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Imrtbeat Of America Is Winning:

FFA

NewHorizons

OFFICIAL

M A 6 A Z I NF.

OF THE NATIONAL FFA 0I6ANIZATI0N

June-July1992 Volume40 Number5

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8

Around The World

Agriculture economist

Mary Keough

shows

how

travel can

make

you

more

marketable.

It's

A

Free-For-AII!

Russian students are living on United Statesfarmstolearn aboutcapitalism.

12

Putting Plants

On The Moon

NationalagrisciencewinnerCybil Fisher takes alunarlookatgrowingplants.

16

Fresh

Air In

The Bronx

These

New York

state

FFA members

give citystudents atasteofcountrylife.

COVER STORY

From Shambles To Success

James Radfordisoneof

many

Longview, Texas,

FFA members who worked

^tore- vitalize theirchapter. Here he works in therenovated greenhouse.

Photoby

Andrew Markwart

PEOPLE

10

Down Home With The Kentucky Head Hunters

These

award-winning

musicians and former

FFA members

areproud oftheir agricultural and

FFA

heritage.

14

101

Ways To Spice Up Your Summer

Freefun,familyfun, fun outdoors, inside funandfunon your

own

awaitsyouwith this article.

DEPARTMENTS

4

FrontLine

7

Mailbag

18

ChapterScoop

23 FFA

InAction

25

GetTo

Know 26

Joke Page

FFANewHorizons (ISSN 0027-9315), formerlyTheNationalFUTURE FARMER,^{ispreparedand}published bimonthlyby theNationalFFAOrganization,5632Mount VernonMemorial Highway, Alexandria,Virginia22309-01SO,incooperation withthe U.S.DepartmentofEducation asaservicetostateandlocalvocationalagricultureeducation agencies.

NewHorirons

Magazine

Staff

Editor,AndrewMarkwart AssociateEditor.LawinnaMcGary ContributingEditor,John M.Pitzer

An&Production,LindaFlint Director of Advertising,GlennD.Luedke Publishing Assistant.Joyce Berryman Circulation FulfillmentManager.DottieM.Hinkle Assistants,JanetMagill,SusanFernandes,Heather Simpson

National Officers

National President,LeeThurber,RR1,Box111-A,Roca NE68430;National Secretary,MichaelStevenson, StevensonEstate.Hobson,MT59452.National Vice Presidents.ChadLuthro,RR1Box64.Moorland,IA 50566;ShaneBlack, Rt12Box433. Athens,AL35611;

WesleyBarefoot,Rt6Box165,Dunn.NC28334;Louie Borwn,Jr..12953 HoustonAve.,Hantord,CA93230.

Board

ofDirectors

Chairman,LarryCase;Membersof theBoard,Jamie Cano,EverettHarris,HughMcClimon,BobbyMuller.

TomMunter,DeweyStewart.LesThompson, Rosco Vaughn

NationalStaff

National Advisor,Chief ExecutiveOfficer,LarryCase;

ExecutiveSecretary,ColemanHarris;ChiefOperating Officer,BernieStaller;National Treasurer,CharlesKeels;

TeamLeaders

—

StudentServices,AndrewMarkwart;

TeacherServices. Marshall Stewart;SponsorRelations.

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DistributionResources, Janet Lewis andJamesLong;

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Trie '& Audit

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£2Z7

THE FRONT LINE

The Color Blue

A

black

man

^isseverely beatenbyfour whitepolicemeninLosAngeles.

A

ghostly videotape of the scene is

played time andagain ontelevision and peopleareangry.

A

yearlater,thepolicemenare found innocent by ajury. This time, most of America,especially blacks, areoutraged.

Live

news

footage

showed

people being beaten, businesses being looted and burned. Itlookedlikearevolutionfrom

some

third-worldcountry.Thisisnotsup- posed to happen in a nation where all

people supposedlyhave the righttolife, liberty andthepursuitof happiness.

Afterthe great leaps in the 1960sto

improve the civil rights in our country, time has eroded

away

that sense of ur- gency. Lulled into thinking thatevery- thing

was

goingalongjustfine,

America

gotarudeawakeninginthestreetsofL.A.

attheendofApril.

Equality is at the heart ofthis issue.

Equal treatment by police. Equal treat-

ment by a jury. Equal treatmentby each other,everyday.

Easyto say,hardtodo.

Mostreadersofthismagazineare white, middle-class high school students.

Why

shouldyou beconcernedwith these big, complex social issues? Because itstarts with individuals. Itstarts with you.

