Dakota Siegler of Lake Geneva, Wis., remembers fondly playing with his farm toys in the house. His toys would be kept busy planting, picking or baling hay, all dependent on the current farming season. His love for farming continued to grow, and when he was old enough, he attended tractor safety certification so he could drive tractors to help his dad with the five acres of hay they owned at the time.
Today, his love for agriculture has resulted in Siegler being named a 2015 finalist for the American Star in Agribusiness award, one of the most prestigious honors awarded to a student by the National FFA Organization.
Siegler’s supervised agricultural experience with FFA began with helping his dad on his crop production land. As he continued to work with his father, Siegler’s interest in forage production grew. Soon he rented seven acres and planted hay. In 2009, he began Dakota’s Custom Works (DCW). DCW provides custom forage services and sells various forage products such as hay and straw. DCW offers custom hay cutting, raking, baling and chopping. Siegler continues to expand his services. He currently has 30 custom forage accounts and an additional 10 regular hay-cutting customers.
In order to ensure success for his agribusiness, Siegler keeps up with new technologies and always listens to his customers.
Siegler plans to continue growing and expanding DCW. He also hopes to increase the acreage he bales from 175 to 500 acres and his custom work from 630 to more than 800 acres. Siegler says he feels like he is living his dream and sees it only getting better with hard work and dedication.
Each year at the National FFA Convention & Expo, four FFA members are honored with an American Star Award for outstanding accomplishments in FFA and agricultural education.
The American Star Awards, including the American Star Farmer, American Star in Agribusiness, American Star in Agricultural Placement and American Star in Agriscience, are awarded to FFA members who demonstrate outstanding agricultural skills and competencies through completion of a supervised agricultural experience program. A required activity in FFA, an SAE allows students to learn by doing by either owning and operating an agricultural business, working or serving an internship at an agriculture-based business or conducting an agriculture-based scientific experiment and reporting results.
Other requirements to achieve the award include demonstrating top management skills; completing key agricultural education, scholastic and leadership requirements; and earning an American FFA Degree, the organization’s highest level of student accomplishment.
Sixteen American Star Award finalists from throughout the U.S. are nominated by a panel of judges to interview during the national convention and expo. Four are named winners and receive cash awards totaling $4,000. All American Star finalists receive a $2,000 cash award. The American Star Awards are sponsored by ADM Crop Risk Services, Case IH, Elanco, Farm Credit and Syngenta as a special project of the National FFA Foundation.
Siegler is the son of Jerry and Marleen Siegler. He is a member of the Badger FFA Chapter, led by advisors Larry Plapp and Candice Olson.
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