(JEFFERSON CITY, Mo.)–

Missouri’s top 30 FFA high school seniors completed the fifth annual Helping Youth Prepare for Excellence (HYPE) FFA Academy June 25-27, in Columbia, Mo. The three-day intensive program is designed to inform and empower students to effectively engage on pressing agriculture topics. Since 2015, the Missouri Corn Merchandising Council has sponsored and facilitated the academy in conjunction with Missouri FFA. This year’s academy was hosted at the University of Missouri’s College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources.

“It is very important we get out and tell our story,” noted Missouri Corn Merchandising Council Chairman Mike Moreland during a HYPE panel. “Whether it’s inviting folks to the farm, visiting legislators in the capitol or sharing online, it is more important than ever that farmers – and the next generation – have a place at the table. This program is very beneficial in preparing students to be that voice.”

Over the three-day conference, students participated in sessions promoting advocacy training, social media, communication, and stakeholder collaboration. In addition, topics included overcoming adversity, developing a personal brand, and engaging those with opposing viewpoints. Students learned from farmers, industry representatives, social media experts, and others on how to effectively advocate about issues facing the industry. The group explored the Missouri Soybean Bay Farm and its innovations in crop production, research, and soybean biotechnology.

In culmination, participants testified on key issues during mock hearings with legislators at the Missouri State Capitol. This year’s topics included tariffs and trade, eminent domain, lab-produced meat labeling, river management, and the federal Renewable Fuel Standard. Missouri Sen. Mike Bernskoetter (R-Jefferson City) and State Reps. Rusty Black (R-Chillicothe), Barbara Washington (D-Kansas City), Don Rone (R-Portageville), Jeff Porter (R-Montgomery City), Kent Haden (R-Mexico), Louis Riggs (R-Hannibal), and Tracy McCreery (D-St. Louis) interacted with and challenged the students. Missouri Corn CEO Gary Marshall provided the closing keynote, empowering participants to use their newfound skills as they continue to represent Missouri’s number one industry.

The Missouri Corn Merchandising Council is an organization of corn growers dedicated to developing and expanding corn markets, educating growers and customers, and exploring new research opportunities. The National FFA Organization makes a positive difference in the lives of students by developing their potential for premier leadership, personal growth, and career success through agricultural education. Contact Missouri Corn Associate Director of Communications Hilary Black at (800) 827-4181 or hblack@mocorn.org for more information about HYPE Academy.

On Tuesday, Aug. 13, at the Missouri State Fairgrounds over 750 Missouri FFA members will work to pack more than 100,000 meals to combat food insecurity across our state. We will work together to ensure that children across the state spend their time focusing on being a kid rather than worrying about when their next meal will be. From now until then, we are tasked with raising funds in support of Feeding Missouri, the coalition of six regional food banks in our state.

Now we need your help! As a leader in your community, you have the opportunity to help Missouri Farmers Care by magnifying awareness of childhood food insecurity in our state. If we all help feed just one, the possibilities of impact are endless. By working together, we can minimize the number of hungry children in our own communities!

How can you help:

• Ask your neighbors, friends and local businesses to donate to the cause.Donations can be made online at:http://mofarmerscare.com/drive/or by texting “Drive2” to 44321.
• Spread the word about the Drive to Feed Kids through social media.You can do this by sharing posts from Missouri Farmers Care or utilizing the attached social media assets on your chapter’s page. On July 30, add the Drive to Feed Kids Facebook profile filter to your profile picture.
• Pre-Event Press Release: Chapters participating at the State FFA Food Insecurity Service Day can complete the attached template press release and share it with their local newspapers prior to Aug. 8.Show your community the great projects your chapter is helping with.

If we all do our part together we can bridge the gap of food insecurity. Thanks for all of your help! We couldn’t do this without you.

— ByJessica Janorschke, Missouri FFA State Vice President

In the end, she says everything she does helps bring information to farmers, which is why she enjoys what she does so much.

“Why my role is really interesting is I have a really defined audience,” Schafer says. “So, the information I put out is to help farmers be successful today and in the future. They need to gain a competitive edge and learn the business side of farm management so they can grow into the future and be sustainable. Helping them to do this is what creates an industry that will continue to be successful.”

Susan Rhode, director of marketing at Farm Journal, echoes this desire. Rhode was a member of the Stet FFA chapter, served as Missouri State FFA Secretary from 1989 to 1990, and was on a state winning soils-judging team.

“I love knowing that what we do benefits the farmer every day,” Rhode says. “I remember growing up in a farm family, you had stacks of magazines everywhere. Farm Journal was always on our coffee table. It was in the stack of magazines next to my dad’s recliner. He made it a point to make it a part of his day to help his career. I think that speaks for itself.”

Farm Journal not only encompasses the 141-year-old flagship magazine Farm Journal, but also includes a multitude of other outlets, including print, broadcast, events, market research, custom content, and mobile and digital platforms.

All three professionals acknowledged that part of what brought them to agricultural journalism were their experiences in FFA.

