The Vega FFA Chapter has amassed over $1.1 million in scholarships and prizes through Ag Mechanics competitions in the State of Texas over the past 20 years. Jay Newton is the FFA Advisor and Emily Carlson is the Chapter President of the Vega FFA Chapter, and they join me on today's episode to discuss this incredible accomplishment and journey.

Starting in 2001, Jay Newton began to look at the FFA Experience a different way. Clearly, livestock projects dominated what students did for SAE projects, but he saw holes in those projects and opportunities for skill development that were being missed. So, he got the idea to try something radical. So, the next time he took his chapter to Houston, after the livestock shows were over they stayed an extra day and watched the Ag Mechanics competitions. Then, on the way back to Vega they discussed putting the chapter's efforts towards ag mechanics rather than livestock.

The students were on board, so Jay took the idea to the school board. This was the tough sell, but he was ready with a partnership that he had formed that would allow any FFA student to have a livestock project if that was what they wanted to do. Permission was granted, and the journey began. 20 years later, the small Vega FFA Chapter, has a story to tell and an example to share of achieving great success through Ag Mechanics.

Obviously we've had some unexpected setbacks on our farm recently. In today's episode I want to address those a bit more, how we handled the emotion of it and why a transition is being made. Also, I'll give you my review of the Hells Canyon Days Festival in Cambridge, Idaho: Hint - It was awesome...

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Sydni Wilson has just finished her junior year of high school and has already become a freelance, agricultural writer. She has a house full of house plants, and she raises meat chickens and does all the of butchering herself, with the help of her father. Talking with Sydni in today's interview there was a recurring theme - when she finds and interest, she goes "all in".

A fascinating part of this interview with Sydni was her love of writing. She has started many fiction, writing projects and written the first chapter of a novel. Then she puts it away and revisits it weeks to months later. In most of the cases she realizes that, that initial idea was not the one that is going to drive her to write a whole novel. It is a process, and it is an interesting way to determine which idea will give you enough motivation to carry it all the way through to a completed book.

Sydni's hobby of writing led her to an opportunity to become a freelance writer for an agricultural newspaper, while still in high school. Today she is using those writing skills to deliver agricultural information to people who need it. Sydni is very happy with the discovery of a practical application for her love of writing. She has done the same with plants, and says that her love of plants and horticulture may have actually eclipsed her love of writing!

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[caption id="attachment_386296" align="alignright" width="106"] Hannah-Rose Foote: Student Ambassador and 2022 National FFA Officer Candidate[/caption]

The Agricultural College Episode is designed to profile agricultural trade schools, junior colleges, colleges and universities around the U.S. This episode is an effort to replicate the conversation that prospective students, parents and ag teachers might have with agricultural schools at trade show like the National FFA Convention.

The State University Of New York at Cobleskill offers as wide of a variety of options for learning in agriculture as I have run across, particularly in animal agriculture. In today's episode we will be profiling degrees from Animal Science to Dog Training and from Dairy Science to Fermentation. It is fascinating all the different directions you can go at this "magical" agricultural university in Upstate New York.

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Tip Of The Week

Do you insure your hay and other feed?

Rural Crime In The U.S.

https://www.texarkanagazette.com/news/2023/may/30/deputies-arrest-man-in-horse-pasture-after/

https://www.fox19.com/2023/05/31/stolen-cincinnati-school-bus-chased-into-indiana-cornfield-suspect-custody/

https://www.nwahomepage.com/news/cobblestone-farms-dealing-with-string-of-thefts/

Across The Pond, Down Under And Up Above

https://www.edp24.co.uk/news/23547232.animal-activists-hand-sandringham-theft/

https://www.wisbechstandard.co.uk/news/23555533.huntingdonshire-four-agricultural-gps-system-thefts-month-may/

https://nation.cymru/news/rural-communities-in-wales-targeted-by-cross-border-criminals/

