FFA on industry tours at the 94th national convention

BONNERS FERRY — While Future Farmers of America members attended the 94th national convention in October, it was for educational purposes.

FFA hasn’t been able to do much in the past two years, said agriculture teacher Julie Smith.

In the 2019/2020 school year, the Bonners Ferry High School’s FFA chapter was supposed to go to nationals, but were unable to attend due to the pandemic.

“They just mailed our awards,” said Smith, “which is kind of lame.”

For the 2020/2021 school year, FFA did not qualify to compete at nationals due to not participating in enough activities. Smith said she wanted to expose students to the different agricultural industries across the country rather than only focusing on industry in Boundary County. So she opted to take the team to the national convention for educational purposes.

Senior Reagan Fairchild and the team went to Nashville, Tenn., and participated in industry tours. One tour was of a horse stable facility.

“It was really interesting to see not only the agricultural side, but the business side, too,” Fairchild said.

She said that it was interesting talking to the stable owner and to see the entrepreneurial side to the industry. It’s amazing to see all the money they put into it to make the agricultural industry run, Fairchild said.

Smith said that the stables was the best tour, since the tour guide gave the kids the business aspect, and the entrepreneurship aspect of owning your own business. She didn't just tell them all the good stuff, she actually explained the hard times of it, and all the permitting process, Smith said.

The students also got to see a cattle farm and observed the milking stables. Farichild said that the experience was very informative. The students also went to a goat dairy which was unfamiliar to them. Some even tried goat cheese for the first time, Smith said.

After the tours, the team drove to Indianapolis for the convention and attended an opening session with a guest speaker to motivate the kids.

Smith said that at BFHS they incorporate the three circle model of agriculture education: FFA, FAE, supervised agricultural experience projects and classroom and laboratory instruction. For Smith’s class, the lab is the greenhouse and for the other agriculture teacher, Gabrielle Johnson, the lab space is the school’s shop.

Smith said a quality agricultural education program incorporates all three of those components in their instruction. The agriculture department has qualified for an Idaho Quality Program Standards grant. Last year, the program was downsized so the BFHS agriculture department did not receive funding. She said they qualified for the grant again this year and would use the money to improve the lab table for the agriculture education classroom to create more usable space.

So two years ago, only 33 teachers in the state qualified for the grant, Smith said. This year, about 51 teachers qualified for the grant. There are about 180 students at BFHS that participate in agriculture education classes, Smith said.

The FFA Harvest Auction will be Saturday, Nov. 13, at 5:30 p.m. at the high school. The complimentary dinner starts at 5:30 p.m. in the commons and the auction begins at 6:30 p.m. in the gym. They are selling everything from livestock to flowers.