“Truthfully, I didn’t know ag journalism existed until I went to my first state FFA convention and stumbled onto the ag journalism booth from Mizzou,” Schafer says. “Then, it hit me. It was a perfect combination of my love for farming and my love for writing. FFA gave me exposure to the field that I wouldn’t have had otherwise. I became familiar with the publications and met people in the industry.”

Through FFA, one of these connections was Joann Pipkin, editor for Missouri FFA Today.

“I met Joann at Missouri Agribusiness Academy and reached out. Before long, she was assigning me stories,” Schafer says. “I wrote for Missouri FFA Today for several years, and that gave me a great opportunity to write for a state publication in upper high school and throughout college.”

Along with learning how to network and building her confidence in writing, Schafer says FFA prepared her for her career through Career Development Events and Leadership Development Events.

“I learned a lot of agronomic and business skills in my ag classes that I can lean back on,” Schafer says. “Being on the agronomy team helps me now when writing about plant health. Communication skills go so far beyond public speaking. Learning how to communicate your points can help anyone, but really helps if you pick journalism.”

Sonja Begemann, Farm Journal’s seeds and production editor, says looking back, her early involvement in FFA foreshadowed where her career would end up, and offered a bit of irony.

“My least favorite contest team was the agronomy team, and today everything I do is agronomy related,” Begemann says. “On top of that, my first office was reporter, and even throughout school I continued to write for our newspaper. So, there was some foreshadowing. I remember calling my advisor after my first job selling seed out of college. I said, ‘Hey, do you remember how much I hated agronomy? Well that’s what I do now.’”

Begemann was a member of the Fair Play FFA chapter, served as area 10 state vice president from 2010 to 2011 and won first place individual at the national level in the Dairy Foods Career Development Event.

This love of competition is one thing that has carried her through her career, and after coming in second in districts, she said it taught her that she would only be as successful as she set herself up to be.

“I’m not competitive with coworkers, but with others in the industry,” Begemann says. “I want to cover things better, more in depth and be someone farmers can trust. It’s up to you what you want to do with anything in your life, whether it’s a silly contest or your career.”

Just as Begemann strives to be someone farmers can trust, Rhode has had opportunities within and outside of Farm Journal to be a trustworthy source for consumers.

When her first son Isaac was born, Rhode took a 14-year-hiatus from her career in the agricultural industry. During this time, she took on a new position at an engineering firm in Kansas City, Missouri.

“The biggest thing I learned was working with people who didn’t grow up on a farm and weren’t just like me,” Rhode says. “I became the advocate in the building. So, when anything happened in ag, people came to me. It totally changed my perspective. When we work in ag, we talk about being an advocate, but when I jumped out of ag for my career, I had never been in that position before. I was a trusted source of information in people’s eyes about agriculture.”

According to Rhode, you can tell agriculture’s story no matter where you are if you gain the skills and knowledge to do so, and FFA is a great place to start.

—By Alexa Nordwald Hunziker

Mexico FFA members and other students in the Mexico School District spent President’s Day this year packaging 20,000 meals for the Laura Miller George Help Center to distribute to families in need within Audrain County.

The food insecurity rate in Audrain County is a staggering 23%, and the Mexico School District has numerous students receiving free breakfast and lunch. Kendra Allen, Mexico FFA advisor, explained the need to the FFA members, which inspired them to help make sure other students and their families have food in the evenings and on weekends.

“The school is on a grant so all the elementary [students] up to eighth grade get a free breakfast and lunch,” Allen said. “For a lot of our kids, that’s what they eat in the day. Our chapter didn’t think that was right, so we wanted to help provide the Help Center with additional food so they could give it out a little more freely.”

The Mexico FFA officer team began seeking sponsors for the events in the summer of 2018. Funds donated by numerous local sponsors purchased the materials for the meals through the Meals of Hope program.

“The officer team got all the sponsors, and then we incorporated the middle school ag program and other organizations in the Mexico High School to help us,” Allen said. “The officer team raised enough money to package 20,000 meals!”

Twenty-five Mexico FFA members and nearly 50 other students and volunteers packaged the macaroni and cheese meals. Each included a soy protein packet, fortified noodles, and a cheese packet. The meals contained six servings, making it a large enough portion to feed a family.

All of the local sponsors were printed on t-shirts to recognize their contribution, but the sponsors contributing larger amounts were invited to the event to package meals with the students.

“The ones who came in thought it was a surreal deal,” Allen said. “They didn’t really understand what we were doing when we went and asked for the money at first. But, once they got their hands in there and were packaging meals, they thought it was really cool that we did it, and the kids really wanted to give back to the community.”

Allen described the event as an opportunity for the students to see a different side of each other as they worked in teams throughout the day. To package such a large number of meals in one day, the students had to reach outside their comfort zone. That allowed them to see the impact their hard work was making on their community in need.

“When we loaded all those meals onto the trailer and the trucks to be taken to the Help Center, I think it was a moment of ‘wow, I just helped these people for a couple of days,’” Allen said.

Allen believes the experience opened the eyes of her students, encouraging them to be more supportive of their community members and peers.

While it might have taken only a few hours out of the students’ day off of school, their hard work and inspired hearts made a huge difference within Audrain County. With the support of the Mexico community and the driven mindset of FFA members, the chapter has intentions of making this an annual event.

—by Julie Choate