Jake Fanning of May, Okla., originally purchased cattle as a part of a competition with his FFA chapter, but that simple transaction turned him onto a lifestyle and passion for work in the cattle industry.

It all began when a local feedlot became involved with the local FFA chapter and created a stocker cattle competition. Those participating in the competition were to buy four head of cattle and feed them either at the feedlot or at home for 100 days. Then certain prizes were awarded based on the highest average daily gain, the highest profits or on the amount of pounds gained in addition to an interview competition.

Once Fanning began taking his agricultural education classes and became more involved in FFA, he realized there were ways where he could grow his business and be successful. He worked with his brother and sister on starting a cattle company as part of his supervised agricultural experience (SAE), where they’d buy the cattle around 300-500 pounds and raise them to 700-800 pounds and then they’d sell them on the national market.

“Learning the proper business techniques, the accounting processes and the financial formulas helped me grow the business,” Fanning said. “Through FFA there have been a lot of opportunities that have been given to me, which has helped me grow my passion for the beef industry in northwest Oklahoma.”

In addition to the cattle company, Fanning and his brother and sister started a not-for-profit organization, “The Beef Project.” They seek out monetary or financial donations of beef, process it and then have it delivered to five food pantries in northwest Oklahoma and have about 15 different families they donate to once a month.

“Seeing the look on people’s faces and realizing how much of any impact that the beef industry and our organization has on them has been very rewarding,” Fanning said. “There’s no amount of profit that I could make in this industry that could surpass what has been done with this organization in the amount of two years so far.”

Fanning’s passion for the beef industry as well as his heart for giving back and strengthening his community has earned him the honor of being named a 2017 finalist for the American Star Farmer.

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For Mark Cavallero, farming has been a way of life for as long as he can remember. In fact, the Madera, Calif., resident’s first vivid recollections are of helping steer a tractor and doing chores on the farm.

His family began working the land more than 100 years ago. At age 10, Cavallero started farming 10 acres of Thompson’s Seedless Grapes. Cavallero’s father taught him how. Cavallero read as much about grapes as he could, learning what fertilizer to use, how often and how much water to use and when to lay down sulfur.

“My school planner soon became a calendar for my grapes,” he explains. “I made sure to try new things, experimenting with new fertilizers and water.”

Then the summer before his freshman year, he decided to try his hand at almonds. As his production began to grow, he incorporated it into his FFA supervised agricultural experience (SAE). Today, he contracts with the California Almond Growers Co-Op, since he doesn’t have a large farm.

“It all started with 10 acres of grapes, and I’ve never looked back,” Cavallero says.

Cavallero’s success with his farm has earned him the honor of being named a 2017 finalist for American Star Farm.

Almonds are nothing like grapes, so Cavallero says he learned a lot, and he depended on his dad for a great deal of advice. He also talked to many other farmers as well. His passion for farming grew as he began cultivating his 10 acres and as he learned more. “I realized this wasn’t a chore,” he says. “It’s a way of life; it’s what I want to do.”

Cavallero credits his FFA advisors for also helping him learn more about his production and for teaching him skills he is able to use in the field.

“Find an advisor who is just as driven as you are,” Cavallero recommends. “FFA advisors cares about their students, and they’re all there to help you. That’s one of the great things about FFA. The advisors are just as driven as the kids. If you have an ‘in’ in the agriculture industry in any way, it can be even bigger. You just have to do it and find the advisor to help push you through.”

Cavallero’s future plans include majoring in plant science and agricultural business.

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Growing up on the family farm, Joseph Arnold of Holloway, Minn., knew early on that he wanted to pursue a career in agriculture.

When Arnold joined FFA and began learning even more about the industry through classes, he realized working on the farm would be perfect for his supervised agricultural experience (SAE). In the process, Arnold discovered he needed to diversify his crops to sustain his operation.

As part of his process, he invested in shares of stock in the Southern Minnesota Beet Sugar Cooperative. He then researched the possibility of growing additional varieties of beans and other produce. As a result, today his operation yields corn, soybeans, navy beans, kidney beans and sugar beets.

For the past four years, Arnold has farmed and controlled every aspect of the production and marketing of his crops. He also strives to learn new ways to improve his operation. This persistence and drive have earned him the honor of being named a 2017 finalist for American Star Farmer.

“In high school I learned a bit about the business side as well as the mechanical side,” Arnold says. “I then strengthened that knowledge with my college education. It helped me be valuable to our farm operation, knowing these skills prior and having the work ethic to learn everything.”

Arnold takes pride in the operation and works to ensure it is the best it can be. He also realizes that his efforts help feed the world.

“If people didn’t need food, we wouldn’t have a job,” Arnold says. “I try to make the best products we can on the least amount of ground, on the least amount of input to try to be more sustainable and keep up with the growing demand for food.”

