Brett Petersen has dreamed of farming ever since he was young. In fact, at the end of his sixth-grade year, the Murdock, Minn., resident was offered a job at Petersen Farms Inc., a diversified crop farm in west central Minnesota, where he swept the floors and put tools away.

As he grew older, he gained the trust of his boss and others around him. Soon more responsibilities were shared with him. A family farm incorporated in the 1970s, Petersen Farms Inc. runs 6,200 acres which includes sugar beets, field corn, sweet corn, peas, alfalfa and soybeans.

During high school, Petersen continued working at PFI and learned more and more about the business. In his ninth- and 10th-grade year, he learned about preventative maintenance as well as how to repair equipment when it breaks down. In addition, he also became the primary operator of the sugar beet conveyor. By his junior and senior years in high school he began doing all jobs associated with production of sugar beets and also invested in his own shares of sugar beets.

Upon graduation, Petersen enrolled in Ridgewater Community and Technical College for farm operations management. Petersen then had an opportunity to buy into a partnership that would eventually assume ownership of PFI. Petersen plans for his role in the partnership to be that of a sugar beet specialist. He also intends to return to Ridgewater this winter to study agribusiness. Petersen is the son of Paula and Kyle Petersen. He is a member of Kerkhoven Murdock Sunburg-KMS FFA Chapter, led by advisor Christa Williamson.

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Growing up on a farm four miles from town, Nathan Leystra remembers always helping his dad on his family farm. When he entered high school, his passion for agriculture continued to grow as well as his love for FFA.

The Randolph, Wis., resident worked with Leystra Vue Farms and Leystra Seeds. As soon as he was able, he attended workshops and spent time in the fields. He knew at a young age that he wanted to continue on the family farm and seed business.

Leystra’s position on the farm and seed business is that of a laborer with management input with a possibility of becoming a partner. As he’s grown older, he’s been given more responsibilities. Currently he is able to perform all tillage operations, planting and harvesting on the farm. In addition, he now not only does delivery for seeds, but he has also begun sales on his own. In addition, he now has his CDL, his Pesticide Applicator license and has taken his Certified Crop Advisors exam.

His love for agriculture continued to grow throughout his high school career and he decided to attend University of Wisconsin-Platteville and major in agribusiness.

Leystra says that every day he works with producers to identify problems and observe healthy crops. He hopes to continually work toward being a progressive agriculturist and continues to analyze the pros and cons and new advancements in techniques and technologies. Leystra is the son of Sarah and Todd Leystra. He is a member of Randolph High School FFA Chapter, led by advisor Keith Gundlach.

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At a young age, Riley Lewis was mentored by his father and grandfather on calf care, management, feeding and maintenance. The LaGrange, Ind., resident was soon working on his home dairy and crop farm, Lewis Century Stock Farm.

As he grew older, he learned more skills that he could employ on the farm and began to have more and more responsibility that even included managing and training employees.

Lewis is currently assistant farm manager for Lewis Century Stock Farm and runs the farm in his dad’s absence. When he first started, feeding calves was his sole responsibility. Prior to his freshman year in high school, his family remodeled the farrowing house into a calf barn. Lewis soon began taking on responsibility for the health of the calves, and they began to see improvement in calf survivability. Wanting to learn more about calves, Lewis’ vet taught him procedures to help treat his calves when illness develops. Today, Lewis feeds and manages the calves as well as taking care of the newborn calves.

Occasionally he also assists with calving, and he has worked on developing sustainable breeding practices.

Working with his dad, Lewis has established a way for him to increase his equity so he can eventually return to the farm and buy into it. He is currently attending Purdue University and studying agricultural economics.

Lewis is the son of Debbie and Brian Lewis. He is a member of Prairie Heights FFA Chapter, led by advisors Ben Leu and Ron Noll.

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Joseph Knapp Boddiford vividly remembers planting his own garden when he was 4 years old. While he planted, weeded and watered the garden he harvested more than just vegetables. He developed a love for agriculture.

The Brooklet, Ga., resident has continued that passion for agriculture as he has become more involved on his family farms.