It stops by not going along with the

crowd

and laughingatthat racistjoke.It

means

notagreeing with ablanketstate-

mentofaraceof peoplelike,"all Mexi- cans are lazy." I've

known some

white people

who

are plenty lazy. It iseasy to saytoyourself, "sure,it'stherightthing todo"butcanyoustandby yourconvic- tions

when

it's your friends or family

members who make

such statements?

The

key ^is to

remember

that every individualisdifferent,regardlessoftheir color. In the movie

"Wayne's

World,"

Wayne

quotesthephilosopher Nietzsche, saying, "Ifyoulabelme,younegateme."

What

hewassaying

was

thatifyou

lump him

intothefacelessgrouplabeled"long- haired, metal-head, smart-alecks" you haven't

made

an attemptto

know him

as theunique personthatheis.Teenssuffer the most from this kind ofunfair treat- ment.

What

about the "hayseed,

dumb-

farmer"labelthat

FFA members

getjust

because

they have an interest in agriculture?

Are you

dumb?

No. This stereo- type continues becauseofalack of understanding.

Ifyou have ever

feltthattreatment, youhavegotten a

tasteofprejudice.

How

doesitfeel?

We

fearthings

we

don't understand.

That's okay.

What

isn't okay is to go through lifenot

making

theeffort toun- derstand.It

may

never be comfortableor easy,butsomeday,sit

down

and havean honest conversation withaperson ofan- othercolor.

Thoseofus

who work

for theNational

FFA

Organization are working to

make

thisan organizationthatopensitsarmsto all

young

people, regardlessofthe color oftheirskin,

who

they saytheirprayersto or

how much money

they have. This^isan organizationthat shouldpromoteoppor- tunity,notlimitit.

Maybe

oneofthe

ways

tostartimprov- ing theraceprobleminour country isin organizations like

FFA.

If groups like ours can be places where everyone ^is welcome, where everyoneistreatedfairly,

where everyonecanfeel likethey belong andfeelbetter about themselves,

maybe

then

we

willbegettingsomewhere.

You

andIhavethe

power

to

make

that differ-

ence. ^•••

FFANewHorizons

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your equipment running long and

strong.

Partslike

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Bearings,

McCord Gaskets,

Clevite

Heavy Duty Engine

Parts,

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Lighting,

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From Shambles To Success

How these FFA members revitalized their chapter

Longview, Texas, FFA

president Jo-

seph

Faughtenberry adjusts theirrigation

on

grapes. Chapter

members

also

grow peaches, plums,

blueberries,

shrubs and

vegetables."It's just

enough

to

keep everybody busy,"

says advisor Brian Kasper.

By

Lawinna

McGary

Are

^{you scared to} work? Are you scared to get filthy?"

You

can't say "yes"to thesequestions and

still get intoagriculture class or

FFA

in Longview,Texas. But it wasn't alwaysthat way. AdvisorBrian Kasper.

sayshisfirstyeartherewere 106students on the roster, and

many

of them were afraidto gettheirhands dirty. "I discov- ered there weren'treally 106 agriculture students. There were just 106 students with noplace to go. So I had a heart to hearttalkwiththem andsaid,ifyou'renot interestedinthisclass,I'llhelpyou change your schedule." Forty students weren't interested.

"Nobody

wantedtodoanything," says Kaspei. first year,

we

didn't even have enot indents truly interested in agriculture i hapterofficer elec-

tions. Only eig

howed

up for

our first

FFA mt

ie agriculture

program

was

almosi

Facilities were in

The

greenhousewasjustashell.There

was

no door, no benches or plants

—

^except

bermudagrass andjohnsongrass.

We

^liter-

ally had to

mow

the insideofthe green- house. It

was

thatbad," saysKasper.

He

addsthat

when

thechaptertried to raisefunds, "the

community

didn't

know we

existed."

Kasper

knew FFA

would thrive ifhe couldjustget local support.

"We

had to get our students in the public eye." he says.

To

let the city leaders

know

about

FFA.

students called theextensionoffice,

chamber

ofcommerce, andthecityparks andleisure service.

Soon,thecounty extension agentcalled themforhelp.There wasamajordrought in other parts of the state. Cattle were starving.But

Longview

hadplentyofrain.

The

extension agentasked chapter

mem-

bersto help load local hay, bound for the droughtarea,ontorai1roadcars.Afterschool andonweekends,studentsloaded700tons of cattle feed. Newspapers and even the

Cable

News

Network

(CNN)

ran thestory.