He also enjoys seeing his work’s connection to the broader agricultural picture. “It’s kind of neat to open up a can of Busch beans and know that this could have come from my farm.”

Arnold appreciates the experiences and knowledge he has gained through FFA. “It really put me a step ahead of those who didn’t have those opportunities.”

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Raised on a farm that embraces GPS guided tractors and satellite maps, early on Loren King developed a penchant for problem-solving involving technology.

Throughout the past few years, King has had opportunities to learn how technology is shaping the landscape of agriculture.

The Branch Areas Career Center FFA member developed a supervised agricultural experience (SAE) that focused on emerging agricultural technology. King’s ingenuity has earned him top honors as being named a 2017 finalist for American Star in Agriscience.

The Burr Oak, Mich., resident remembers an evening when his father and grandfather were monitoring their fields because of runoff issues, and they used Gators to go and test. King thought there should be an easier way. Later, when he was reading an issue of Popular Science, the idea came to him: They should use a drone.

After reading about drones, he thought about the possibility of using one to help with the testing. A year later, King put his research to the test and built a drone.

“It was completely custom,” King says. “I ordered all the parts, soldered everything and did all the programming.” He then hooked up two soil sensors, one to view the pH and the other one to view moisture content, sunlight amount, and temperature.

He began testing in several different fields with different soil types. Then he adjusted his drone to raise and lower its sensors to protect them from possible damage on impact.

“My motivation for doing this stems from watching how my family has previously solved things,” King says. “I was looking to apply this as something that could grow and become even greater than what I was able to do with it.”

His drone is designed to fly and land. Its two sensors then push directly into the soil and through Wi-Fi, data is sent back to the phone.

King admits the process wasn’t without challenges. He notes it took as many as 25 attempts to get the drone running the first time. as it was self-built. “I really had to grow through that process,” King said. “The people around me would just encourage me the whole time in the class.”

This research, King notes, is important, because we’re moving to a future where everything has to be more efficient. “If you’re talking environmentally, there’s going to be requirements coming out soon. So being able to show real-time data, by just sending out your drone, can show real, physical evidence of how we care for our farms.”

While King remains undecided on his future, he thinks his drone will play a part in some startup. “I definitely want to turn this into some type of business to get the technology out there so that others can use it,” he says.

King is the son of Angie and Bart. He is a member of the Branch Areas Career Center FFA Chapter, led by advisors Carrie Preston and Alison Bassage.

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Leah Hefty enjoyed taking her animals to a local nursing home to offer residents the joy of visiting with her. But the cost of hay to feed her animals was always a concern. Entertaining as they were to watch and pet, the animals needed to eat. But instead of looking at their food expense as an obstacle, the Auburn, Ind., resident saw it as an opportunity to find a solution.

She soon began working with her FFA advisor and created a supervised agriculture experience (SAE) that challenged her to find a more cost-effective feed alternative to hay.

Her research has earned her top honors of being named a 2017 Star Finalist in Agriscience.

An idea came to her when she realized her uncle had a problem with an overabundance of algae growing in his pond. “He was going to kill it off, but I saw potential,” Hefty says. “I figured there has to be something that you can do with this algae to make it useful.”

So she collected some of the algae and let it dry. Then she carefully measured and mixed different ratios of algae with hay to feed her goats. She wanted to see if it was palatable as well as nutritious for them. Through her project she proved that the algae was, in fact, palatable to the goats, and verified that they were getting all of their nutritional needs met.

“Algae seems to grow anywhere, which is good for a project like this,” Hefty says, “But it’s bad when you don’t want algae around.” Hefty points out that with hay, you have to wait for it to grow a certain height before cutting, baling and storing it. But with algae, she has a steady supply.

“You harvest it, and as need be, let it dry,” she says. “Algae can be added on an as-needed basis.” (It takes less than 24 hours to dry, if it is a thin layer.)

She says FFA and her agricultural education classes taught her the value of persistence. “Once you start a project, there’s always going to be little bumps in the road, and there’s always going to be little events, especially when dealing with plants and animals.”

Hefty takes great pride in her projects and the fact that they can be implemented on a community-wide scale. “I never did a project that I thought would only benefit me or just a small group of people,” Hefty says. “I always made sure that my projects could benefit my community as a whole, especially those who don’t completely understand agriculture.”

Hefty is the daughter of Danielle and Michah. She is a member of the DeKalb FFA Chapter, led by advisor Matt Dice.

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Since third grade, Chrysta Beck of Archbold, Ohio, has raised broilers and layers to sell meat and egg products to local customers. As she got older and joined FFA, she developed a supervised agricultural experience (SAE) that would look into the health of poultry. But what started as research to assist her with personal production goals soon developed into a project with a vastly larger scope. It focused on U.S. and global poultry production and welfare.

