FFA Week: More than 'weeds, feeds and seeds'

The National FFA Organization celebrated FFA Week, a national recognition of the work of students studying agriculture, from Feb. 21 through Feb. 27.

The weeklong tradition began in 1947, when the week of president George Washington's birthday was designated as National FFA Week to honor his legacy as an agriculturalist and farmer.

Three FFA chapters in the Cape Girardeau area were busy with activities commemorating the week.

The charter for the chapter at Oran High School dates back almost as far as the celebration's start, as that club was founded in 1953.

Both Oran High School and Saxony Lutheran High School held an event that always is a hit with the students: Drive Your Tractor to School Day.

Saxony Lutheran High School FFA studentstake to the road on their tractors duringdrive your tractor to school day Feb. 22.Laura Simon

Mark Berry, vo-tech instructor and FFA adviser at Saxony, said it was not only fun, but also held a special learning component for the students.

"We had 70 years' progression in the history of tractors," he said of the procession that began at Davis Farm Supply and ended at the school.

Berry said some students' grandparents let them drive their tractors, one of which dated to the 1940s.

Many onlookers lined U.S. 61 to watch the spectacle.

"It turned out to be a really good community event," he said.

Saxony Lutheran High School FFA students take to the road on their tractors during drive your tractor to school day Feb. 22.Laura Simon

Ken Eftink, who leads the chapter at Oran High School, said the event there was popular with his students, too.

"We thought it was cool because not many schools do this," chapter member Jacob Shoemaker said.

Drive Your Tractor to School Day had to be postponed at Perryville High School in Perryville, Missouri, because an unexpected snow hit, and school was not in session the day the event was scheduled.

It has been rescheduled for April 15, according to Will Allison, FFA adviser at Perryville.

It's not the first year they have lost a day during FFA Week due to the weather, he said.

Perryville students celebrated one of the FFA Week activities earlier in the school year because school officials feared the weather might give them problems again, and they wanted to ensure students were able to participate.

An annual excursion, the Supervised Agriculture Experience tour, was held in November.

"The SAE tour event consists of taking a busload of our FFA members (about 45 students) to area agricultural businesses," Allison said. "This year we toured Hulshof Farms and Tribute Farms in Benton, Missouri."

Touring the two farms gave students a look at operations that are very different, he said.

"Hulshof Farms is a row crop farm that raises many different types of crops, such as milo, wheat and silage, but focuses on soybeans and corn," Allison said. "Tribute Farms is a pasture dairy that is revolutionary in many of its facility designs and brings a completely different perspective to the dairy farm industry."

Other FFA Week activities students at Perryville enjoyed were Blue and Gold Day, Favorite Career Day, Favorite Tractor Make and Camo Day.

Leaders of all three schools agree the most popular event is one in which the students prepare a meal for others.

"After talking to other members, I've come to the conclusion the members like the Farmer/Teacher Appreciation Meal the best," said Bryce Dirnberger, a participant in the Oran chapter. "Every FFA member participated at lunch for an amazing meal of pulled pork and fries. It was a great way to give back a little for what the farmers and teachers have done for us."

Perryville students held a pancake breakfast on Saturday, something they do each year.

"You wouldn't think getting kids at school at 5 a.m. on a Saturday would be popular, but it is," Allison said. "Students love conversing with the community members, working with each other and promoting FFA. They have a lot of fun making the food and serving the community."

The entire event is planned, marketed and put on by the students, he explained.

"The sausage comes from a pig donated by one of the student's parents and is killed and USDA-inspected by a local butcher. Then the students take the whole pig and cut it up, season it and grind it themselves," Allison said. "The day of the breakfast, the students do all the cooking of pancakes and sausage, as well as making and serving drinks."

The meal is always open to the public and all you can eat. Attendees are asked only for a donation.

"We feed about 400 people each year and raise about $2,500," Allison said.

At Saxony Lutheran, the students prepare a meal especially for the faculty, Berry said.

The school also held a "Dress Like a Farmer Day."

The FFA program there is only two years old, so its FFA Week celebration grows a little each year.

Saxony is one of two parochial schools in the state that has an FFA chapter.

The FFA programs at all the schools are about more than just how to run a farm.

"FFA is not just cows, sows and plows, weeds, feeds and seeds. It's also leadership, business and science," Allison said.