Getting Into the World of Ag

Every year FFA (Future Farmers of America) takes some of its members to Farm Fest at the Ozark Empire Fair Grounds for students to meet and interact with livestock producers, industry leaders, and companies. They also get to see the latest technology, services, and companies involved in the agriculture industry around the country. Lucas Crutcher (10) said “There are many aspects of the agricultural industry and all of them play a critical role in feeding the world.”

Every year while at Farm Fest the juniors and seniors get to walk around the grounds to talk to different people in the agricultural field. The freshman and sophomores go on a scavenger hunt where they have to take pictures with machinery, animals, producers of animals, vets, insurance, random people, as well as collecting pens and pencils for their AG classes. “This is important so that underclassmen can get SAE (Supervised agricultural experience) ideas and so that we can have connections to businesses in the Ag industry,” mentioned FFA president Brooke Heavin. 

Only certain students qualify to attend this field trip, so it works as an incentive for their hard work. The Agriculture students have a point chart set up and every time they participate in an activity or fundraiser, they gain points. They can participate in things like the Hope chest raffle or the parking lots at the Fall Festival. To qualify for attending Farm Fest normally you have to be within their chapter constitutions top 50 point totals but this year they made an exception. “We have been lucky to have great participation in our activities and have a hard working group and we were able to take 68 students this year,” explained Ag teacher Cole Johnston.