Beck’s work began when she was in ninth grade and started looking closely into broiler production factors and exactly how the birds grew. She also learned how to determine meat quality. By her senior year, Beck was investigating alternative methods for replacing antibiotics.

“I was looking into the gut health of the chick,” Beck says. “I was looking into the microbiology of chickens and doing probiotic research.”

In her lab trials, Beck has been testing different types of bacteria to determine their viability. Through in ovo technology, a probiotic is injected into a developing embryo prior to it having any contact with harmful bacteria in the external environment. This allows the chicken’s gut to contain beneficial bacteria when it hatches, rather than being subjected to harmful bacteria after hatching.

“In theory, the harmful bacteria doesn’t have the opportunity to inhabit the broilers’ gastrointestinal tract, since a beneficial bacteria is already there,” Beck explains. “I want to help the bird from Day One to have an extra boost.”

Beck says that from her work over the past six years she is discovering the future of the poultry industry and conducting studies she has only dreamed of. “It’s important that we have this research so we can understand the future of this industry,” she adds.

This research has earned her top honors as she has been named a 2017 American Star finalist in Agriscience.

Beck is currently studying at Mississippi State University and plans to return to the industry as a poultry vet. She credits her advisor and FFA Alumni for helping her and inspiring her interest. “FFA helped me with leadership skills and public speaking,” Beck says. “It was very beneficial.”

For those looking to pursue an SAE, she offers the following advice: “Do not be afraid to try something different. Do not be afraid to stand out, even though it may be a little uncomfortable at the time.”

Beck is the daughter of Beth Ann and David. She is a member of the Pettisville FFA Chapter, led by advisor John Poulson.

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Libby Baker-Mikesell competed in her first science fair as a second-grader. Her goal at the time was clearly defined: find a problem and then create a solution. The Port Royal, Penn., resident met the challenge and took that direction to heart, but she didn’t stop there. As Baker-Mikesell grew older, she continued seeking processes and situations in need of improvement on her family’s farm.

As an FFA member in high school, she combined her supervised agricultural experience (SAE) in beef production with an agriscience research SAE, which focused on the dilemma of having limited space for both manure storage and compost on her farm. “I composted cattle manure with different carbon sources to see which would be most effective,” Baker-Mikesell says. “That was spread over our land. The next year I grew grasses with the same composts to see how effective the previous year’s research was, and then I just put a practical application to that.”

Pleased with the success of that experiment, she expanded her research to include agricultural findings that would have regional impact and value as well.

With her family farm located in the middle of the impaired Chesapeake Bay watershed, Baker-Mikesell knew this was an area she wanted to explore. So she grew different short-seasonable crops, such as buckwheat, sorghum-sudan grass and oats, to determine which ones would decrease the amount of phosphorous in the soil naturally (without additives). She discovered that sorghum-sudan grass had the highest phosphorous uptake, followed by oats.

“I’m proud that I’ve developed some of the best management practices that farmers across the region can use to hopefully increase the health of the bay,” Baker-Mikesell says.

Her research has earned her top honors of being named a 2017 Star Finalist in Agriscience.

She challenges other FFA members who are looking for ideas for an agriscience project to think of where they live, a question they might have and a way to answer it. “Whether they live somewhere else and have a passion for food science or agricultural technology, there’s agriscience,” Baker-Mikesell says. “There are opportunities for pretty much everyone.”

Baker-Mikesell plans to start a dual major next year in agricultural education and plant sciences. “I’m taking my love of agriculture and my experience in research, and I’m finding a passion for plant and environmental sciences,” she says. “I’d like to teach the next generation about the importance of agriculture and conservation and how all of that can be used.”

Baker-Mikesell is the daughter of Robert and MeeCee. She is a member of the Greenwood FFA Chapter, led by advisors Krista Pontius and Michael Clark.

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For Shaun Wenrick of Sidney, Ohio, his foray into business began with a passion for landscaping and a desire to earn money. Wenrick knew he had the basic skills and most of the tools needed to start the business. The Anna FFA Chapter member began knocking on doors and building his business from the ground up. He and his brother worked with their dad, who gave them the tools. Meanwhile, he picked up more and more business, cultivating a solid customer base.

Active in his local FFA chapter, Wenrick shared his business plan with his advisors who were excited about the idea. Then they helped him with agribusiness classes. Wenrick lauds those classes (along with writing down everything in his little green book) and the support of his advisors for his success.

“I already had a passion for the landscaping business, but my ag teachers had a positive attitude that gave me the confidence that we could succeed,” Wenrick says. “We created the business on our own and have watched it grow over the years.”

