A passion for agriculture

Local FFA members have a good showing at state competition

By Jenny Kirk , Marshall Independent

MARSHALL - More than 3,000 FFA members, advisers and guests recently took part in the 83rd Minnesota FFA Convention in St. Paul, where a number of students in the southwest corner of the state rose high above the competition.

Canby FFA chapter member Megan Regnier was not only recognized as a proficiency award winner in beef production, she received the 2012 Minnesota FFA Star Farmer award, one of the association's highest honors.

"That was very exciting," Regnier said. "After talking to the other finalists, I didn't think I would get it, so I was so surprised."

Around the family farm just north of Canby, Regnier not only tends to beef cattle, she said she also does a good deal of mechanical work.

"I spend a lot of time in the shop as well," she said. "I do maintenance on most of the general machinery on the farm, like tractors and skid loaders. For some reason, it just comes naturally."

Regnier has also rebuilt a tractor and built a pulling tractor.

"I love agriculture and working outdoors," she said. "I have a passion for beef cattle and tractor pulling is so much fun. It's an adrenaline rush. Once you do it, you're hooked for life."

In the fall, Regnier is planning to attend South Dakota State University, possibly majoring in ag engineering.

Canby FFA adviser Duane Lichy said that Regnier is the chapter's first Star Farmer since 1958. This year also marked the highest chapter membership in nearly 30 years, he said, with 59 paid members.

"It was a great year for Canby, Lichy said.

In addition to Regnier, SamiJo VanDerostyne, Samantha Carlson and Kaylen Weidert earned state FFA degrees.

WWG

The Westbrook-Walnut Grove soils team, consisting of Anne Woelber, Maddie Frank, Kolee Yang, Nancy Yang and alternate Kasia Her, took first place in the Career Development Event (CDE) state competition after continually working their way to the top the past few years.

"We've been together since freshmen year," Woelber said. "It was nice that all our hard work and practice paid off and we finally won. It was great."

Woelber was also recognized as the top-placing individual in soils.

"It was good being up on stage," she said. "Last year, there was a mess up on scoring, so I didn't get to be on stage and called. This year was much better."

Individuals and teams in the soils category are the only ones to go outside at the state competition, Woelber said, so the WWG team thoroughly enjoyed nice weather this year.

"The past few years haven't been very nice," Woelber said. "My freshman, sophomore year, it was rainy. It was snowing last year for my junior year. This year was actually nice. I think that's why we did so well."

Woelber said that FFA members use a 40-inch test block to test the soil.

"We slope the soil and put in land classes," she said. "One is best for farming. We grade the land. If you know what the soil is, then the rest is pretty easy."

The soil used at nationals in May tripped the WWG team up a little though, Woelber said.

"We went down to Oklahoma City and competed down there," she said. "It was very different, with the red soil. It threw us off a little bit. We did OK, but not the best. It was a good experience, though, and we have a very good time."

Learning about agriculture has been a big part of Woelber's life the past four years.

"FFA has been fun. The advisers are great and so is being with the other students," she said. "I like just knowing more about agriculture and what it does for this community especially."

Woelber plans to attend the University of Minnesota in the fall, majoring in nursing.

Tracy Area

Another FFA member, Jacob Orren, from the Tracy Area High School chapter, also plans to further his education at the U of M, majoring in agriculture education.

"I've had a lot of great memories," Orren said of his ag classes and FFA experiences. "I'll have more memories in the future. I'll be teaching kids in about four to five years."

Orren was one of the top 15 regional competitors to participate in the 10th annual FFA/Farm Bureau Discussion Meet competition at the state convention.

"It went really good," he said. "It was my first time competing in that event, so I really didn't know much what to expect. The discussion meet is meant to simulate a board meeting. They give you three different topics to prepare on and then right before you go in, they tell you what topic it is."

One of the focus areas included the issue of obesity and what farmers can do to help curb the issue.

"You do research beforehand and then you discuss the topic with five or six other people in a group," Orren said. "You come up with ideas and they have a score sheet you use."

Students participated in two rounds at regions, Orren said, and two at state. The top six competitors at state then moved on to the final round.

