Labette County FFA Chapter Competes in National Events
November 08, 2022
Congratulations to the Labette County FFA Chapter for their outstanding performance at the 2022 National FFA Convention. With four teams representing Kansas at the National FFA Convention, the Labette County FFA Chapter members and advisors worked hard to prepare to compete against the top team from each state.
The National Agronomy team completed multiple virtual components of their contest via Google Classroom. The virtual components that were tested included plant and seed identification, insect identification, diseases and disorders, and a soils practicum. While in Indianapolis, students continued with competition and completed the following components: grain grading, written exam (Certified Crop Advisor Exam), and agronomy issues extemporaneous speech. In addition, they managed a farm for a year and determined tillage, variety selection, herbicide, insecticide, and fungicide selection and timing, trucking and storage fees, marketing opportunities and profitability. When finished with this grueling contest, they presented their written plan to a panel of agronomists and defended it orally. Members of the team were: Alice Carnahan, Lakin Giager, Madisyn Helwig and Dallas Hill.
The National Ag Sales team completed a written test on Google Classroom before competing in Indianapolis. While in Indianapolis, they performed a pre-call planning team activity for a prospective customer. When they finished the team activity, each student sold to a customer in a face-to-face sales situation. This year, each student sold a line of cattle-related nutrition products from Purina. The professionals that judged both the team event and individual sales call were all leading sales representatives from Purina. The team consisted of Riley Bebb, Mary George, Raegan Roberts and Tanner Templeton.
Furthermore, we had the great fortune of having a young lady that competed in the National Employment Skills LDE. Cecillia Newby completed her resume, cover letter, references, job description, and employment application and submitted them to the contest coordinator in September. Additionally, she participated in a screening interview over Zoom. While at National Convention, she completed her preliminary face-to-face interview, follow-up letter and thank you letter.
Finally, the Farm and Agribusiness Management team completed a written examination over Google Classroom before competing in-person in Indianapolis. While at National Convention, the team completed their computation exam and team activity. The computation exam consisted of creating financial statements commonly used in agriculture to make business decisions based on production such as projected and historic yields and economic factors such as interest rates, input prices, and opportunity costs. The team activity presented the students with numerous situations involved in managing a farm. The team was tasked with presenting a written proposal addressing various decisions made for the farm. The team created a plan to transition the farm to the next generation through various approaches. The team also created proposals to increase income, opportunities for growth and reduce risk for the current farming operation.
When the results were announced, the teams from Labette County were highly successful. Results are as follows:
Agronomy—
Lakin Giager—Gold; 12th place individual in the nation
Dallas Hill—Gold; 17th place individual in the nation
Madisyn Helwig—Gold; 38th place individual in the nation
Alice Carnahan—Silver
*Both Lakin and Dallas exceeded the criterion for receiving the Certified Crop Advisor Apprentice Certificate and will each receive $750.00 worth of materials to prepare for the two examinations required by Kansas and Oklahoma to become Certified Crop Advisors. They will also receive 6 months experience for their preparation in this event. There are only 13,357 Certified Crop Advisors in the world. As a result, this accomplishment is outstanding!
Agronomy Team—Gold; 6th place team in the nation
Ag Sales—
Tanner Templeton—Gold; 14th place individual in the nation
Mary George—Silver
Riley Bebb—Silver
Raegan Roberts—Silver
Ag Sales Team—Silver; 14th place team in the nation
Employment Skills—
Cecillia Newby—Silver; 19th place individual in the nation
Farm and Agribusiness Management—
Charli Alloway—Gold; 39th place individual in the nation
Peyton Merrick—Silver
Noah Wiley—Silver
Blaine Smith—Silver
Farm and Agribusiness Management Team—Silver; 17th place team in the nation
There are 850,823 FFA members in 8,995 chapters in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. As a result of the months of preparation and outstanding efforts by the members of the Labette County FFA Chapter, our students experienced success and represented our state and our little town with dignity and class.
Congratulations to the Labette County FFA Chapter for continuing the tradition of success!