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Agricultural education

Bill Northey visits Webster City High School FFA students

—Daily Freeman-Journal photos by Adri Sietstra Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey takes a picture of the plants growing inside the Webster City High School greenhouse on Tuesday afternoon. Members of the WCHS FFA along with WCHS FFA Advisor/Agriculture Instructor Kurt Veldhuizen gave Northey a tour of the greenhouse. Northey visited WCHS on Tuesday for National FFA Week and visited with FFA students about how they used the greenhouse for their classes.

It’s National FFA Week. In honor of agricultural education, Bill Northey, Iowa Secretary of Agriculture, visited FFA students at Webster City High School on Tuesday afternoon.

“Every week, I think we say, is FFA Week, but this is a special FFA Week and it’s important to highlight ag education and how important it is,” Northey said. “It takes a lot of supporters to be able to make it happen…certainly this is one of the stronger chapters in the state of Iowa, so it’s great to be here.”

FFA is a constructive way to mold the minds of tomorrow, according to Northey.

“FFA not only is great for teaching agriculture but it’s about making better adults too. There’s a lot of leadership lessons that are a part of FFA and ag education in general that are very constructive in benefiting Iowa wherever these kids end up.

Northey was given a tour of the agriculture department by FFA students and advisors. Kurt Veldhuizen, FFA Advisor/Agriculture Instructor, showed Northey the greenhouse used by students for a multitude of purposes. Currently, the greenhouse is being used to grow plants and as a birthing center. Danika Klaver, FFA Advisor/Agriculture Instructor, also spoke with Northey about agriculture classes at WCHS.

Northey spent a portion of his visit taking questions from students at Prem Sahai Auditorium.

Northey, who has served as ag secretary since 2006 and who still farms near Spirit Lake, explained that there was no FFA program during his time in high school and that the number of students engaged in FFA at Webster City is positive for the future of agriculture.

“I certainly appreciate you all taking advantage of agricultural education and FFA and how important it is. To me, it’s one of the really great things in Iowa,” said Northey. “We want to make sure we support it and make sure it’s visible. That’s one of the reasons for me getting out here this week.”

Northey informed students of the important role agriculture plays not only in Iowa, but around the world.

“Agriculture is a big part of an economy. It’s a lot of jobs in Iowa. We produced a record amount of corn and soybeans this last year,” Northey said.

According to Northey, Iowa grows more corn and soybeans most of the time than any other state.

“Thirty-eight of the last thirty-nine years we’ve grown more corn than any other state,” said Northey. “Only the United States, China, and Brazil are countries that produce more corn than the state of Iowa, which is pretty amazing.”

The new packing plant, Prestage Farms, that will be built in southern Wright county in the near future, will positively impact the area according to Northey.

“Only about four or five countries produce as much pork as we produce,” Northey said, “and certainly a beautiful, new packing plant that is going to be near here is going to be, you know, a thousand jobs with an awful lot of economic activity around it.”

Water quality was a key topic for Northey. He explained that water quality is one of his most time consuming current efforts.

“It’s all about nitrogen and phosphorus and the water that leaves our farms and cities and reducing the amount of nutrients that leave our farms and cities,” Northey said. “The whole premise is based on let’s be productive out there and do it in a way that has less negative impact on our farms and give the choices and technology for folks to be able to make better decisions on how they do it.”

Controlling erosion to a better degree and timing of nitrogen applications are two ways to be more productive and efficient while farming, according to Northey. This will lessen the negative impact on water systems. As technology advances, Northey believes this will help improve water quality across the state.

“Agriculture keeps changing. It’s better. It’s more sophisticated,” said Northey.

He encouraged students interested in agriculture to stick with the program because there is such a large job market across the agriculture job spectrum.

“Certainly I would encourage any of you that have any interest in it to stay interested in it. You can find lots of places to be involved with agriculture,” Northey said. “Certainly there are opportunities.”

Veldhuizen asked Northey if he felt the future of agriculture is more secure today than it ever has been.

“I really do think we have a stronger future. We have these big crops. We’ve actually had record production world-wide for corn, soybeans and wheat the last two years. So we have lower prices now than what we saw about five years ago and that means the profitability is much tighter. In fact, some people are just barely breaking even out there on the farm. It is more of a challenge economically than it was four or five years ago, but underneath that, you can see the demand,” Northey said.

Northey explained that with the demand for production rising, he sees a strong future in farming.

“The amount of corn and soybeans we use, the amount of meat that’s consumed, all those are at the highest level they’ve ever been,” said Northey. “We see solid demand out there for the things we’re doing, so in spite of the fact, we didn’t fall maybe as far as many of us thought we would have because we have solid demand.”

One student asked Northey what the most difficult aspect of his job is.

“One of the challenges is that it’s hard getting everything done that you want to do,” said Northey. “I travel to all 99 Iowa counties every year and try to do a few overseas missions to help sell our stock, try to get to meetings and groups…it’s hard to fit everything in a day that you want to fit.”

Northey explained that budget cuts at the state level, which are happening currently, make accomplishing goals more difficult.

Another student asked Northey how advancing technology impacted the number of Iowa farmers.

Northey used robotic dairy farms as an example of how the advancement of technology gives farmers the opportunity to cover more ground with less people. He also explained that not all farmers use the same technology or methods, so numbers could go both ways, up or down.

“I think to some degree we’re going to have less of some of the more mundane things that can be replaced with equipment, field equipment or technology. But the thinking we still need,” Northey said.

Northey also explained that many farming operations, including dairy farms, are doing more and more productions right on site. For example, many dairy farmers are beginning to make yogurts, cheeses, and other dairy products to sell along with their primary milk product.

“These are small operations, but they’re specialized and can be very profitable,” said Northey. “That wasn’t really available years ago because you didn’t have the technology to do that.”

Students also questioned Northey’s thoughts on aquaculture.

“We see some opportunities to grow aquaculture and some jobs around it. Obviously here in Webster City but we’re seeing some in south east Iowa and north central Iowa as well, so I think it’s something we’re going to see more and more of. Right now, the center of a lot of that work is here in Hamilton County,”said Northey.

Northey spoke about the importance of ag education.

“It’s valuable for folks to understand where their food comes from and all that it takes for that to happen, so whether kids end up in agriculture or not, this is valuable,” Northey said. “We need ag specialists and people that understand things and to be able to start off in high school having some lessons that make you a better agriculturist later on is a wonderful thing.”

“The kids had great questions about lots of different things…they paid a lot of attention and were very engaged,” Northey said. “It was fun to see the greenhouse and hear about the birthing center and hear about the new things happening here.

Northey was impressed with the community engagement and active role that WCHS has taken in the FFA and agriculture programs.

“Certainly it takes community support, so to see the kinds of things that have gone into creating the financial support within the school and within the community to be able to allow these things to happen, I mean that’s neat right now,” said Northey, “but there are new and better things for future generations coming through ag education and FFA here as well.”

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