Sincethisfirstproject, thechapter has helped plan and build an outdoorclass-

room

and leisure areafor participantsat the

Gregg

County Association For Re- tarded Citizens.Before

FFA

helpedthem out,says Kasper,"Thestudents therehad basicallybeenignored."

Next,

members

planted about 2,700 trees at public parks and schools.

They

landscaped the

chamber

of

commerce

grounds,andreceivedagranttoreforest a local park.

Work Pays

Off

Chapterpresident,Joe Faughtenberry estimates he'sspent

more

than3,000week- end and after school hours working on these projects since he was a freshman.

But, he says,

"We made

^it fun. If

we worked

onaSaturday,

we knew we

were goingtoget fed."

A game

ofSoftballand timeto"kickback andrelax"

was

usually included.

Still, Faughtenberry did

make some

sacrifices.

He

sayshegave uprunningfor officeabovethechapterlevelsoLongview

FFA

could

grow

strongandbe

known

in the community.

"Maybe

[in the future]

otherpeoplewon'thaveto

work

so

much

on ourchapter, but can

work

atthe dis- trict,areaoreven statelevel."

He

says all of the

work was

worth- while. "It

made me

want to help others lateron.

And

^itopensupjob opportuni-

ties.

When

I graduate, business people will

know

I'm a good worker, because they've noticed

me

working throughout thecommunity."

ThankstostudentslikeFaughtenberry, injust three years, the chapter has gone fromnotbeingabletogeta localnewspa- perarticlepublished,tohavingthemedia

callthem forstoryideas.

"It's motivating to see we're making progress," says Kasper.

"We

have awards

thatotherschoolsaround heredon^'thave."

The

recognition has brought a

new

re- spectto

FFA. "My sophomore

year

when

Iwalked

down

thehallpeoplewouldlook at

me

andlaugh about

my

beinginFFA,"

says BonDurant. "It wasembarrassing.

Now

people say, 'Hey, he's in

FFA

—

excellent!'" ...

FFANew^Horizons

flZ7

M A

^I

^L B A G

Project

Pals

I

am

inthe

FFA

and was readingthe storyon Project Pals. I

was

touched by

thisstoryand wouldliketo help...Iwould

like to

become

apartofthis!

Bryon Branch

Morgantown,

North Carolina

I read the article,

"PROJECT PALS

ForThose

Who

Care," (April-May, 1992, page12) and thoroughly enjoyed it.

As

CabellCounty PublicSchools' Supervi- sorof vocational educationprograms and

theiryouthorganizations,I

am

very

much

interested in finding out all I can about thisprogram.

LindaNaymick-Harrison Huntington, WestVirginia

Up With

Agriculture Writing

Contest

Iwouldlike tothankyou and yourstaff andthe

FFA

forsponsoringthe

"Up

With Agriculture"essaycontest.It

was

agreat honor for

me

to see

my

picture in the nationalmagazinethatI'vereadfor years.

This is a great opportunity for all

FFA

members.

Angie

Stump

BlueRapids,

Kansas

Interview Survival Tips

Thank

youforyourarticleoninterview survivaltips(April-May, 1992,page20).

I

am

planning to incorporate this ar- ticleintoa unitof"gettingand keepinga job"

when

Iteach

my

Greenhouse

Man-

agementclass.

It isgreattoreadarticles directed for

FFA members

andforothersin agricul- tureeducationcourses.

TimothyA.

Micke

Schofield, Wisconsin In thephoto on

page

12 of^theApril- May, 1992issue

o/FFA New

Horizons,

Chuck

Hollis

and

PaulJenkinswere in- correctly identifiedasbeing

from

^Shirley.

Arkansas. Theyareactually

from Ham-

burg, Arkansas.

—

Ed.

Sendtettersor notes withname,addressand chapterto

MAILBAG, FFA New

^Horizons,

P.O.Box15160, Alexandria, VA 22309.All lettersaresubject to editing.

June-July. 1992

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«*0 ™* _^

For a \

Weil-Rounded Education

O

Agriculture economist

Mary Keough tells how travel can

make you more marketable

Career ^{ ^atch

By

Lawinna

McGary

West _seem ^Germany

_likealong^{and Japan}

_way

_from

_home ^may

for a Monticello, Wisconsin, native. But although

Mary

Keough,

manager

ofdairy economics at KraftFoods, haslived inothercountries, she'sneverstrayedfarfromherdairyand sheep farmingroots."I'vestuckwithwhat

comes

naturallytome,"shesays."Evenin collegeI pickedagricultural thesistopics wheneverIcould.Ialways

knew

^I would work in

some

formofagriculture."

