Current Forum: Week 7 Historical Ag Read 19 times  Date: 16-Mar-2001 13:05:00 Author: xxxxxxxx Subject: Week 7 Historical Ag   [Remove] The historical images provided were very interesting to look at. My first thought is how much land is being taken out of production, particularly around the Boy's Town area. It makes you wonder where it will stop. The images appear to be taken during late spring or early sumemr because of the variety of colors (different shades of gray). Also the deciduous trees appear to be in full leaf. The farm fields are easy to identify because of their borders, colors, and shapes. In some of the fields you can see the contour/direction of the crops. Different land forms can be identified by the different colors and the odd shapes for example, the river bed in the Louisville photos can be distinguished by the color of the water and the different color and shapes of the sandbars in the river. Cities appear as grids because of the roads being laid out in blocks. Bodies of water vary in color from gray to almost black. You may be able to place the jpeg file into Adobe PageMaker or Microsoft Word and use the ruler features of those software packages to create a type of x-y coordinate using the vertical and horizontal rules inside those software packages. I was able to locate and download the compressed ditial ortho quarter of my father's farm in Miller, Nebraska where I grew up. It appears that the photo was taken in May or June. The trees have leaves, but the fields Dad usually plants to cane appear to be only disced with no vegetation growing in those fields. I really find this interesting--that you can see as much detail as you can from the satellite photos!

Current Forum: Week 7 Historical Ag Read 17 times  Date: 17-Mar-2001 21:31:00 Author: xxxxxxxxx Subject: Re: Week 7 Historical Ag   [Edit] [Remove] A couple of things..... I to wonder if the urban sprawl will ever stop. It seems that we are covering up the best farmland with asphalt and concrete (I wonder if this will have future implications :)!!! When you are looking at the images and discussing how to see parts of it by the different colors you sound like a remote sensing pro. Good work.... You downloaded a orthophoto quad from Miller...That's great. There are photos from all over the nation available like this. The NE ones are the most dense though...it must have taken a long time to download or you have a good internet connection. I to am amazed by the quality of the images. I took six of the quad and lined them up of my fathers's ranch in North Central NE. It made a file of about 100 meg. Then I printed it out (about $80) but it made a great X-mas present. He really enjoyed looking at it. BTW NE is ont the second run of the quads the first ones were taken in 1995-1995. The second run is fromm 2000-2001. IT will be interesting to do comparisions when the new quads become available.

Current Forum: Week 7 Historical Ag Read 12 times  Date: 19-Mar-2001 08:22:00 Author: xxxxxxxxx Subject: Re: Week 7 Historical Ag   [Remove] Do you know when the 2000-2001 images will be available? That's a neat idea for a gift--my dad would enjoy something like that too! :-)

Current Forum: Week 7 Historical Ag Read 9 times  Date: 21-Mar-2001 14:31:00 Author: xxxxxxx Subject: Re: Week 7 Historical Ag   [Edit] [Remove] I don't know but I'll check and see if they are there

Current Forum: Week 7 Historical Ag Read 13 times  Date: 18-Mar-2001 16:20:00 Author: xxxxxxxx Subject: Re: Week 7 Historical Ag   [Remove] Ecxcellent job with the remote sensing! And it's really fun the you can reinforce what you already know and extrapolate from there! I visited the John Deere Pavillion in Moline and they had a display which showed how many people on earth, how the population was expanding in the 'industrial' countries and the 'developing' countries and how much land each person had from which crops could provide food. The number was 0.55 acres and shrinking....

Current Forum: Week 7 Historical Ag Read 9 times  Date: 25-Mar-2001 11:21:00 Author: xxxxxxxxx Subject: Re: Week 7 Historical Ag   [Remove] Scary!! And the crisis with animal problems in Europe and South America makes feeding the nations even more difficult! Fish farms may need to be expanded. The article on the carp farmer advocate in today's World Herald may have some significance. Can people raise carp in backyard pools?

Current Forum: Week 7 Historical Ag Read 22 times  Date: 16-Mar-2001 23:58:00    (Original: 16-Mar-2001 23:36:00) Author: xxxxxxxx Subject: Historical Ag   [Remove] When going through these photos, I enjoyed looking at the growth of the towns and challenging myself to see if I could calculate the time of year by identifying plant growth. The towns I looked at were Louisville and Elkhorn. The Louisville map seemed to have quite a contrast in the middle year given. The first and last years seem to be taken in the winter. The vegetation was not visible here, however, in the year between, there were trees and visible growth. Also, it was interesting to me to see the road construction evolve! Elkhorn had obvious population growth as well as road construction and farm fields seemed to better defined as well. The site I really got excited about was further down the page. I searched The Kids Agricultural site. I was amazed at the information available for the young learner. It was written so that the inexperienced reader would feel successful and with the wonderful pictoral presentations, the young student would benefit and learn alot!

