As I reflect back on my FFA journey, I realize that the most significant personal growth and leadership development I experienced happened at Missouri’s State Leadership Camp at Camp Rising Sun in the summer heat. Just a few months ago, I was preparing to meet more than 1,200 FFA members at the Lake of the Ozarks for the opportunity to help them grow while spending time in the Rec Hall, playing volleyball, and swimming at the waterfront. I was heartbroken when I heard about the cancellation of Missouri FFA Camp in response to the COVID-19 Pandemic, but I knew there was still work to be done to help FFA members develop those skills in leadership, teamwork and strategic thinking.

After countless hours of brainstorming and bouncing ideas off of FFA members, advisors, state officers and state staff, we created the Show-Me Summit: Missouri FFA’s Virtual Leadership Experience. Through the Show-Me Summit, FFA members across the state have the opportunity to interact with State FFA Officers and gain foundational leadership skills that will propel them towards success in the Missouri FFA Association and beyond.

Show-Me Summitis made up of six core leadership development workshops hosted by the 2020-2021 Missouri State FFA Officer Team on concepts like individuality, intentional leadership, teamwork, taking action, Missouri agriculture, and grit and resilience. These topics encapsulate the overarching concepts taught in the elective leadership sessions that typically happen at FFA Camp in the summer.

In addition to the six core leadership workshops, there are four supplemental modules: Don Koonce’s Speaker Series, the Missouri Agriculture module, the Living to Serve Project, and Teacher Resources, all designed to give students (and advisors!) a well-rounded leadership development experience from anywhere. For FFA members interested in earning their State Leadership Medal, the Living to Serve Project requires them to put those concepts they’ve learned throughout the Show-Me Summitinto action by performing some kind of community service activity and completing an application for consideration. Additionally, if participants complete the checklist featured in the Living to Serve module, they can list Show-Me Summitas a state activity on Missouri FFA award applications.

Workshops and supplemental modules are being released in phases beginning this month! Stay tuned for announcements on Missouri FFA’s social media channels, including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. You can learn more about and participate in the Show Me Summit online at https://missouriffa.org/show-me-summit/. Questions can be directed to smason@mail.missouri.edu.

Gather ‘round chapter officers! The annual LEAD Chapter Officer Training Program is being offered this year in virtual format. The free training resource can be completed at your own pace!

“Core Sessions” are facilitated using videos of this year’s LEAD instructors. These virtual sessions will walk you through exercises that will be foundational to your year serving as a chapter officer.  Although the time needed to complete the training might vary among chapters, it is recommended reserving a two- to three-hour meeting with your chapter officer team to complete the training.

This year’s “Core Sessions” provide training on:

• Determining Our “Why” as a Chapter FFA Officer (Welcome to iLEAD Session)
• Individual Strengths and Team Collaboration
• Promoting and Marketing our FFA Chapter
• Program of Activities

For details on how you can take part in LEAD, contact your chapter advisor!

Agriscience projects give students real-world, hands-on experience

Congratulations to the following State winners in the 2020 Agriscience Fair. Their applications will be submitted for national competition this month.

VIEW WINNERS >>

While some go straight into the workforce after high school, others choose to pursue higher education. When deciding on the right program for you and your career goals, you have some options from which to choose. 

Trade School 

Also known as a vocational or tech schools, trade schools typically focus on job-specific areas of study. Many offer certificates or diplomas upon completion of classes teaching hands-on skills. Some trade schools also offer two-year associate degree options. 

Community College

Community colleges are more likely to offer two-year associate degree programs. They provide a broader education in addition to job-specific skill training. Students who graduate from community colleges either enter the workforce with an associate degree or transfer to a four-year university. 

Universities 

While the sizes of universities vary, they are typically larger than other colleges or schools. Universities offer four-year bachelor’s degrees, and some offer graduate degrees as well. They offer a wider variety of classes and degrees, and they can either be public or private. 

Overall, your choice of higher education is up to you. Size, location and program offerings may determine which type of school best fits your needs, so do your research and consider your options after graduation.

– Brandelyn Twellman

The 2020-21 Missouri State FFA Officers were confirmed June 16 during the business survey announcements segment of the 2020 virtual State FFA Convention. 