Communications

was

another area she was always interested in.

When

she was nine.

Keough

enteredpublicspeaking con- tests in4-H.

As

ajuniorinhigh school she

won

third intheCentralRegion

FFA

pub-

lic speaking contest.

The

next year she

won

thestate

FFA

extemporaneouspublic speakingcontest.

The

associatedeanatTexas

A & M saw

hercompeteatthenationalconventionand wasimpressed.

He

offered herascholar- ship.

Though

shedidn't takeitrightaway,

after ayearattheUniversity of Wisconsin, Platteville,sheheadedsouth.It

was

there,

Keoug! lys,thattheopportunities really startedro in.

"I'd alv\ ^- wanted to travel interna- tionally, but,. dn'tafford^it.

Through

an

FFA Work

E, :eAbroad

(WEA)

grantto

Germany,

hance."

Livingandworkiiv ^. rmandairy farm helped

Keough

get^ ;htSchol- 8

arship [prestigious award funded bythe U.S. government] to

Germany.

"There arenot

many

Fullbrightsgivenforstudy- ing agriculture,"she says."The key for

me

gettingit

was

thatIhadalreadybeen

in

Germany

through

FFA.

"Everything

was

linkedtocontacts I

made

through

FFA.

It shows you can't always plan yourcareer, you've got to take the opportunities that are be pre- sentedtoyou.

Be

flexible."

Keough,

who

hasabachelors degree inagriculturejournalismandamastersin agriculturaleconomics,believes adiverse educational

background

helps

when

you'reworking towarda career."People used to tell me, 'You'll never have a problemfindingajobbecauseyou have suchgood communicationskills.'

Some-

Keough

lived

and worked on

a Japa-

nese

dairy. Here, her host brother,

Masanobo,

just can't

seem

to

make

that dairy

cow move.

times I find those skills are overrated.

When

Iwentoutlookingforajob,^Ifound people want real substance behind you.

Combine

agricultural journalism with somethingelse. Ifyou'regoingtomajor

incommunications,

make

sureyoumixit

with something. Everyone wants some- body

who

can put a subject and verb togetherorally andwritten.

We

^all need those fundamentals. But sometimes

we

getsidetrackedintothinking thoseare the only importantthings."

Keough

says understanding algebra, calculus, and othermath principles is a mustwith herjob.

Many

hoursarespent analyzingmarketconditionsandputting thenumbersintoaformatthatnon-dairy economistscan understand. ...

Tips For Success In Agricultural Economics

•Look for internships in the field. "I

was

anintern for theFederalMilkMarket- ingoffice,nearChicago,Illinois,where^I workedwith regulationof milk.Ideal with thatdailynow."

•Make

sureyourcollegegradepoint average is up to par.

"When

I

was

in school,peopletold

me

nottoworry about

my

gradepoint.I'venot interviewedfora job yet without being asked about it,"

says Keough.

•Never^letcollegegetinthe

way

ofan

education. 'Thereisjustsomuchoutthere.

When

anopportunityarisesbe prepared totakeit.Don'tbeafraidtotakemorethan fouryearstogetyourbachelors degree."

•"Don'tbeafraidtotakea low paying jobatfirsttogetexperience," saysKeough.

Some

ofthe bestexperienceyou can^get arewithgovernmentjobsthatusuallypay

lessthanindustry." Sheaddsthatatypical beginning salary intheagriculturaleco- nomicsfieldis$18,500^to$28,500.

FFANewHorizons

Its A ^{Free-Fbr-M 7}

Russians learn about

capitalism. ^Is

^it

the beast they imagined

or the blessing they

hoped ^for?

By

MichaelFlaherty

During ^communism

^{these are the}

rules.

You

have no choice.

You work

on a Soviet-owned collec- tive farm.

No

^free enterprise al- lowed.Thereisno

way

toprofit

beyond

whatthegovernmentgives you.In return, thestatetakescareofyou andallofyour basicneeds.

After

communism

there are norules.

You

'reon your

own —

^{free to}market your goods

however

you want. For the first time,you'realso freetofail,togowithout medicalcare,togowithout food.

Thirtyfarmers,studentsandbusiness-

men —

^mostof

them

from Russia

—

^arein

theUnitedStatesstudyinginclassrooms andworkingsidebysidewithAmericans

inagriculture.

They

'relearningaboutmar- ketingtheirproducts,and

how

tosurvive witha freemarketsystem.

"We

already

know how

to produce pigs,"says

Koba

Goulikachvill, aGeor- gian

who

is studying agricultural eco- nomics at

Moscow

University. "We're here to learn marketing and capitalism.