What began as a side job has grown into a business that has earned Wenrick top honors as a 2017 finalist for the American Star in Agribusiness.

For Wenrick, it’s more than just a business. It’s also an opportunity to give back, whether it be volunteering time and services at the local library during a recent expansion, or assisting with clearing hiking trails at his school, Wright State University.

“Giving back is one of my passions,” he says. “There’s just something in my heart that likes giving back and making a difference.”

Wenrick’s advice for becoming successful is simple: Treat people like you’d like to be treated and be courteous of their time. “It’s always a choice to do the right thing,” Wenrick says. “Do the right thing and you will be successful.”

Wenrick is the son of Teresa and Ronald. He is a member of the Anna FFA Chapter, led by advisors Sarah Hellers and Tim Zimpfer.

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Since the invention of the push mower, cutting the grass represents a rite of passage for many kids. The only difference for Austin Nordyke was that his mower’s puttering speed propelled him to find a faster way to get the job done. And in 2012, this determination drove him to launch his own lawn maintenance operation—Austin Nordyke’s Lawn Care Service. It currently serves a healthy customer base in southwestern Kansas.

Nordyke began his business when he was in eighth grade, as part of his supervised agricultural experience (SAE). He soon realized that with all of the yards he was mowing, one simple mower would not allow him to keep up with the volume. So he purchased a zero-turn lawn mower. This allowed him to be more efficient and take on more yards. In addition, he invested in more backup mowers and soon was taking care of 65 lawns.

Though the money-making aspect first motivated him, all the opportunities that came with the business impressed him even more. “Over the last five years, I’ve been able to start my own business and successfully manage it,” Nordyke says. “I’ve been doing everything from bill-paying and basic accounting to taking care of my taxes.”

For Nordyke, his achievement is about more than just his business. It is also about his leadership skills and critical-thinking skills he credits FFA for developing. “I was always interested in the leadership activities that FFA offered, and it has benefitted me not only through high school, but through my first year of college,” Nordyke says. “The skills I’ve learned through FFA and through my business will stay with me throughout the rest of my life.”

The Hugoton, Kan., resident is currently studying engineering technology management at Wichita State University. “With my business background in lawn care, I found this pathway. While it’s a lot of engineering, it also involves business.”

Nordyke points out that his experience with FFA and with his business also helped him with a project in one of his college classes, where he had to develop an innovative product design. “All through that opportunity I was able to use my organizational skills, and eventually transition to team lead for the project.” Today his business has earned Nordyke top honors as he has been named 2017 finalist for the American Star in Agribusiness.

As for Nordyke’s words of advice to FFA members hoping to start an SAE project: “Do it! If you have the aspiration, go for it.”

Nordyke is the son of Shannon and Paul. He is a member of the Hugoton FFA Chapter, led by advisor Les McNally.

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Some people see a need and simply say, “Wouldn’t it be nice to have…?” But for Audra Montgomery of Carrington, N.D., she noticed a need and then took action to fulfill it.

Montgomery has been showing cattle and sheep since she was a young girl. When she was traveling to shows, she witnessed time and again many showmen who needed supplies, but there was no one to fulfill their needs. Cleverly, she decided to make this the assignment for her supervised agricultural experience (SAE). The result: Final Drive Show Supply was created.

“Once I had the idea, it kind of snowballed,” Montgomery says. “I received a grant through our North Dakota Foundation and purchased my first stock of products. I got my name out there and started taking my supplies to the various shows.”

Montgomery notes that her biggest selling point for her business was being on site, but it was also important for her to develop strong customer relations and good time management skills.

“You need to make sure you listen to your customers to help determine what they need and be available for them when they need you,” Montgomery says.

She has watched her idea flourish from a start-up to a successful business that has earned her top honors, as she has been named a 2017 finalist for the American Star in Agribusiness.

In addition to creating Final Drive Show Supply, she also helped start the Montgomery Ranch Annual Production Sale.

She thanks FFA and her hands-on experiences for her business success and she specifically credits an egg sales class she took her junior year. “During that class I learned how to deal with customers and fine-tune those skills and relationships.”

Montgomery also credits her parents and her advisor (who is also her sister) for their guidance and encouragement. “The support of my family and seeing this grow from, literally nothing, has just been one of the best experiences,” Montgomery says.

She says to others who are considering entrepreneurship, “The experience from doing any sort of business in general is just awesome. The things you learn about your business and yourself helps you grow as a person.”

Currently studying agricultural education at North Dakota State University, Montgomery hopes to find a position at a school closer to her home so she can still be involved with the family farm. She plans to continue her show business and perhaps one day pass it down in the family.

The daughter of Betty and Dennis, she is a member of the Carrington FFA Chapter, led by advisor Missy Hansen.

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