Justin Eddy, Columbia FFA Chapter, will serve as the State FFA President. First Vice-President is Archie FFA member Mackenzie Porter. And, State FFA Secretary is Jenna Perry, Liberal FFA Chapter. 

Serving Missouri’s nearly 26,000 state FFA members as vice presidents are: Rachel Holt, Chillicothe; Anna Milazzo, Grundy Co.; Erin Heinecke, Paris; Lauryn Robnett, Audrain Co. R-VI; Colin Wilburn, Van Far; Kiersten Helm, Lexington; Kaylee Lower, Weaubleau; Cade Shepherd, Mt. Vernon; Felicity Cantrell, Seymour; Lauren Gilbert, Chadwick; Dakota Pemberton, Richland; Madison Moll, Perryville; and Ricanna Spargo, Naylor.

This year might just be remembered as the year of firsts—including the first-ever virtual Missouri State FFA Convention. While state proficiency award winners, star finalists and national chapter activity awards were announced virtually in April, the official Missouri FFA Convention was held through a series of online video sessions June 16-18.  

During the convention, Ms. Diane Olson was recognized with the Distinguished Service Citation. Olson has been involved with the promotion and advocacy of agriculture through the Missouri Farm Bureau and worked with the Missouri FFA for more than 35 years. She began her role with Farm Bureau in 1985 as the director of promotion and education. Her outstanding service has garnered her recognition as a state and national leader in the promotion of agriculture. 

In the National Chapter Activity Awards area, Marshall FFA Chapter was tapped Top Chapter in the state and was named the Premier Chapter in Growing Leaders. These designations were selected from the 35 chapters recognized with a Missouri FFA Gold Emblem, a Top Chapter award. Marshall’s Growing Leaders activities included a program called Bacon SAEs Happen. As part of the activity, freshman FFA members were given the opportunity to create, market and sell an agricultural product for their first supervised agricultural experience program. Students divided into groups to develop individualized marketing plans and cure pork bellies. They then promoted their product through the chapter’s social media.

Also in the National Chapter Activity Awards area, Ashland FFA  was honored as the Premier Chapter in Strengthening Agriculture. Ashland’s chapter activities in the strengthening agriculture category included Educating in the Barn, an interactive barnyard that allowed the community to learn more about FFA and agriculture through hands-on activities.

In the Building Communities awards area of National Chapter Activity Awards, Centralia FFA was honored as Premier Chapter. Centralia’s building communities activities included a program called Floods of Compassion. In the summer of 2019, rising flood waters threatened community members, land and structures. During the flooding, Centralia FFA filled sandbags for placement around the community. Afterward, members collected donations for Missouri and Nebraska Farm Bureau federations, and financially helped Centralia FFA members who lost their supervised agricultural experience programs. 

During the Stars Over Missouri program of convention, Megan Schneider, Herman FFA Chapter, was named State Star in Agribusiness. Schneider’s SAE started with showing pigs. Eventually she started breeding and raising show pigs and feeder pigs. As her business grew, Schneider started selling a variety of pork meat products at local farmer markets and other outlets. Over time, Schneider has expanded her selection to include various beef and poultry products.

Eldon FFA member Destinie Tunis was selected as the State Star in Agriscience winner. Tunis’ supervised agricultural experience program involves the testing of cattle, horses, cats and dogs to determine if nitrates and histatins within the saliva can stop the growth of Escherichia coli k-12 and Staphylococcus epidermidis. This study is titled “The Antimicrobial Effects of Histatins and Nitrates Found in Saliva”. 

The State Star in Agricultural Placement award was presented to Clint Bailey. As part of his supervised agricultural experience program, Bailey worked on this family’s commercial cow-calf operation. He then was hired to work at his cousin’s pumpkin patch. When his cousin went to college, he turned the pumpkin patch over to Bailey. As a sophomore in high school,  Bailey began working at the Bowling Green Veterinary Clinic. After initially caring for dogs and the clinic’s kennel, he was charged with providing veterinary services at the Eastern Missouri Commission Company, a livestock market in Bowling Green. His duties then expanded to making large-animal farm calls.