Thanks to his uncle’s and his dad’s farms, Boddiford has been exposed to different management and operations techniques. On his father’s farm, he was exposed to various advanced technologies and a larger operation, while working on his uncle’s farm gave him the opportunity to develop skills on equipment repair and mechanics.

When working at Sylvania Peanut Company, which is owned by his father, Boddiford learned the importance of versatility. His experience at Boddiford Farm Service, operated by his uncle, allowed him to learn how to work with different kinds of fertilizers. By working on both operations, Boddiford says he gained insight to the input and output markets.

Currently enrolled at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College, Boddiford plans to purse degrees in agribusiness and crop science to assist in his decision to produce row crops in the future. He says he knows that farming is not just a job, but a way of life that one must love.

Boddiford is the son of Susan and Joe Boddiford. He is a member of Southeast Bulloch FFA Chapter, led by advisors Susannah Lanier and Brian Elrick.

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You might say the rodeo is in Garrett Yerigan’s blood. His mom and dad were both rodeo competitors, and when he was 2 weeks old, he attended his first rodeo. It’s something he’s known all his life.

But for this Pryor, Okla., resident, his path in rodeo took a different turn when he was younger because he discovered the microphone. At age 14, the Pryor High School FFA member received an opportunity to announce his first professional rodeo. That opportunity was just the first step in his journey as a rodeo announcer.

Yerigan became involved in FFA in eighth grade and part of that involvement included the agricultural communications proficiency. During his junior year, he focused his supervised agricultural experience on being a Pro Rodeo announcer. In 2014 he had his first trip to the International Finals Rodeo as the announcer and set the record for being the youngest announcer in the rodeo’s 46-year history. In addition, he was selected to work the National Junior High Finals Rodeo in Des Moines, Iowa, as well as a three-month-run in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec.

In 2015 he had his second trip to the International Professional Rodeo Association (IPRA) and was given a chance to join the team of in-house announcers for the Professional Bull Riders.

His SAE is now his full-time vocation and he couldn’t be happier. He gets to educate an estimated 100,000 people each year that modern rodeo was born out of agriculture and everyday tasks performed on working ranches. He credits FFA for molding him into the person he is today and says that he will continue to live the motto‑  “Learning to Do, Doing to Learn, Earning to Live and Living to Serve”‑ every day.

Yerigan is the son of Kathy and Dale Yerigan. He is a member of the Pryor High School FFA Chapter, led by advisors
Walt Taylor and Jarrod Melugin.

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Born and raised on a 700-acre crop and livestock farm, David Stenzel of Wells, Minn., admits that agriculture has always been a part of his life. In fact, the Union South Central FFA member says that his family has many photos of him playing with his farm toys and he can’t remember a time when he wasn’t hooked on agriculture and farming.

In ninth grade, he began renting his dad’s equipment and started custom baling road ditches for area neighbors.

Today, Stenzel and his brothers have expanded their market and now bale more than 40 miles of ditches. They market the hay to local horse owners and others throughout the Midwest. In 2010, they added custom feeding feeder pigs to their business venture. The client supplies the pig, while the brothers provide the building, water, electricity, manure disposal and livestock handling. They also started a farm drainage business, which helps crop producers manage the water properly to maximize yields.

Knowing that there is some downtime for tiling and cutting road ditches, Stenzel and his brothers made the decision to purchase a couple of semis and trailers to start hauling sweet corn and peas for Birdseye in Waseca, Minn. Since he started the business in 2009, the 21-year old continues to see the business grow. Moving forward, he plans to continue the partnership with his brothers and expand the business where they can eventually hire additional help for the hard labor so they can focus on managing the business. Stenzel is the son of Julie and Steve Stenzel. He is a member of the United South Central FFA Chapter, led by advisor Dan Dylla.

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When Madison Southern High School started an ag club at Foley Middle School during Terry Napier’s eighth-grade year, he knew that he’d be involved in FFA throughout his entire high school career.

He credits his introduction to agriculture class for helping to pave the way for his career. When he was determining what to do for his supervised agricultural experience, he realized he could use tasks that he was already familiar with and began assisting his dad with mowing, weed eating and trimming bushes. Soon the Berea, Ky., resident was expanding his job responsibilities.

