AMERICA'S TRUCK:BUILT FORD TOUGH

ComputersinAgriculturewinnerswerenamedatan awards banquet onCapitolHill.

PhotobyJenMatties

1987's Best Computers

In Agriculture Projects

Robert Nickolaus named national winner.

SOMEWHERE

^{duringtheNational}

FFA

Computers

in Agriculture Seminar the42 state finalistsattendinggot to be

good

friends. But with a hectic

week

of hands-oncomputer workshops, touring Washington, E),C..and competing^fora national award, those friendships were

made

quickly.

The

seminarwasheld August8-12.at the Sheraton National Hotel in Arling- ton. Virginia, just across the

Potomac

River from the nation's capital. Robert Nickolaus of the

Hampton.

Nebraska,

FFA Chapter was named

national winner for his use of computers in agribusiness accounting and inventory control.

National officers Kevin Eblen, presi- dent,and.layme Feary, southern region vice president,hosted fellow

FFA mem-

bers,advisorsandparentstotheseminar sponsored by AgriData Resources,Inc.,

asaspecialprojectoftheNational

FFA

Foundation.

When

the

members

weren't giving theirproject presentations toa panelof judges,they wereⁱⁿworkshopslearning thelatest indesktop publishing,

how

to use the

Ag

Ed Network.

Butforalltherecognitionthewinners received and all the

new

things they learned, the obvious highlight of the conference was simply

FFA members

getting thechance to meet other

mem-

bers

who

shared the

same

interests

—

computers.

Let's

Go!

On

Tuesday, the group had their

phototaken onthe stepsoftheCapitol, attendedacongressionalawards banquet where the national winners were an- nounced and toured the Capitol.

Then

they rodethe

subway

out ofWashington

and were shuttled to theNational

FFA

Center.

They

toured theCenter'sfacilitiesand atesteaksatan

FFA Alumni

sponsored cookout where they mingled with a group of European exchange students.

After a tour of the nearby historic

Woodlawn

Plantationand

some

dessert, the

group

finally returned to their hotel

—

^{only after they} had invited the Europeans to a talent

show

they had organized themselves.

The

top five national winners were selected for their outstanding programs based on

how

they used computers in theirsupervisedoccupational experience

program

and

FFA

activities.

The

follow- ingare profiles of the winnersand their

computerprojects.

Robert Nickolaus Hampton, Nebraska

National Winner

Equipped with an

IBM PC

^andfiex-

ible Lotus 1-2-3 software,

Robert

Nickolaus

managed

warehouse inven- tory for four local cooperatives.

He

maintainedarecord ofsales,receiptsand transfers for the coops.

He

also cus- tomizedspreadsheetsand worksheetsto calculate inventory balances, monthly

sales andsalesforyear-to-date.

"The information from these pro- grams was used to

make

important decisions regarding purchasing, adver- tisingandclose-out items," said Robert.

He

usedthe

same

technologyto

manage

his personal farm records, lowering his

production costs and getting a higher price for his commodities by charting marketprices.

Tributes to Robert's success in busi- ness

management

go further than win- ning the

Computers

in Agriculture award. Just this year, he was

named

Nebraska's Star Agribusinessman and received thestate Agriculture Salesand Serviceaward.

Like mostnational winners. Robert's in\ol\ement started in his chapter.

According to Robert, the

Hampton FFA

Chapter uses its Applecomputer for almost every project.

"We

plan our programofactivities,budgetourfinances

and

write our

correspondence and

speeches with our computer.

Robert'sfuture projects include setting upacounty-wide bulletin board system with another student.

He

^isstarting his

freshman

year at the University of Nebraska this fall where he plans to

major

in engineering

and computer

science.

EllenWillianns Staley, Nortti

Carolina

Thisyear's second-place winner Ellen Williams, was publisher of the North

32 TheSalionalFl TlRE

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Andthewinnersare...

Pictured left to right are Bruce Herz, vice presidentolAgriData Resources. Inc: CIA winners RobertNick- olaus. first place;

EllenWilliams,second place;RandiRay,third place; Scott l^cKee.

fourth place; John Rygh, fifth placeand Larry Case, national

FFAadvisor.

Carolina \'ocalional .AgricultureTeach- ers Association ne\^sletter.

She was

responsible tor compiling information,

t\pmg

^It (using a

word

processing pro- gram) and then designingthe newsletter, which a\eraged 16 pages per issue. In nine months,she and herad\isor. Ra\-

mond

Cavincss. published eight news-

letters.

.Mongwith producingaqualit\'news-

letter. Ellen's goal was to showcase the capabilities of a

good word

processing

program

to people in agriculture. She admits."The NCV.'XT.A newsletter pro-

\ided

me

the unique opportunits to reache\eryoneⁱⁿ NorthCarolinateach- ing \ocational agriculture."

Ellen plansto get a degree inanimal science and attend \eterinarian school.

Then.