Current Forum: Week 7 Historical Ag Read 8 times  Date: 25-Mar-2001 11:27:00 Author: xxxxxxxxx Subject: Re: Historical Ag   [Remove] You picked some interesting choices. For the young reader or those with disabilities the eventual inclusion of voice will be helpful for all websites. We tend to think that those with disabilities are the only individuals who can benefit from some of the new technology but ESL, and early readers face the same difficulty with learning the information on written pages as those who are older with reading disabilities especially dyslexia. Making all sites user friendly for all individuals initially will decrease the amount of "retrofitting" we have to do.

Current Forum: Week 7 Historical Ag Read 20 times  Date: 18-Mar-2001 09:44:00    (Original: 17-Mar-2001 23:44:00) Author: xxxxxxxxx Subject: Week 7 Historical Ag   [Remove] I looked at Boy's Town, and Mead. I found the development of the housing growth very different in each, as well as the patterns used for the farming areas. The city creeps up on Boy's Town, but in a non-grid pattern. The lines curve and bend , reminding me of a computer circut board. In the 1996 photo they follow the topography, just as the farmers have done.In Mead ,however, the town keeps most of the streets in a grid pattern.The flatness of the surroundings have also dictated design . The farming areas have varied pattern shapes around Boy's Town, while Mead's squares become rectangeles over time.Mead's liniar grid fits the flatter land. Shapes near Boy's Town follow the elevations , and contour their land as good farming methods would have you do. However, Boy's Town has become a farming island,surrounded by flowing traffic and mushrooming homes! I chose Boy's Town because I have been ther several times over the years, and relate the images shown, to the memories of how the eye level views have changed.......Views from the pictures make quite an impression in changes clearly seen .

Current Forum: Week 7 Historical Ag Read 12 times  Date: 18-Mar-2001 17:01:00 Author: xxxxxxxxx Subject: Re: Week 7 Historical Ag   [Edit] [Remove] It looks like the historical images have given you a good remote sentsing opportunity. You are definitely correct in that Boystown has been surrounded by the city and that the images drive the point home clearly. It has been mentioned about the effects of urban sprawl on agriculture. Do you have any thoughts?

Current Forum: Week 7 Historical Ag Read 8 times  Date: 25-Mar-2001 11:35:00 Author: xxxxxxx Subject: Re: Week 7 Historical Ag   [Remove] I live a mile from BoysTown and have seen the change. It is alarming how much open space is disappearing. We need to learn from the states in the East about what urban sprawl does to ag and wildlife. Deer in the east and bears in Colorado are real nightmares. Coyotes devouring family cats in their backyards in Arizona are no laughing matter either.

Current Forum: Week 7 Historical Ag Read 13 times  Date: 18-Mar-2001 15:12:00 Author: xxxxxxx Subject: Historical Agriculture   [Remove] I chose Boystown and Elkhorn as the images to look at. It is interesting how urban sprawl has crept up on Boystown, leaving it an obvious expanse of wide open fields vs housing development. It is easy to see that urban development has basically followed the topography near Boystown, but the destruction of farm fields is almost unnerving. Since Boystown sits up on a hill it is easy to see the curved lines that its additional development follows. The street grid of the outlaying housing development puts curved streets and cul-de-sacs withing straight line grids. It appears that the photos were taken in spring/early summer based upon the graying areas of the fields. Water appears to be very dark, especially the lake on the Boystown property. It was interesting to compare the Elkhorn photos from the 1930's to the 90's. It seems as if Elkhorn as "exploded" in the last 20 years. Elkhorn is going to have problems with further expansion as it appears to be nearly locked into an already heavily populated area that is bound by the river. I read an interesting article in the April, 2001 issue of Better Homes and Gardens pp. 86-95, called "Urban Growth, Too Much of a Good Thing?" In the article it talks about sprawl vs smart growth. One city, Portland, Oregon, has developed very strict building codes regarding home design. No more "snout houses" where the garage sticks out in front. Take a minute to read this article if you can...very interesting.

Current Forum: Week 7 Historical Ag Read 12 times  Date: 18-Mar-2001 16:24:00 Author: xxxxxxxxx Subject: Re: Historical Agriculture   [Remove] Thanks for article reference. Maybe folks are beginning to take note of the loss of farmland which is occuring worldwide.

Current Forum: Week 7 Historical Ag Read 12 times  Date: 22-Mar-2001 09:43:00 Author: xxxxxxxx Subject: Historical Agriculture   [Remove] The historical images I chose to view were Elkhorn and Boystown, because we live near these areas, and I thought it would be interesting to view their development. It was interesting to see how they became more urbanized over the years. Boystown, especially, showed signs of building, with more streets and culdesacs, especially from 1971 to 1996. At first, I thought the images were made in the late spring, early summer because of the dark colors of vegetation. However, the 1971 picture of Boystown definitely had white on the lake. This is, of course, an indication of ice and the winter season. The topographic features are seen in the irregular shapes of farmland, indicating the terracing that is done on the hilly areas. The streets and neighborhoods are easily seen. One object that did not change as one looked at the various years, was what appears to be a railroad through Elkhorn. It kept its curving stride through the city. It is obvious that urbanization is taking over farmland, and it does make one wonder where it will end, and if it will endanger our food supply. However, we also hear of the increased efficiency of the farmers. They are raising so much food, that there is even a surplus, making it difficult to sell the crops they have already harvested. This makes one feel that we will have an ample world supply of food to come for a great many years, anyway. I do hope that something is done before this situation changes.

