OFI 717: Getting Some Time Away From The Farm For Perspective | FFA SAE Edition | John Loudenburg | McCook Central High School FFA

SHOW NOTES

INTRODUCING JOHN LOUNDENBURG!

This interview really stood out to me in several ways.  First off, my guest, John Loudenburg is attending his first two years of college at Colorado Mountain College in Steamboat Springs.  This is not an agricultural college, so he explained that he was getting his general education classes taken care of prior to transferring to a four year university.

John explained that he needed to get some time away from the farm to assess if that is what he wanted to do for the rest of his life.  This is the first time that a student has ever told me something like this.  And, I dangerously made the assumption that John had been farming on his family’s farm all of his life and was kind of burnt out.  But, I was wrong.

John told me that when he started the FFA, and he was coming up with an SAE project he decided to farm corn and soybeans.  This was not something that his family was engaged in.  His grandfather, whom he had never met, farmed these crops.  And John found himself inspired to do the same.  So, he found a way to rent ground and purchase equipment when he was 15 years of age.  He has been farming and growing his acreage ever since.

John has a very healthy perspective on life, and that is what allowed him to take some time away from farming to make sure that this is what he wanted to do.  He told me that after two years away, he has decided to transfer either to the University of Wyoming or South Dakota State University to study agricultural business.  He has decided that farming is the life that he wants, and he is now ready to return to what he has started and build upon that.

This perspective that John has led to be a national proficiency finalist this year.  It has also helped him to almost double his acreage over the past four years.

SUPERVISED AGRICULTURAL EXPERIENCE: Crop Production

HIGH SCHOOL: McCook Central High School; Salem, South Dakota

MASCOT: Cougars

FFA ADVISOR: Terry Reickman

CONTACT INFORMATION FOR JOHN LOUDENBURG:

Click on the picture below to be taken to the McCook Central High School Ag. Department’s website:

John’s FFA Advisor’s Email Address: terry.rieckman@k12.sd.us

McCook Central High School’s Telephone Number: (605) 425-2264

FFA LINKS:

National FFA Organization

Supervised Agricultural Experiences (SAE’s)

Support FFA 

Donate to FFA – One way that FFA students are able to start small businesses is through an FFA grant of $1,000.  In 2014, 141 FFA students received these grants.  With your donations, more students can get this head start – pay it forward.

REASONS TO DONATE TO FFA:

• Only 2% of Americans grow and raise most of the food and livestock consumed by the other 98% as well as the rest of the world.  FFA is providing the needed education, training and resources to Americans that will carry that torch forward and insure that America continues to have inexpensive, quality food.
• Rural Communities will rely on entrepreneurship in the future for population growth and job creation.  The FFA is a major catalyst to that entrepreneurial growth.
• Farmers, ranchers and those working in agriculture give the rest of America incredible amounts of freedom because the search for food is as simple as going to the grocery store:

“The future of American agriculture depends on the involvement and investment in America’s youth, In order to prepare for the population of tomorrow, we need to encourage America’s youth today, and show that careers in agriculture are profitable, rewarding, and vital.”.

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, Sonny Perdue

Where Off-Farm Income And Matt Brechwald Can Be Heard:

Member Of The National Association Of Farm Broadcasters