"When

¹ open

my own

clinic. I

plan to run it entirely on a computer system."sa\s Ellen.".All

my

records,bills

and schedules will be kept ondisk. This will greatly simplify the

paperwork

in\ol\ed inrunning

m\

practice."

Randi Ray Chowchllla,

California

Intoday'scompetiti\e dairyindustry,

knowing

precisel\ whereyou're

making monev

and losing it

—

^{is crucial.} For third-placewinner RandiRa\^.her.Apple lie is an in\estment that is pa\ing big di\idends.

She maintains financial records for her 35head ofRegisteredGuernseyand Holsteincattle. Alongwiththeserecords, she plansan annual budgetforher dairy

SOEP

and calculates net worth state- ments. Randi started using computers whenshe enrolledintheChowchilla's,Ag Business

Computers

course.

.As l')86-S7 chapter president. Randi created a chapter roster database. She usedword processingtodevelopacareer portfolio that she will use injob inter-

\iews. This fall. Randi is majoring in agricultural business at

Merced

^.Junior College with an

emphasis

in dair\

manaeement.

Scott

McKee

Liberal, Missouri

I.ike

many

oftheotherstatewinners, fourth-place finisher Scott

McKee

used the .AppleWorks software

program

^to

manage

his entire registered Hereford and Limousincow-calfproject.

He

used thesoftware, whichcontains

word

pro- cessing, spreadsheet and database pro- grams, on his Apple lie and lie.

He

alsouseda packagecalled .Ag-Pac which contains programs for analyzing different real estate crop and li\estock enterprises.

Afterhighschool.Scottisplanningon

a future in electrical engineering where he hopes to,

"make

electronics

more

a\ailable for agriculturalproductionand

management

decisions." Withvisionsof term papers

down

theroad,he plans on using the

computer

"e\tensi\el\" in college.

Jotin Ryghi Hermiston,

Oregon

Fifth-place winner .lohn

R>gh

(pro- nounced Rig). bclie\es that"if\ou want somethingdone right. %ou ha\e to do it

yourself."

"1de\elopedacomputer

program

that figures what nozzle sprinkler and pres- sureregulatortoput ineach outlet ona center-pi\ot irrigation s\stem." said John. ^"1 first considered writing this

program when m\

father and 1 put up threecenterpnots behind ourhouse.

To

get a printout that told what sprinkler.

nozzleand pressure regulator to use on each outlet would ha\e cost S80-SIOO.

When m\

fatherasked

me

ifIcouldwrite a

program

that would producea similar printout. I went right towork."

.lohn is

now

marketingthe program, written on an

IBM

PCjr, to other pro- ducers

who

irrigate. His selling price of S40 ^is about half what his competitors are asking.

He

isin theprocess of developingan Oregon

SOEP

Record

Book

program lor

IBM

computers, .lohn plans to pur- sue a career inacrononn. ^•••

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Water Waste

Ihe area's groucrs got togL'thcr with 'lookL', the kiL'al Soil and Water Con- ser\ation Distnet Boardand Dr.

Stamps and drew

up plans to test several promising, but untried,

methods

ol savingwater duringirrigationandIree/e proteetion.

Distriet laumakers helped the group

win a S25.⁽⁾⁽⁾⁽⁾ start-up grant from the

Florida I egislature. The growers ehose the C'reseent ^C'it\'

\\A

Chapterto help construet.super\iseandoperate thetest center.

Work

onthe lerner\ began late in

19S6.

"We

were ⁱⁿ it from the ser\ be- ginning." chapter

member

Stexsart Malphurs said.

"We

heljied eiect the shadestructures o\er the plantingarea, put in the irrigation and diaiii system and planted theterns. It washaidwork, but

we

knov\ the fernery trom top to

bottom now."

Theferneryislocated behind Crescent Cit\ High School on a plot formerly usedfor rcnvcrops. lt'sdi\ided into three

1 .^acre "shade houses." In one. the irrigation system is designed to spra\' water abo\e the shadecloth tocreate a thin layer of ice. forming a protecti\e igloo during freezing weather, in a second, a

new

"wobbler" sprinkler that disperses smaller water droplets over a wider area than conventional sprinklers will be tried, in the third, the students installed roll-upcurtainson the topand sides oftheshade structure to help shut in heat whenfree/escome.

"_ihese are methodsthat we"\e

known

aboutfor

some

time,but

we

ha\en'tbeen ableto run a meaninefiil test ona larize

((iintiniHclli'DHi l'(ii;i-J\)

scale."saiil Dr. Stamps, thestate's most knowledgeableresearcheroncutloliage.

"Our own

^test center is about 60 miles southof themain fern-growing areaand

we

don'tget nearly as

many

coldsnaps^"

Withthe

FFA

chapter's help, thenew fernery went up in time to catch three late-season Iree/es inearly 19X7.

"We

were able to run three quick studies.e\en though

we

didn't ha\etern planted \'el." Kenn\ Noble said, "in the ice-o\er structure,

we

putthermocouples

in diflerent places to measure ground temperaturesand ran wires toa central recorder, than recorded the tempera- tures, wind speed and times at regular intervalsall night long.