We

needtolearntothink differentlyabout agriculture,our

economy

andaboutwork."

FFA

foundfarm families for the stu- dentsandenrolledthegroupin aninten- sive six-week"shortcourse"atthe Uni- versity ofWisconsin in Madison.There theRussians studiedgrainandcattlemar- keting,feed-grainprogramsfor livestock, and eventheWesterntechniques ofregis- teringandprotectingprivate property.

Once

theirfarmchoresendinJune,the students will return

home

tofarm, teach or run their

own

businesses. In fact,

some

havealready returnedtotake advantage of PresidentYeltsin'sprogramof giving

away

private land.

Althoughthestudents areexcitedabout the opportunities in their homeland, they're also anxious about all of the

Harvesting

hay

the U.S. way.

Jim

Albers guides Russian studentVladimir Turkine.

changes.Itisdifficult,theysay, tounder- standthe roleofrisk

—

^andthe possibility offailure

—

^{in a market} economy. "The

main

thingisIseewhatcapitalism gives to aperson," says Sanal Selvine,aRus- sian staying on a small Minnesota

hog

farm.Butthereisadownside, headds."I

went through two years of the farm's balancesheets.Itisdoingvery badly."

The

Russians are worried they ^will haveatoughtimesucceeding

when

they return to farming with poor transporta- tion,

few

fertilizers and pesticides, and inefficientstorageanddistributionmeth- ods.

Two

years ago, the Soviet

Union

producedanear-recordwheatcrop

—

^only

tosee halfofitrot inthefield.

Plus, since thepeople have beentold whattodo bytheirgovernmentforcentu- ries,they'renotusedto individualinitia- tive.Thesepeople,saysRussian Valerie Voronin, are suspiciousofanyone

who makes money.

To

help

overcome

these problems.

Vladimir Turkine the son of a peasant farmerinnorthernRussiasays,

"We

need

to study your experience."

He

hopes to returnand farm his

own

parcelofland.

"With

my

wages(earnedworking on two Wisconsin dairy farms),I planto

buy

a

Terms To Know

Capitalism^-an economicsystem thathasprivateorcorporation ownership of goods. Investments aredeterminedbyprivate decision,notbystatecontrol.

Prices, production,

and

the distributionofgoodsaredeter-

minedmainlybysupply

and

demand.

Freeenterprise^-afreedom of privatebusinesstoorganize

and

operatefor profitin acompetitive system without interferenceby government(excepttoprotect publicinterest

and

keepthe national

economy

^inbalance).

Free-For-Ail^-acompetition opentoall,usually withnorules.

tractorandahaybaler."

But

more

than technology, he says,

"(his country's) farmers need to learn your management, marketing

—

^{and your}

willingnesstoadapt

new

ideas." ^"••

June-July, 1992

Down Home ^With

•.-™e%m^x±.

Young.

folks

inruralsouthcentralKentuckydon'tspendalltheirhot

summer

nights listeningtochirpingcricketsandcroaking frogs.Instead,theseneighborspullouttheirlawnchairsand

listen to the electric country-blues of the

Kentucky

HeadHuntersrehearsing inthe"practicehouse."

Comprisedoftwosetsofbrothers,RichardandFred

Young

and Ricky and

Doug

Phelps, and the Young's cousin Greg Martin,thisbandof family

members

shares strong beliefsinthe value offamily,

home

andagriculture.Anothertiethatbindsthe groupisthateach proudly says he

was

a

member

^{oftheNational}

FFA

Organization.

Allthe

members

grew upinruralareasandeitherfarmed on

theirparei farmsor hiredthemselves outtoareafarmers.

From

an -rview, primarilywith Richard (while Fred

was

outplowingth nien.andtheotherswerewiththeirfamilies) here'swhattheL '

members

hadtosay aboutgrowing upin ruralareasand

why

wanttopromoteagriculture today.

Q: Why do you

pi ote

FFA?

Richard:

We

didn'tbev ^sful just toget richandgo home. We're supposedtodo ^- ling

more

with our music.

10

These award-winning

musicians are proud of their

FFA and agricultural heritage

By

KellieTomita

We

havetheopportunitytostand forsomething,and

we

choose tostand forrural America and farming.

Our

country is losing

more

and

more

farmerseveryday andfarmingisbecomingless attractiveto

young

people.It's sad.

Q: Why

did

you

jointhe

FFA?