During his junior year in high school, Napier was in charge of taking care of the equipment and making sure all equipment was maintained. In addition, he began to schedule appointments and bid on jobs. Soon he had doubled the business. Between his junior and senior year, his company was so busy that he was able to hire his first employee.

He is now in the process of incorporating his business into a limited liability company (LLC).

When he’s not busy with his business, he attends Eastern Kentucky University where he is working toward a bachelor’s in construction management.

Napier is the son of Kristy and Ray Napier. He is a member of the Madison Southern FFA Chapter, led by advisors Kevin Anderson and Brent Muncy.

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From the time when he could lift and throw hay bales, Shane Mueller was working for his dad in the hay field. While in high school, the Garretson, S.D., resident bought a few sheep and began restoring some of his dad’s farm equipment. Once he had the sheep, he knew that he would have to help put feed up for them and that meant helping put up hay.

After helping his dad with haying and learning the skill set, Mueller decided to start his own custom haying business. He discovered that there was a pretty strong demand for small square bales in his area, as most custom round bale operations didn’t want to do the work of square baling.

As Mueller’s business began to expand, he began advertising his services through Craigslist and soon the demand began to outpace his supply. He is now searching for more ground that he can bale so he can expand his business and continue to find other markets for the hay. As he continues to expand his business, he also has begun purchasing more equipment for his use.

The South Dakota State University student knows that keeping his equipment in good working condition is a large part of avoiding downtime. In addition he also strives for customer satisfaction, inviting customers on custom jobs to inspect the bales as they come out of the baler to ensure they are up to the customer’s standards.

Mueller is the son of Julie and Ed Mueller. He is a member of the Garretson FFA Chapter, led by advisor Ed Mueller.

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Production agriculture has been part of Tyler Schnaithman’s life from the beginning. He remembers starting with the simple tasks of sweeping out the barn and filling up water tanks and the excitement that followed when he was soon able to do larger jobs. He also remembers hearing from his grandpa about FFA and how he couldn’t wait for him to join. So, when he entered the eighth grade, the Garber, Okla., resident was more than ready to join the organization and explore all the opportunities that FFA and agriculture had to offer.

Schnaithman began his FFA career with Suffolk and Hampshire ewes and acres of wheat. He had partial ownership in a swather that he used to put up hay. Passionate about his sheep enterprise, he did everything he could to make it as successful as possible. This allowed him to learn the importance of management, record keeping and establishing connections when it comes to marketing. These same attributes helped him with his cattle enterprise, which allowed him to diversify. Soon, he started acres of his own cropland on a cash rent basis.

He has had the opportunity to sell many of his bushels of wheat as certified seed. In addition, producing alfalfa, running heifers on wheat pastures, breeding them and selling them as bred replacements has allowed Schnaithman to establish his own prices.

Studying agricultural economics at Oklahoma State University, Schnaithman said he wants to make sure he is doing his part in helping to feed the world as a family farmer.

Schnaithman is the son of Becky and Lee Schnaithman. He is a member of Garber High School FFA Chapter, led by Joseph McGovran.

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Evan Schaefer believes he was one of those people who was just born to farm. Both of his grandfathers were farmers as was his father, so at an early age, he was riding a tractor. The Bloomingburg, Ohio, resident’s love for agriculture just continued to grow as he got older.

When he was 9, Schaefer remembers his grandpa starting a sweet corn business for him and his cousins to operate. While he and his cousins were focused on picking the corn, learning about the business and money came later. Since then, the business has expanded and now even has a Facebook page and radio ads.

As a freshman in high school, Schaefer rented land from his father and raised corn and soybeans. In his first growing season, he learned about the agronomics of crops. He spent three years learning how to be a basic farmer. Soon, though, he expanded his acreage and knew he needed to become more involved. He worked purchasing equipment and began to work with a financial adviser to assist in financial management decisions not only for his operation, but also for himself in creating retirement options and budgeting.

He is constantly looking at ways to improve his operation. He is passionate about meeting world food demands by utilizing innovative technology while maintaining a safe and secure food supply. He currently attends Southern State Community College where he is studying business management. Shaefer is the son of Mary Jo and Tim Schaefer. He is a member of Miami Trace FFA Chapter, led by advisors Bruce Bennett, Amanda Swigert and Wendi Mizer-Stachler.

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