Africa

https://www.iol.co.za/sport/rugby/fight-back-and-well-kill-your-children-former-springbok-hooker-lukas-van-biljon-stabbed-in-farm-robbery-2a42e37c-b5f6-455f-aad1-726fad841494

http://www.times.co.sz/news/140379-mum-son-shot-dead-at-lundzi.html

Chalk One Up For The Good Guys

https://www.ketk.com/news/crime-public-safety/32k-worth-of-stolen-hay-livestock-feed-recovered-in-east-texas/

https://www.altoonamirror.com/news/local-news/2023/05/martinsburg-cattle-theft-resolved-with-guilty-plea/

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Sheldon McKinney is the Executive Director of the Kentucky FFA Foundation. She is also the president of a group of foundation directors who have come together to collaborate on how to best support the FFA in their individual states.

On today's episode Sheldon is joining us to discuss how fundraising works, where the money goes and what it means to be a 501(c)3 organization and why that is necessary. The business of fundraising at the national, state or local level is a big business. As Sheldon says, money should never be an obstacle that stops an FFA student from taking advantage of the myriad opportunities available to them through the organization. State FFA Foundations exist to connect chapters and students to donors who want to support youth, agriculture and agricultural education.

On tomorrow's Ag Business Episode I am speaking with the executive director of the Kentucky FFA Foundation. We are going to be speaking about supporting state FFA Foundations as well as a new group of FFA Foundation Directors that has been formed called LEADS.

Anytime I think of Kentucky FFA, I think of this interview with Kaitlyn Elliot. I was so impressed by the old school manner in which she and her grandfather were growing, harvesting and processing sorghum. And, she sent me some delicious syrup which we thoroughly enjoyed. So, in honor of our Kentucky guest tomorrow, I am bringing this interview with Kaitlyn back.

Mylie Rexing is a district and chapter FFA officer and soon to be agriculture student at Purdue University. She has been working her father's butcher shop for several years, throughout high school. During that time an idea occurred to her to make ready to cook meals for people to purchase from the shop that would simplify meal prep for them at home. Mylie's Meals To Go was born.

Mylie has come up with a number of iterations of ready to go meals during this time, and that took her all the way to being an Indiana State Finalist in Ag Sales. During that time Mylie wanted to give back to her community, and she came up with a program of donating milk to families who needed with every sale of a ready to prepare meal. Mylie stated that her family has always been one that gives back, and she had watched that example while growing up. So, it felt like a natural fit for her to incorporate giving into her own business as well.

I hope you all had a great holiday weekend and took some time to remember those who have made the ultimately sacrifice so we could do exactly that. I have a couple of thoughts that I have been wanting to share with you, and today I will finally get to do it:

• Hard Work As a value - teaching non-traditional ag students about the world of work they are entering
• Having a job or business that is not automatable and cannot be replaced by AI

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Olivia Black is a senior in high school, a second year FFA student and the Michigan Star Award Winner in Agribusiness. In Olivia's school district the FFA Chapter is run by the Ionia County Career Center, and high school students are only eligible to attend there starting in the 11th Grade. Olivia has grown up showing cattle and pigs and with a significant family history in the Dairy Industry, so she knew that she wanted to be in the FFA. When she started her junior year, she enrolled in an agricultural course at the career center, making her eligible for the FFA, and she joined.

Two years prior to this is when Olivia's journey as an entrepreneur began however. Olivia has a rare gift that only a small percentage of entrepreneurs have. She was dissatisfied with a product that she was using on her show pigs, and rather than keep looking for something that worked better or settling for what she had, she decided to make her own. Absolute Products was born at that moment, and she has been developing this business ever since then.

Now, at age 17, Olivia has stood out among all the other FFA students in Michigan, even though she has less than two years of records. She is selling her product all over the Upper Midwest, and she plans on expanding even further. In addition, she is finding that while her product was developed for use on pigs, it works well on both dairy and beef cattle.

Olivia loves the livestock exhibition world, but she realized that in the not too distant future she was going to age out eligibility to show livestock. So, she has created a business that will keep her connected to this world and will help exhibitors everywhere solve some of their most frustrating issues. Olivia is off to college soon to get a degree in Ag Business, and it is all directed at growing this business.