Richard:

Around

here,ifyou haveaninterest inyourlandand theheritageofyourfamilyandthat sortofthing,joiningthe

FFA

providesthe background and trainingyou need. I

knew

ifthe musicdidn'twork,therewould alwaysbethefarm.And,

when

I'mtoo oldtogallivantaroundtheworld, thenI'llhave150black

Angus cows

andI'llgo backfarming.

Q: What

activities did

your FFA Chapter

offer?

Fred:Iwasn'tonthestarjudging team,butIlikedwhat

FFA

representedandstoodbehind^it.Ilearnedalotofeverydaytype lessonsfrom ouradvisors.

We

wereboth chapterfarmers.

Doug:

My sophomore

year,I

was

secretary/treasurerand

my

senioryear I

was

president.

We

hada plot givento usby the school. All ofus would help

grow

cornor beans anduse the

money

forour annual banquetand^triptotheMid-SouthFairin

Memphis,

Tennessee.

Q: Why

^did

you wear FFA

advisorjacketsonthe

Country Music Awards

Stage?

Richard:

The

HeadHunters werebegged,hadourarmstwisted,

andoffered

money

toweartuxedostoawardshows. ^Until

we knew

the President of the United States

was

attending the awards,

we

were going to dress the

way we

always do.

We

thought,thisisour opportunitytosaysomethingfor the farmers.

We

wentoutandgot us atieand

FFA

advisorjacketsto

make

a statementthat

maybe we

shouldhave been farmers.Since

we

lovedthefarmsomuch, oneof our highestprioritieswasto

make

astatementforfarmers.

We

alsothought

we

weredoing ourpart toenticeyoungpeopletoseethatitisreallycooltobea farmer.

Fred:

We

^{wanted to}

make

our

FFA

advisors proud ofus because

we

wereneverstarfarmers,but

we

stood behindFFA.

Doug:

When we

woreour

FFA

advisorjacketsattheawards, FFANew^Horizons

it

showed

ourunityandpromoted

FFA

ina positiveway.

On

the

way

out,thePresidentcaught

my

eye and gave

me

thethumb's up.

He knew what was going on

with theadvisor jackets and the great

way

^it

promoted FFA,

farmers,

communi-

ties

and

^friends

back home.

Q: You seem

tofeelstronglyabout

your

advisor's jacket.

Why

^isthat?

Richard: Wearing thejacket whileI'm

away

fromthefarm gives

me

achance to standforwhere I

came

fromand what I

belongto

—

^{thisearth. Inever}

^owned

^an

^FFA

^{jacketandthat's}

why

I'mveryproudoftheoneI havenow.

Q! What

kind of

work

did

you grow up

doing?

Doug:

My mom

babysat

me

attheage offive bygiving

me

asmall cottonsackandtaking

me

topick cottonuntilthecotton pickers arrived.

Then

aroundage 10,I

weeded

beans anddid otherjobs.

When

I turned 15, I thought I had really

made

it

becauseIgottodrive thetractor.

We

alsopitchedwatermelons, hauledhayandchoppedcotton.

Q: What

did

you

likemost

and

leastabout

working

onthe

farm?

Richard: Every farm kid has an "I-don't-want-to-do-job."

Mine was

pullingtobaccoandI'llhateituntilthedayIdie.Fred alwaysgottositonthetobaccosetterbecausehenever missed aplant.IguessI

was

alwaysdreamingabouta guitarsoI'dmiss one every

now

and then. I think I liked hauling hay the best becauseit

was

likebeingon a team.

Q: How

did

you

learn about the

farm and how

to

do your

jobs?

Fred:Mostly,

we

hung aroundwith the tenant farmers

who

couldn't keep

me

off thetractor.

Doug:

My

grandfather

was

afarmer for

many

yearsas ahiredhand and dad

was

too for a while. Just being sur- rounded byafarming

community made

learningaboutagricultureseemnatural.

Q: How do you

feel about being

judged

by

your appearance?

Doug:

How

youlookisnotasimpor- tant as

who

you are. I've always be- lieved thatandIalwayswill. Ifsome- oneisjudging

me

on

how

Ilook,they needto

come

overandtalkto

me

about

it.

Then

they're going to walk

away

thinking, well, what a nice guy.

Our

image is nothing planned or formu-

lated.That'sjust

how

and

who we

are.

Q: How do

the

HeadHunters

feel

aboutdrugs?

Richard: Yes,

we

have ragged clothes. Yes,

we

have longhair.

And

yes,

we

dogetourhandsdirtyinthefield.

And

no,

we

don'tdo drugs.

Q: What

advice

do you

offer to

young

peopletoday?

