FFA News

Listen to the winners reflect on being named top in the nation.

Adam Blumenschein

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Kolt Buchenroth

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Sierra Drewes

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Collin Dunaway

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Nole Gerfen

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Aaron Hendrich

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Ann Shelby

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Student teams from Northmor High School in Morrow County and Gallia Academy High School in Gallia County were first place winners in the 65th annual FFA State Land and Soil Judging Contest held Oct. 14 at the Farm Science Review site in Madison County. The event is sponsored by the Ohio Department of Agriculture Division of Soil and Water Conservation, the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, Delaware Soil and Water Conservation District and Haviland Plastic Products.

Northmor’s victory came in the rural land judging portion of the competition, where soils are evaluated for their limitations, soil health, fertility and overall potential for agricultural production. The Gallia Academy win came in the urban soil judging category, which challenges students to evaluate soil limitations for urban applications such as buildings, septic systems, roads and landscaping.

Teams from East Clinton High School (Clinton County) and Upper Sandusky High School (Wyandot County) placed second and third, respectively, in the rural contest.

Recently, members from the Miami East-MVCTC FFA Chapter were challenged to participate in the annual Chapter Corn Contest. The rules of the contest were to bring in one ear of corn and earn a corn-related prize. All participants got a can of soda pop because corn syrup is a major ingredient. Overall winners were presented an FFA T-shirt from the FFA Chapter.

A winner is chosen based on the predicted yield of the corn. The grand prize winner was determined by the highest yield estimate, based on plant population per acre. Agriculture Education students in Plant and Animal Sciences took time in class to figure the predicted yield of corn ears as part of their continuing education of agronomy.

The overall winner was Paige Pence. Her corn was predicted to yield 312.3 bushels to the acre with a 35,000 seed population per acre. Her corn was a Channel product. Second place went to Kearsten Kirby who presented an ear of corn that is predicted to produce 283.6 bushels per acre with a 30,000 seed population per acre.

The Miami Trace FFA Alumni, in cooperation with the Wendt Group, Inc, held the annual Consignment Sale on Friday, September 1st at the Fayette County Fairgrounds. This was the second sale where the FFA Alumni worked in partnership with the Wendt Group, Inc. Auctioneers, Nick Cummings and Kevin Wendt, have been long time supporters of the agricultural community in this area and continue to assist the Miami Trace FFA Alumni in provided funds to support the high school members. For this, the FFA would like to extend a special thank you to the Wendt and Cummings family for their efforts in ensuring the success of the auction. The Wendt group committed 1% of the gross earnings to the Miami Trace FFA Alumni. Despite the weather forecast, this year’s sale totaled approximately $430,000 with 300+ registered bidders present at the sale. A special thanks to Joe Geesling for donating all of the profits from his Oliver forklift to the Miami Trace FFA.

On July 5th, students from Miami Trace in cooperation with Great Oaks FFA chapter attended FFA camp Muskingum. Students who attended FFA Camp include Meri Grace Carson, Graham Carson, Makayla Eggleton, Morgan Eggleton, Bryce Bennett, Garrett Hagler, Regan Hagler, Rebecca Heckathorn, Nathan Malloy, Blake Bradshaw, Quinton Waits, Blake Roberts, Tyler Cummings, Seth Simonson, Preston Huff, and Kyler Adkins. During camp week, FFA students got to spend time with  Ohio’s FFA state officers as well as meeting students from other chapters across Ohio. The week was full of exciting events and fun activities, such as motor boating, kayaking and paddleboarding, participating in workshops put on by the state officers, and meeting many new people. FFA Camp is a unique experience for all members who are able to attend.

On May 11, 2017 the Arlington held Farm Day, where most of the FFA members brought in either a tractor or some kind of livestock.  On this day Zoie Young and Holly Lee brought their rabbits. Seth Courtney and Dylan Miles brought  calves. Gavin, Caden, and Jared Isenbarger  brought pygmy goats and piglets. Lillian Swails brought her Alpaca. Tyler Vanderhoff brought his mini sprayer. Colin Tobin brought his duck. Tessa Bowling and Ivy Kidd brought their horses. Meaghan Hummell brought her ewe and two lambs. Courtney Fox brought her donkey and her miniature horse.  Brittani Wright brought her chickens. TheFFA Alumni President Mr. Brad Beach brought three different varieties of eggs for the FFA to take care of and to watch hatch. The following individuals brought their tractor’s; Ashley Glick, Chayton Newman, Brayden Bushong, Seth Richards, Colton Kidd, Tyler Rowlett, Bailey Parke, and Blake Bishop. Our gates were provided by Charlie Beagle.

Several Ohio FFA chapters had a busy schedule last week with the National Land and Range Judging Contest in Oklahoma where 600 4-H and FFA members gathered.

Austin Wood of the Northwestern-Wayne FFA Chapter said it was a busy one, competing in the OK state before quickly flying back for the last day of the 89th Ohio FFA Convention on Friday.

“Our team placed fifth at state which qualified us to go out there,” Wood said. “We signed in Tuesday morning and we went out and did six pits. That was really cool. The red dirt is completely different than what we do here in Ohio, but a lot of the textures and stuff are the same. The following day, we went out and did two more pits then Thursday was the actual contest.

“We each just went there more as a fun thing for us to do. It was our first year doing this and to me it was just an amazing experience being able to go out and represent our chapter in a national contest.”

Other teams from Ohio included the Buckeye Central FFA, taking 4th place overall.

The 2017-2018 State Officer Team is:

President: Ryan A. Matthews, Fairfield

Vice President: Kacey Reinhart, Wayne Trace

Secretary: Koleson McCoy, Global Impact STEM Academy

Treasurer: Emily Mullen, Talawanda Butler-Tech

Reporter: Evan Callicoat, Northeastern

Sentinel: Marleigh Kerr, Anthony Wayne

VP at Large: Carley Coppler, Carey

VP at Large: Milan Pozderac, Fredericktown

VP at Large: Emma Sterwerf, Talawanda Butler-Tech

VP at Large: Lane Heil, Tri-Valley

VP at Large: Phillip Eberly, Northwestern-Wayne

The fifth and final session of the Convention was packed with highlights. The packed house heard from the band and chorus, talented soloists and State President Mary Bueller her impressive retiring address.  The new officer team was announced and more than 900 FFA members were aware their State FFA Degree.

There was plenty in the packed Session 4 including the Creed Speaking Presentation, officer awards, a keynote presentation from National FFA Secretary Victoria Harris, CDE winner announcements, the Prepared Speaking Presentation, the Agriscience Fair recognition, and the Ohio FFA Officer parent recognition.

Ohio’s top chapters were recognized, the crowd learned about developing your passion from keynote speaker Lamarr Womble, and the second set of proficiency winners were recognized in this session that kicked off the second day of Convention.