"Diditwork'.'

We compared

thewater use in the ice-over shade house to a

"control'terneryne,\ttoit. inthe ice-o\er Imuse.v\eonly turned onthewater tour times for a few minutes and used 64 percentlesswater thanthecontrolwhile maintainingthe

same

temperature."

in addition to the free/e protection studies, vv'hich ofnecessitywill

consume

only a few weeks each winter. Fi-.A'crs will conduct other, year-round experi- ments.

"We're using tensiometers. a device thatmeasuresthemoisture inthesoil,to tellus

when

to water."StewartMalphurs

said.

"Most

^fern growers just turn on

their water

when

it hasn't rained in a while.or

w

hentheirneighboriswatering.

We

think that b\ using tensiometers to getanaccuratereading,we'llirrigateless often. We're also monitoring tertili/er application rates to try to save

money

there."

USDA

conservationist Winston Tool<e, left,

helpsJason Byrdinstall a sprinklerhead in the test fernery while ag studentShermanHank-

insobserves.

Dr. Bob Stamps ol the University ol Florida checks ambient temperature on the lest ternarysshadecoverwithaninfraredsensing

"gun.

t-i ,\

members

willharvestandsellthe tern;ithasanincomepotentialotseveral thousand dollars per year. .Any income beyond what's necessary to operate the test site will help fund other chapter proiects.

.All his agriculture students, about one-quarter ot the high school's en- rollment, will benetit from working in theexperimental ternerv. David iirown said.

"I-ern is the biggest agricultural pro- duct in this part ofthe state. However,

we

wereneverabletoteach

much

about

it in vocational agriculture up "til now.

it'san

uncommon commodity

andyou won't read about it in textbooks." he said.

""With this ternery. we'll not onlv be doing

some

useful research. We'llbeable to train students to tunction in local agribusiness."

1he students keep extensive logs of irrigation, tertili/er application, labor hours and other data in Brown's class-

room, a small building where the walls and tables sag with state and national FF.A awards. Brown's students have a reputation of becoming involved in a

wide range ofactivities and excelling in

whateverthey do.

""This project couldn't be in better hands." tern grower Fee Mortis said.

"The intormation it will produceisvital to our industrv. While the growers are behind it.

we

otten can't spare the time and legworkit takes to

make

something

like this successful. We're depending on David,hisstudentsandtheFF.Achapter to carr\' this through, and

we know

thev'lldo a territlc iob." •••

Ocloher-Sovember./9,V7

Those Amazing Judges

This livestock judging team won

^ttiree

national CtiampionshipS

in

nine days. By

Olanne

L

Beetler

SIRENS

^{wailed; car horns}

^hanked

^and

cheering people lined the streets as the Atkinson, Illinois, fire trucks and rescue unitescorted the victorious team throughtown. Atthe highschool, team

members

proudly displayed their most recent trophy and received congratula- tionsfrom local residents.

Successful midwestern athleticteams often enjoy "welcome

home"

celebra- tions, but in Atkinson, the cheers and congratulations were for an

FFA

live- stockjudgingteam that had

won

three nationaljudgingchampionshipsin nine days.

Members

of the

team

were

Rob

Reiling, 17;KaleCausemaker, 18;

Mike

Stanek, 18;and

MarkTaber,

19. Reiling and Stanek recently graduated from Atkinson High Schooland

Causemaker

andTaber,Atkinsongraduates,recently completedtheirfirstyearatBlack

Hawk

East College, Kewanee, Illinois.

Competing

against 14 other

FFA

teams, they

won

the National Western Stock

Show

^Fall Classic

Youth

Live- stockJudgingConteston

November

10, 1986,inDenver,Colorado. Representing

Henry County 4-H

clubs, they

won

the American Royal

4-H

LivestockJudging Conteston

November

15 inKansasCity, Missouri.

Causemaker, Stanek and Taber

teamed with

Dan Hinshaw

ofNormal,

Illinois, to win the National

4-H

Live- stock Judging Contest at the North American International Livestock Ex- position in Louisville, Kentucky,

on November

18.

They

also qualified forthe Scottish Association of

Young

Farmers Clubs Stockmanship Contest in Edin- burgh, Scotland.

In the past fouryears, the Atkinson

FFA

team has racked up

more

than 3,000 victories

—

^{winning 98 percent} of the contests

—

^{and has not lost in}

more

Mark Taber, right, and Kale Causemaker, second from right, do

some

"hands on"

judging duringateam workout onafarm near

Atkinson. Photoby Author

thana year.

The

team was the 1985

champion

in state

FFA

livestock judging, 1985 National Cattle Congress

FFA

Live- stockJudging

Champion,

and winnerof the

Gold Emblem

atthe 1985 National

FFA

Livestock Judging Contest. In 1986, theteam again

won

the National

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