Doug:Maintain personalintegritybyfinding out what'sright for you. Hopefully,

we

were raised right and

we know

the differencebetweenrightand wrong.

Richard:

Any

type of

work

ishonorable. Idon't care if it's

diggingditchesorbeing president ofthecountry.Don'tnarrow yourselfinagriculturetojustonething.

Go

tocollegeifyoucan

and broaden yourabilities.

Be

theperson

who

runstheSouthern StatesCooperativestore,or thecountyagent.Ifyou havealove foragricultureanddon'tseethatyoucould

own

afarm, don'tbe discouraged.

Become

a

member

of

FFA. You

don^'thavetodig the ground.

You

can attend law school and

become

a great lawyerorlobbyist for farmers.

Q: What's

^{important to}

you?

Richard:

My

family

comes

first,followed bythe farm and then music.Icoulddo

away

withthemusicifIhadto,butIdon't

thinkIcoulddo

away

withoutlivingon BeaverCreek.

The

thing that

made me make

themusic isthe farm.

Q: Would you perform

attheNational

FFA Convention?

Richard:

We

would lovetoplayat theconvention

when we

havetheopportunityinourschedule.

Q: How

^did

you

get

your name?

Greg: I discoveredthatthefamous30sand40s bluesartist,

Muddy

Waters,hadabandpeoplereferredtoasheadchoppers.

His band

would

gointo acluband asktositin with theband.

Then,theywouldtrytooutdothatband,often getting ajoboffer fromthemanager.

The

band

became

nicknamedtheheadhunt- ers.

We

liked the sound ofthe

name

and its roots and added Kentucky togive us a regional sound.

Q: How

did

you

get involvedinmusic?

Doug:

When

^I

was

fiveyearsold,a

man

droppedoffaguitar for

my

daddytotune.IaskedifIcould tuneit.

When

daddy

came

Fufm fotwn ^of America

Can you

findthe

two FFA members, and

future

Kentucky

HeadHunters,inthis1972

yearbook photo?

For answer,see

page

26.

home,

he

was

surprised that it was onlyoffa little bit.

So

he startedshowing

me

handpositions,butIhadtoadjust

them

tofit

my

smallhands.

By

^thetimeI

was

seven.Ihadthreeregulargigs atchurchevery week."

Neighborswillcontinue tohearthebandrehearsefromthe oldpractice housejustlikethey'vedone forthepast 20years.

The

HeadHunters will keep dressing in ragged clothes.

And

they'llkeep promoting

FFA

andthefarmer because,asRichard says,"There ain'tnothin' uncool aboutfeedin' theworld." _...

June-July, 1992 11

Putting Plants On ^Tht

This agriscience winner takes a

lunar look at growing plants.

By

LynnHamilton

Some

_might^day,_{be able}^the

^man

_{to have}^{on the}_{a garden,}

^moon

thanks to Cybil Fisher's agriscience project.

Fisher,19, spent her senior year re- searching

how

plantlifemight

grow

ina lunarenvironment.

Though

she didn't geta seatonthe

NASA

^{spaceshuttle,herproject}

didearnheratriptoKansasCity,whereshe was

named

the national winner in the Agriscience StudentRecognitionProgram.

Fisher, a

member

of the Green

Bay

East

FFA

ChapterinWisconsin,isoutto disprove the nerdy scientist stereotype.

"You

don'thavetobeamechanical,sci-

ence-minded genius," says Fisher,

who

maintained a B-average in high school.

"It'snotaboutbeingan

"A"

student,it's

aboutputting theknowledge you haveto

work."

Shewasturnedontoagriscienceatthe national convention her junioryear. Af- terwards,sheandheradvisorstartedwork- ing on ideas for a project. At the

same

time, theLunarAgriculturalExperiment Corporation

(LUNAX) was

looking for students

who

were interested in doing originalresearch onlunar agriculture.

"When

theyfirstexplainedthe project,

Iwasreally overwhelmed." Fishersays.

Butaftershe understoodthebasicterms andconcepts, she decided to

work

with twofactors crucialtoplantgrowth

—

^light

andsoil nutrients.

The

type ofplantsused

was

also akey factorin theexperiments.

LUNAX

sug- gested working with Wisconsin Fast Plants,arela ely

new

typeofplantthat hasa^lifecycle 49days, asopposedto severalmonths

k

traditionalplantlike corn or soybeans. fast plants are a relativeofthewildmu. rdplant,andtheir shorterlifespan enabled _hertorunre- peatedexperiments duringtheschoolyear.

