Author: Neal Fandek
What role does FFA have in the 21st Century?
Jason Dieckhoff and Marshall Streit teach ag at the Cass Career Center in Harrisonville, Mo. The center, which draws about 120 ag students from five area high schools, has had great success. Neither teacher likes to boast, though maybe they should. The two were named Harrisonville Community Teachers of the […]
Paris FFA Named Top Chapter in America
The Paris (Mo.) FFA chapter won the National Model of Excellence, the award for the top chapter in the country, at the National FFA Convention in Indianapolis in October 2021. How do you become No. 1 among nearly 9,000 chapters? By going beyond teaching basic ag and science, bake and […]
Tapping into a Historic Rivalry to Fund FFA Activities
Brookfield wins! Brookfield FFA, that is. The prize: a cowbell. Not just any cowbell; the FFA version of the Bell Game prize. The annual Bell Game, between the high school football teams of Brookfield, Mo., and nearby Marceline, is one of the oldest sports rivalries in America. It is called […]
Making the Leap
Smithfield Foods and Roeslein Alternative Energy Partnership Turns Waste into Energy Concentrated animal feeding operations, or CAFOs, have been in the news lately for a variety of reasons. Can these operations be sustainable, create good jobs and benefit the environment, too? Critics would say, “When pigs fly.” A joint venture […]
Beefing Up Learning
More than half the students at Ash Grove High School are food insecure. That’s a shocking figure for Lawrence County, Missouri’s top county for beef cattle. It’s especially astonishing considering southwest Missouri is among the leading cattle production areas in the country, and the Show-Me State is home to the […]
Chad Murphy Leads ‘an Average Chapter’ That is Anything but Average
Chad Murphy is the ag education instructor for Versailles High School, Morgan County R-II, and sponsors the local FFA chapter, which he humbly characterizes as “a well-rounded program, a good average chapter.” He teaches Agriculture Science I for freshmen, Agriculture Science II for sophomores, Agriculture Construction (shop work, welding), a […]
The Big Tree Lives
The tree dominates the Boone County river bottom, almost 100 feet tall with a canopy even wider and a nearly 24-foot-wide trunk. This is the U.S. co-champion bur oak, aka the Big Tree. It has survived earthquakes, lightning strikes, floods and droughts in its nearly four centuries. It seems impossible […]
It’s About the Kids
Lesley Newsom, ag instructor and FFA advisor for Senath-Hornersville High School in Senath, Mo., keeps busy with lesson planning, teaching topics ranging from plant science to animal husbandry to biotechnology, and even welding and construction. And that’s not counting the fundraising, bus driving, early mornings, after-hours work and weekends she […]
Not Just Cows and Plows
Dean Reichel, ag teacher and FFA advisor at New Bloomfield R-III, goes above and beyond to make a difference. That’s a cliché in today’s cynical age, but it’s true in his case. He’s making lesson plans for eighth to 12th grade ag education classes that, thanks to COVID-19, he knows […]
The man on the tractor
Like many Missourians, Phillip Martin, agricultural education instructor at Meadville R-I High School in north-central Missouri, grew up on a farm. Unlike most Missourians, he went on to teach in several mid- and northern Missouri high schools after graduating from the University of Missouri, first with a bachelor’s degree in […]