"It was pretty fun," Orren said. "It's sponsored by the Farm Bureau and they give out a big scholarship. It's a great opportunity, to compete for the scholarship and to go in and talk to other students about issues in today's society."

Along with Brandon Benson, Ryan Bruder, Crystal Demuth and Cory Apperson, Orren also received a state FFA degree, which involves filling out a bunch of paperwork, he said, and making enough money in his supervised agricultural experience (SAE).

"I did mine on what we call outdoor recreation this year," Orren said. "I was working as a lifeguard at the pool. It's cumulative, so the money I made doing pigs my freshman and sophomore year are also added up, too. The thing I really like about FFA is all the different things you can do. You can be very active. There are so many different opportunities that FFA offers."

Eight Tracy Area teams competed at state, adviser John Lanoue said, including Forestry, Soils, Horse, Poultry, Ag Mechanics, Dairy Foods, Dairy Cattle and Crops. The Dairy Cattle team of Jenny Welu, Alexis Buysse, Dustin Demuth and Jacob Bengtson took 10th.

Apperson and Lanoue served on the State FFA Officer nominating committee. Countless hours were spent interviewing 23 students for six offices for next year.

"We deliberated for about six hours following the interviews," Lanoue said. "It was an intense process."

Fellow chapter member Andrew Vroman was one of a select number of proficiency award winners in the category of Diversified Agricultural Production. The top individual in each of the award areas earns the chance to represent Minnesota at the National FFA Convention in October in Indianapolis, Ind., allowing them to showcase the skills and knowledge they gained through their SAE.

Marshall

For their participation in the Roland Peterson Agri-Science Fair in March at the University of Minnesota, Marshall FFA chapter members Samantha Welu and Elijah Welu were also recognized. The Welu siblings were among 22 students in the state to receive the Agri-Science Activities award.

RTR

Russell-Tyler-Ruthton chapter members Philip Madsen and Nick Moberg were also ranked highest among their CDE category. Madsen was the top individual in Crops.

"That's a great honor," Madsen said. "For how many people are competing, that's pretty nice to be able to say, getting first place."

As a team, Madsen, Eli Dubbeldee, Andrew Bakker, Brady Hauswedell and alternate Luke Wiering placed second in the state.

"We had a pretty good year," Madsen said. "We've been working and studying pretty hard."

Madsen said that a big part of the crops competition is identification.

"You have to know different crops, weeds, seeds and all that good stuff," he said. "There's an actual test. They rotate the crops. It was corn and alfalfa this year."

Students are also tested on grain grading and there are fertilizer practicum. While Madsen competed in Poultry for one year, he's been involved in Crops the past three.

"I'm going into ag at SDSU, possibly agronomy, so my experience should definitely help," he said. "FFA has been a really good experience."

One of the best parts, Madsen said, was getting to be an officer this year.

"That was cool," he said. "It gives you a leadership experience. All the different projects we have to do will help us out in life. And, it's a lot of fun."

Moberg finished first as an individual in Meat Evaluation.

"Freshman year, my adviser was going to put me in Dairy Foods until I told him my dad (Jeff Moberg) was in meats in FFA," Moberg said. "My uncle was too. So that's how it all started."

Being in FFA, Moberg said, has been a good experience.

"It teaches you a lot about working hard and being dedicated to something," he said.

As a team, Moberg, Mitch Hurst, Jasi Borman and Adam Biren took third place.

"There's an identification category with cuts like you see in the supermarket," Moberg said. "You have to identify them. Then there are classes, like the top and bottom. There are questions for that."

Moberg pointed out that there was also a quality and grading category.

"You take the size and width of a whole cow and guess how big the rib-eye is and the amount of back fat there is and calculate that into a formula," he said. "That's what the yield grade would be. The quality rate is determined by age and amount of marble in the rib-eye."

The best cuts come from younger cows, Moberg said.

"Older, which is black or reddish, is worse," Moberg said. "The cartilage will mostly be turned to bone if it's older. When it's younger meat, it is spongy and more white."

While he was recognized as the top individual in the meats category, Moberg feels there is much room for improvement for next year.

"I could have done better," he said. "There were some parts I messed up. So I'm going to keep practicing over the summer and during the school year."

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