Missouri FFA’s State Star Farmer was presented to Jacob Dierking, Santa Fe FFA Chapter. Dierking’s supervised agricultural experience program began in 2015 when he rented a 10-acre field from a neighbor to grow field corn. In 2019, his row-crop operation expanded to 306 acres of corn and soybeans. In addition, he does custom field work, lays drainage tile, and grows sweet corn, green beans, and Indian corn. Throughout Dierking’s SAE, to increase productivity, he purchased three tractors and numerous farm implements. 

The 2020 Missouri FFA Convention can be viewed online at missouriffa.org.

—By Joann Pipkin

At a time when the agricultural industry is constantly growing, shifting and innovating, schools offering degrees in agriculture must do the same. The Richwood Valley Campus and Agricultural Training Center are allowing the Ozark Technical Community College’s (OTC) agriculture program to do just that.

“Our program is blessed to have the opportunity to relocate from an urban downtown campus to an 84-acre rural setting in Christian County,” says Rob Flatness, department chair and agriculture instructor. “The Richwood Valley Campus is only a few minutes south of Springfield between Ozark and Nixa on Highway 14. The campus is perfect for a diversified agriculture program in that it has open grassland perfect for pasture and turfgrass activities, several acres of timber for forestry classes, a live spring and a creek bottom with deep rich soil for agronomy stations.”

The campus is a new development in a long line of growth in OTC’s agriculture program.

“For many years, our agriculture department was focused on turf and landscape management, offering a two-year associate degree and a one-year certificate,” Flatness says. “We saw that many of our students were graduating from our program and transferring to a four-year university to obtain a bachelors’ degree in agriculture. It was at that time that we expanded our agriculture course offerings and developed an associate degree in agriculture.”

Further filling the needs of its students, the program began working with university partners to develop “2 + 2” plans allowing OTC agriculture students to complete their two-year program while preparing to transfer and graduate from a university in an additional two years.

More recently, the agriculture program shifted its degree offerings again to accommodate for changing needs of students and the industry.

OTC previously offered an associate degree and certificate in turf and landscape management as well as an associate degree in agriculture. Students pursuing a degree in agriculture could choose from animal science, plant science or general agriculture, but their transcript and diploma would only reference a degree in agriculture.

“Beginning next semester, our students will be able to receive a degree in the specific area of their interest instead of just agriculture,” Flatness says.

In response to industry needs for more trained technicians, the program also added a one-year outdoor power and powersports technician certificate program in the 2019-2020 school year.

As OTC’s agricultural degree and program offerings are evolving, so are its hands-on opportunities for students.

“The new facilities give students a very hands-on, real-life, practical education for a price that they cannot get elsewhere,” says Heather Eberlin, agriculture instructor and farm/lab manager. “It has really stepped up the level at which we can prepare students for their next step, whatever that may be.”

These opportunities include hosting livestock on campus with modern livestock handling facilities, greenhouse experiences, equipment operation, wildlife management activities, topography, forestry and more.

Eberlin runs the greenhouse on campus and says students have already experienced some added benefits of the new facilities.

“The new greenhouse offers students the ability to do plant labs year-round while also producing seasonal crops,” she says. “This past semester, we had a very successful first-ever OTC poinsettia crop. It is currently filled to the brim with annuals, hanging baskets and vegetables.”

Today, students are enjoying the expanded opportunities the new campus provides.

“Our current students are excited to be on the ground floor of development of the new facilities,” Flatness says.

Even students without a background in agriculture can benefit from the development.

“This campus means experience, opportunity and growth for me,” says MacKenzie Lathem, an OTC agriculture student. “I think the campus is unique because it allows us to explore our agricultural interests and it allows students who do not come from agricultural backgrounds to safely experience the industry.”

The OTC ag program plans to continue its diversification and innovative growth to provide for future students as well as the future of the agricultural industry.

“Just this semester we applied for and won a $10,000 grant through the college to start a Farm to Table Beef Program,” Eberlin says. “Students will be able to evaluate, purchase and care for livestock while evaluating daily gain and eventually carcass information.”

Innovative offerings like the Farm to Table Beef Program are allowing students to learn about agriculture in a way like never before.

“This campus means opportunity for incoming and future students,” Lathem says. “It is a great campus to experience new things for the first time.”

“Incoming students will have the advantage of facilities and labs that are fully developed and continue to expand,” Flatness adds. “We will continue to work with our advisory committee and community to offer a curriculum that is relevant to community needs.”

—By Brandelyn Martin Twellman