A group of nine students combined research with drama Tuesday as they recounted the people in the farming sector in “Farmscape: Documenting the Changing Rural Environment” in the Maintenance Shop of the Memorial Union.

The students wore simple costumes, such as overalls or a kitchen apron, and spoke about daily life, economic realities and environmental concerns that affected the characters they portrayed.

Characters played by the students included grain farmers, hog farmers, a hog slaughterer, bed-and-breakfast owners, a winery owner and organic vegetable farmers.

The actors read from scripts based on interviews with the individuals they portrayed, some of whom attended the event. The students combined these monologues to form a group conversation.

Brian Burmeister, graduate student in English, portrayed a 68-year-old farmer named Donald and reminisced about growing up in an age when horses were used for work now done by mechanical equipment. His character also spoke about the harsh realities of the price of farm equipment.

Burmeister, like most of the other characters, was wearing an auction number, which hung around his neck and showed he was attending a farmer’s auction with the others.

A farmer’s auction was used as a setting where the conversation between the diverse characters could take place, said Mary Swander, distinguished professor of English. Swander taught the class “Writing About Environmental Issues,” in which the students had worked together to create “Farmscape.” Swander said the production was a “docu-drama”, meaning it combined nonfiction and theater.

Swander, who also acted in the production, said the docu-drama gave a sense of the “David and Goliath story” that exists in the farming world today – the contrast between agricultural businesses and smaller farms. Both sides were represented in the story, including Swander’s character, a small organic vegetable farmer.

Burmeister said interviewing and eventually portraying Donald was interesting because of the spectrum of experience Donald had to offer, as well as the insight into farming realities.

“I definitely have an appreciation for how hard it is for farmers to make a dollar,” Burmeister said. He said he thinks they farm more for the love of the land than for profit.

The love of the land was certainly evident in the production. At one point it was even compared to a husband-wife relationship. But the practical, economic aspects of farming were just as evident.

Characters talked about land contracts and offered several points of view about the changing economic face of farming.

Rebekah Bovenmeyer played Kristi, a hog confinement owner. Bovenmeyer said she had become interested in hog confinements when she and the other students in her class were discussing environmental issues. They had to bring issues to the table before eventually deciding which one they wanted to use as the basis for their docu-drama.

“It was fun talking to people and getting to know people,” Bovenmeyer said of her interviewing experiences. “It was just kind of cool trying to understand what’s going on.”

Bovenmeyer said the farmers she interviewed were very open to helping her understand the logistics of hog farming and its underlying emotional aspects.

Mike Hanson, a corn and soybean farmer, was one of the characters portrayed in the production Tuesday. He said he thought he was accurately represented.

“I thought it was great the way they put it together,” Hanson said.