Current Forum: Week 7 Historical Ag Read 11 times  Date: 22-Mar-2001 11:01:00 Author: xxxxxxxxxx Subject: Re: Historical Agriculture   [Remove] There are tricks to be played in 'remote sensing'. One of them is the point at which one looks at a water surface. If the water is clear, light may penetrate to a great depth and be absorbed. Therefore, the image shows 'black' for the water as we might expect. However, if sunlight happens to reflect off the water surface at just the correct angle, the light might almost fully reflect and appear white. I think that might be the case here, especially if one checks the date of the photo in the lower left corner. This is the reason why it is a wise idea to got so many different views of a 'remote' location under many different circumstances. Good comment about the loss of farmland. No body else knows what the 'breaking point' is either!

Current Forum: Week 7 Historical Ag Read 9 times  Date: 25-Mar-2001 11:43:00 Author: xxxxxxxxx Subject: Re: Historical Agriculture   [Remove] It is good to see students using the material from earlier lessons. There is the need to have students repeatedly use new materials so that they go into long term memory and can be called up when needed. All of the students who have completed the assignment this week are demonstrating the ability to apply skills learned earlier. Good job.

Current Forum: Week 7 Historical Ag Read 14 times  Date: 27-Mar-2001 21:22:00 Author: xxxxxxxx Subject: Historical Ag   [Remove] Boystown and Elkhorn are the two that I picked. Wanted to see the changes in dwellings from earlier to newer times. Afterall, BBoystown was a big farm operation as a way to delegate responsibility. Think that was something really special doing choes, etc. like the past. It is just a dream now. The time period was spring or early summer due to the variety of colors. Summer would be basically few color variations. Was great to see the little squares on the earlier pictures and they were spaced out more than they are today. The kid's page was a highlight getting to hear the animals along with baby pictures. WOW! Memory city was more like it. Really missed that. Also caught my attention was the attitude of the farmers. More of a stress factor in the 1984 time frame. That is prices of land and crops, which did not match. Funny how that worked. Still see a lot of deserted farms or falling down buildings. Just a shame that it happened this way. Is that the result of progress or neglect as a person would look at things.

Current Forum: Week 7 Historical Ag Read 11 times  Date: 28-Mar-2001 16:48:00 Author: xxxxxxx Subject: Re: Historical Ag   [Edit] [Remove] xxxxxxx, When you are discussing Boystown and Elkhorn you had some good remote sensing comments. I also liked the reminicing about the good old days. As a former ag person I miss the days of the family farm (yes, those days are basically over). I realize that operations are more efficient when larger but I think we have really lost something in the family farm that we will never get back. (this includes lifesytle and work ethic). Your comments about prices of land and crops not matching is unfortunately very true. More often than not when the economy is good for the nation it is not good in agriculture. (now is case and point). With this being the case the demise of the family farm is speeding up. Hence the abandoned buildings, etc. It is kind of sad....watching the end of an era. Thoughts.... xxxxxxxx

Current Forum: Week 7 Historical Ag Read 9 times  Date: 05-Apr-2001 13:13:00 Author: xxxxxxxx Subject: Re: Historical Ag   [Remove] We are seeing very difficult times for agriculture. It's hard to be an optimist when you examine crop prices and watch the wind and hail storms destroy your work. Corporate farming (although seemingly illegal in NE) is continually making in-roads in agriculture.

Current Forum: Week 7 Historical Ag Read 4 times  Date: 15-Apr-2001 18:45:00 Author: xxxxxxxx Subject: Ag History   [Remove] I have been buried in papers at school and procrastinated getting caught up on my discussion pages (although I was slowly plugging away at my web quest). Imagine my excitement when I went back to week 7 and found EXCELLENT web sites for my web quest -- I guess I learned that I would actually have saved time had I kept current on the weekly assignments. THANK YOU! I grew up in the Omaha area and have been amazed at how what used to be country is now city. The images show the growth of the city and the loss of the country in the Omaha / Boys Town / Louisville area.

Current Forum: Week 7 Historical Ag Read 4 times  Date: 15-Apr-2001 22:01:00 Author: xxxxxxxxx Subject: Re: Ag History   [Edit] [Remove] Glad to be of help. We tried to give a variety of good sites that may be useful to the farmers. Looks like it actually worked for you. Part of the power in this course is you can work on your own in the middle of the class when you have time. But that discipline to keep at it is sometimes difficult.