unfilled.
The board was given two recommendations. They were to take steps toward the sale of the facility including the land, or they would continue to own the facility and invest in operating costs and personnel.
Steve Troxel, vice president of finance, broke down the expenses of the farm. For the 2013-14 year the farm’s income was $12,473. Direct farm expenses, which includes salary, was $109,193.
“It’s not about the money,” John Masterson, president of ACC said. “But about the loss of interest in the program.”
“For the last four years we’ve tried to increase the program. One of the things we discovered was that the farm is under-utilitzed. The sale of the farm is not the enticement for its closure.”
In a call this morning to Realtor John Brocker, he said depending on the quality of the land, pasture could sell anywhere from $1,000 to $1,300 an acre. Factoring in the homes and barns could increase the acreage price upward to $500 to $1,000.
EARLIER THIS year eight students were awarded Zahn scholarships. The scholarship provides housing, tuition, fees and books for agriculture students. Ten hours of optional work study may be earned each week after satisfying the work requirements of the scholarship. Richard Zahn, an ACC alumnus, established the scholarship in 1999 in honor of his father, the late Ed Zahn, an agriculture instructor.
If the college were to sell the farm those students would have to be moved to different housing at the college and purchase a meal plan.
Three Zahn recipients, Leah Schultz, Carl Riffle and Dakota Ferguson, attended the trustee meeting. Ferguson said he wants to become a professional artificial inseminator.