Inthefallof1990, Fisherputonher lab 12

coatand wenttowork. Her

firstexperiment wastode- termine the

minimum amount

oflightthatthefast plantswould

grow

in,since onthe

moon,

plantswould

have

to survive lunar nightspansduringwhich it

nevergetslight.

She used two "incuba- tors" to control tempera- ture and light.

One

simu- latedEarthconditions,with

12hourslightand 12hours darkness per day,theother

was

a lunar

chamber

that she set for 15 minutes of light per day. Unfortu- nately, thatwasn'tenough simulated sun to keep her lunar plants alive.

With more

testingshefoundthat plantscould live with one

houroflightperday

—

^untilthey reached their reproductive phase

— ^when

^they

neededeighthours per day.

"Withthelightexperiments,Iexpected themtodie,"Fishersays. She foundthat thelunar plantswere comparableinqual- itytothose

grown

inEarthconditions,and actuallyhadahigher germinationrate.

The

next experiment with lunar soil

proved to be a true test of Fisher's re- searchskills. Shetookthe seeds shehad

grown

inthelightexperiment,andtested their growth rates in different types of

"soil"foundonthe

moon,

whichissimilar tosands. Sheputseedsintwo samplesof plain lunar soil, then tested six other sampleswhichcontained various types of fertilizer.

Fisher'shypothesis, orscientificguess, wasthatthe seedsinthefertilized"soil"

would

grow

better.

To

her surprise and frustration, only the seeds in the

Above and

right.Learningabout researchitself

was

an important result of Cybil Fisher's agriscience project."Peoplethinkit'sglamorous,butit'salotof hard work," says Fisher, including

waking up

at3 a.m.to

go check

herplants,aswellas going tothe lab

on

Christmas

and

Easter.

unfertilized"soil"grew, whilethe seeds in the fertilized cells died. It tookthree

more

tries with various adjustments to

coaxalleight plants togrow.

"That's

when

^Iwantedtoscream," she says."Ithought,

'Why

isitgrowinginthe

moon

soil? What's

wrong

with

my

hy- pothesis'?'"

Even

thoughthe resultswere different than she expected, she learned

some

interesting things.

"You

reallydevelop anappreciationfor

whatresearchersgothrough,"shesays.

Fisherisno

w

afreshmanattheUniver- sityofWisconsin-Madison, majoring in pre-vet studies,andhaspassed herproject ontothe

FFA

chapter'syoung members.

Shebelieves stronglyin theneed forre- search projects such as hers. "I see ^this type ofagriscience

becoming

alarge por- tionofthe

FFA

organization.Afterall,

we

are tomorrow's leaders in all areas of

agriculture." •••

FFANewHorizons

!fri

^^

•mwj

»

^.'i

-X"

r r

HHk

&

Astronomical Opportunities

Ifyouthinkfastfoodisexpensive here on earth,tryorderingaburger,friesand Cokeonthemoon.

Itwouldsetyoubackabout $50,000.

That'swhy DaveDunlop,ofthe

LUNAX

Corp., thinksitisimportanttogetpeople interestedinhowtogrowfoodonthemoon.

Hiscompany, whichstandsforLunar National Agricultural ExperimentsCorpora- tion, istrying to meetthechallengesof peoplelivinglong-termonthemoon.

"Togotothemoonandstay,andforthe

moontobea placetowork,

we

couldn't affordtheongoing expenseofshipping food there,"hesays, noting^itcostsabout

$25,000perpoundtosendfoodorother materialstothemoon.Thecompany publishesexperiment guidesforstudents andteacherswhowanttolearn moreabout growing foodinlunar conditions.

"Weneedtohavestudentsandteachers interestedinthisareatofeedthescientific pipeline,"Dunlopsays.

LUNAX

is lookingfor approximately50pilotschoolstoworkwith severalinexpensiveexperimentsinlunar agriculture.

Ifyouragriculturaleducationdepartment

isinterestedinfindingoutmoreaboutlunar agriculture, oryou wouldlike toconductan agriscience experimentinthisarea,contact DavidDunlopatLUNAX. P.O.Box275.

Green Bay,Wl 54305.

Formoreinformationaboutthe Agriscience Student Recognition Program,

write:JodyPollok, National FFACenter.Box 15160,Alexandria,

VA

22309orphone 703-360-3600. extension 264.

TheNationalAgriscienceStudentRecog-

nitionprogramissponsoredby Monsanto

Agricultural

Company

asaspecialproject oftheNational FFA Foundation.

m>,

lȣ.%^