FFA beef show students share next steps in agriculture journey

MINOT, N.D. ( KXNET ) — Future Farmers of America (FFA) provides students different opportunities in the agriculture industry other than farming and ranching such as food science, landscape management, horticulture and more.

FFA students competed in the FFA Beef Show at the North Dakota State Fair today. Some of these students plan keeping the family tradition of managing the family farm.

“I think to follow the family tradition is to keep the family going. I want to keep the farm and ranch going at home and then when I have kids they can take over after me and just keep on going,” said Drew Anderson a Beef Cattle Showman.

Anderson said his dad is teaching him to how to prepare for these challenges by teaching him how to budget which will help set him up for success.

FFA student Molly Hansen knows how critical farmers are to the world.

“I think in the ag industry it is especially important to keep with your family traditions because the ag industry is only two percent of Americas workforce and we feed the entire population. If everyone leaves the farms and they consolidate into big corporations it just doesn’t have the same value and meaning it does if it stays in the family,” said Hansen.

She added that more and more people are becoming removed from agriculture, but farmers keep the world running.

Not every student will be staying on the family farm, some are going into in a different aspects of agriculture like livestock judging.

Lily Solemsaas said in livestock judging classes, they study four animals in each class like beef cattle, swine, sheep, and goats.

“A short summary of why you placed the class, you are kind of defending your placing basically trying to convince the judge of why you placed it that way and describe the animals accurately, so you are judged off of your content and presentation and that is probably the most difficult part of livestock judging but it also became my favorite over time,” said Solemsaas.

She added you can use your own style when you judge livestock and she’s excited to travel the world to see livestock from all over.

Agriculture technology is constantly changing, so there’s always new things to learn.

“The agriculture industry you kind of have to be at that cutting edge of trying different changes. Even the livestock industry has changed, animals being raised to produce more to be able to feed the world the best we can,” said Mitchell Becker, the livestock superintendent for the FFA.

Drones have helped producers determine how much seed or chemical you need to apply so they can be more efficient.

Becker said the number of FFA members are growing all over the country, there are now close to 1 million members in the US.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KX NEWS.