Farming Future Secure With These Young Innovators

Still no word from the FFA.

I sent the national organization an e-mail noting the exchange that 4-H Champ and family had with FFA conventioners this past weekend. I had hoped for at least a form message telling me that FFA still accomplishes its goals with an underlying agriculture teachings. No such luck.

Meanwhile, I’ve been reading through the local reporting on the convention and am heartened to see that on the awards stage, agriculture connections still matter. No doubt about it.

Here’s a roundup of the best of the best:

This may be my favorite award and I’d love to see some pix: the Chevron Delo Tractor Restoration Competition. According to this painfully short brief in the Eufaula, Ala., Tribune, the Eufaula High School FFA Chapter won first place. A little more detail here in Hoosier Ag Today about runners up from Nappanee.

Crowned Star in Agribusiness was college student Jason Hanstedt, who owns and operates a tree removal and wood recycling business he started when he was a freshman in high school. (See story in Wisconsin Ag Connection.)

The 2008 American Star in Agricultural Placement is Derek Lowrey, who is a farm manager of a dairy operation in Missouri, according to this Trenton Republican-Times piece.

I had to go to the FFA site to find the name of the American Star Farmer (is anyone reporting on agriculture in Oklahoma?). The ’08 winner is Travis Schnaithman, who thought about giving up farming before going to college. “I feel like when I went to college, I didn’t know if I could keep on farming,” the Oklahoma State University student is quoted saying in a release. “But the fire inside of me kept burning and I knew that I couldn’t stop. It’s important that you never let anyone or anything talk you out of something you like doing or squash your dreams.”

Speaking of squash…

Special applause goes to Farmgirl Laura Bruner, who was this year’s American Star in Agriscience. Early in FFA, the Buckeye began researching the genetic potential of a variety of squash that she believes could alleviate world hunger because it is cheap and easy to maintain, according to Ohio Ag Connection.

Here’s the golden quote from Laura, “I have come a long way from the high school freshman who did not want to be in FFA. I would not be where I am in my life or who I am today if I had not joined FFA. I have become both confident in who I am, my skills and abilities.”

So there you have it 4-H Champ. Rest assured, there’s plenty of farming left in the FFA.

Photo taken by 4-H Champ at this year’s FFA convention in Indianapolis.