Rick Patrick
rick@greenepublishing.com
During the week of Monday, June 19, through Friday, June 23, several members of the Madison County High School (MCHS) Future Farmers of America (FFA) Chapter made the trip to Orlando for the State of Florida FFA Convention. The trip proved to be a successful trip as both individual students and the chapter as a whole were recognized for their efforts during the past school year.
Ethan Bochnia was a finalist for his presentation on Wildlife Management. Bochnia addressed the need for predator management, especially forecastle ranchers. Bochnia spoke about coyotes, which can be a threat to cattle herds, and ways to mitigate that threat using night vision technology, etc. Coyotes are primarily nocturnal predators.
Olivia Galbraith was a state winner for her presentation on Swine Production Proficiency.
The MCHS FFA Chapter was also recognized as a Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE) Chapter Award Winner. To win this award, the chapter must submit at least 10 project applications spanning across at least five subject areas. The MCHS Chapter submitted 11 projects over seven areas, such as feeder swine, beef production, small animals and more.
The MCHS Chapter also received a National Chapter Award, based on the chapter’s 15 activities, all centered around strengthening agriculture, promoting leadership and building communities. These activities had to be activities not related to fundraising. Two of the ways the MCHS Chapter accomplished this were a recycling project and by sponsoring the Ag. Day at the school where younger kids were invited to come to the high school and meet chapter members and others in the community who are involved in agriculture on a regular basis.
MCHS FFA Advisor Kailee Jenkins expressed her pride in the chapter and the way they represent Madison County.