Donors step up after field of corn destroyed on Winnebago Reservation

Monday, September 2, 2019

A Nebraska farmer’s decision to mow down a 2-acre plot of Indian corn on the Winnebago Reservation has had unintended consequences for some students.

An employee of Ho-Chunk Farms, a tribal-owned agricultural company, discovered the mowed field near the community’s school the morning of August 22.

While a perpetrator has not been named, someone sent an apology letter this week to the Winnebago Public Schools, said Superintendent Dan Fehringer.

“We did receive an apology, but it was not in my mind genuine because it was signed ‘anonymous farmer,’” he said.

The Winnebago students want to thank all of you for your donations. They said simply saying “Pinagigi” or thank you does not begin to reflect how deeply each of them is touched by the generosity. See the signs!!!https://t.co/dYfFWlE4N1 pic.twitter.com/HOy1V0hME1
— Emmy Scott (@EmmyNawjoopinga) August 31, 2019

Ho-Chunk Farms had planted the field of Indian corn on land owned by St. Augustine Indian Mission this past spring. Revenue generated from the sale of the corn was supposed to benefit about 70 students of the Winnebago Public Schools Academy, a college preparatory program. That revenue would have paid for college scholarships and costs associated with field trips hosted by the Academy.

Now the future of that scholarship and field trip funding is in question.

However, two days after the mowed field was discovered, a Winnebago Public Schools alumnus launched a GoFundMe page to raise money for the Academy’s scholarships and field trips.

As of Friday afternoon, the fundraiser had generated nearly $17,000.

“I was pretty pleasantly surprised that it had this type of outcome,” said Emmy Scott, a Winnebago tribal citizen and recent law school graduate. “I didn’t anticipate people caring that much about it.”

Another farmer, Greg Jump of Walthill, donated his own acre of Indian corn for the kids to harvest, so here they are processing it. pic.twitter.com/RqEMQCRIBb
— Emmy Scott (@EmmyNawjoopinga) August 31, 2019

She said bad things often happen to Native people, and most people don’t pay any attention.

But when people started posting comments on social media criticizing the farmer’s decision to mow the cornfield, she decided it might be worth starting the GoFundMe page.

She said the corn planted in the field serves another purpose besides generating revenue for the Academy. It serves as a means of educating the Academy’s students about the cultural significance of their tribe’s corn and about the traditions that accompany the planting, harvesting and processing of the corn.

Scott said specific Winnebago songs, prayers and dances are sung, spoken and performed during the planting, harvesting and processing of the corn. The maintenance of the corn is a collective effort and serves to cement relationships among community members, she said.

She said most people in Winnebago know the farmer who mowed the field. They said he has lived in the community for many years and even attended Winnebago Public Schools.

“He should know whose land that was and that we do that every year and especially the significance of it because he’s lived among Winnebagos for a long, long time,” Scott said.

Fehringer said the corn planted in the field generated $3,000-$4,000 last year, and he expected it to generate twice that amount this year after more corn was planted there.

He said he was shocked to learn the GoFundMe page had raised nearly $17,000.

“It’s amazing,” he said. “I found out when I was traveling last week that it was even set up.”

Fehringer said a private donor also gave $1,000 to the school to fund the Academy’s costs. In addition, a farmer in a nearby community donated 1 acre of unharvested corn to the school, and a farmer in Iowa offered to donate Indian corn seed to the school for next spring, he said.

“The kids harvested that yesterday,” he said of the 1-acre plot of donated corn. “They’re finishing it up today.”

I created a GoFundMe to go toward the Winnebago Public Foundation Fund, where the money from sale of the corn would have gone, if it was not mowed down. Please share and donate to help recover the loss. https://t.co/7owqSDuchr
— Emmy Scott (@EmmyNawjoopinga) August 23, 2019