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FF/I DECEMBER-JANUARY, 1989-90

orizons

MAGAZINE OF THE NATIONAL FFA ORGANIZATION

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LEARN TO

PERFORM UNDER

•RESSURE.

Meeting

the

toughest

chal- lenges.

Coming through when

others are

counting on

you.

That's

what

lifeisallabout.

And

that's

what

the

Na\T

isallabout.

There's

no

betterplaceto

prepare

forall the challenges

of tomorrow than

inthe

\a\y of

today.

That's

because we

don't just

give

you top-notch

trainingin

challenging

fields like

nuclear propulsion,

electronics,

and computer

technology.

We

give

you

the responsibility that

goes along with

it.

You

learn

teamwork and leadership

skills.

You build

the

confidence you need

to

succeed

in

anything you

do.

Talkto

your Navy

recruiter,

or

call ¹-800-3

27-NAVY.

Start

learning

the lessons

of

a lifetime.In today'sNavy.

You NAVY are TomorroM^.

You are the Navy.

What's ⁱⁿ a Name?

For FUTURE FARMER

^{37 years.}

^The

^Nalionalmagazine was read and enjoyed by mil- lions ot

FFA

members, their families and countless

FFA

supporters.

When

themagazinebegan,ithelped con- nect anationofyoung

men

studying voca- tional agriculture and preparing fora fu-

ture infarming.

:-.w::s»p~.-''c~K'svr But today the

young men and women

in

FFA

are pursuing careers throughout the ag- ricultural industry.

Those

careers in- cludesales,market- ing, research and

many

others aswell asfarming. Withthe broader interests of our readers, we've broadenedthe

name

ofourmagazine and are prt)udlylaunching

FFA New

Horizons startingwiththis issue.

The name FFA New

Horizons

was

chosenbyacommitteeof

FFA members,

agriculture teachers, state

FFA

leaders, university professors,magazine staffand others.

The

groupfeltthatthe

name FFA New

Horizons positions the magazine as forwardlookingandthe

name

ties inwith the rising sun inthe

FFA emblem,

repre- senting""a

new

erainagriculture."

Selectionofthe

name

washelpedgreatly bysuggestedwords,

names

and

comments

from hundreds of surveys completed by

FFA

members,advisorsandstateleaders.

Focus on You

The

mainfocus of

FFA New

Horizons

will continue to be on you, the

member.

Every two months

we

will continue to deliver the most exciting stories in

FFA

today

—

withaneyeon tomorrow.

FFA

is

about achievement;

young

people chal- lenging themselves to accomplish

more

than they ever thought they could. It is these "profiles ofachievement" that will continuetobeattheheartofyournational magazine.

We

will alsokeep you

miormcd

about thecutting-edge trendsand inipurtani top- ics in agriculture

—

biotechnology, envi- ronmental issues, international trade

—

areasthataresuretoaffecteveryone.esf)e- ciallythose pursuingacareerinagriculture in the 1990s.

And

as it says on the cover, this is the

"Official

Magazme

of the National

FFA

Organization." which

means we

arc

com-

mittedtogathering

FFA news

fromallover the country and covering the "national"

stories, such as our special on National

FFA

Convention inthis issue.

Of

course,tokeep ontopofallthenev\s in

FFA, we

needtohearfrom you and your chapter. ^It's the letters, reports and press releasesfrom

FFA

chaptersthat

make

our departments like

FFA m

Action. Chapter Scoop. Mailbag.andtheJokePagecurrent and interesting.

A New Look The new name

isthemost obvious change,butyouwill notice

some

other changes

thathelp givethe magazine

afreshlook.Turn thepageand \ouwillsee a newly designed contents page.

The

de- partment headings, such ^as ""Joke Page"

and

"FFA

ⁱⁿ Action" also sport a new design.

Thisis ahistoric change for Nour

FFA

magazine.Since 1952.the

name

and even thecoverlogo hasremainedessentiall\ the same. We're proud of our new look but most importantly,

we

wantto

know

what you think about your

FFA New

Horizons magazine.Pleasesendyour

comments

to;

Mailbag.

FFA New

Horizons. P.O. Bo,\

15160. Alexandria.

VA.

22309-0160.

We'relookingforwardtohearingfrom you.

FFA New Horizons

Staff

December-January. 1989-90

Magazine

Staff

Editor-in-Chief.Wilson

W

Games SeniorEditor.JohnM, Pilzer MariagmgEditor,AndrewMarkwart Publishing Assistant.LmdaFlint Director of Advertising.GlennD-Luedke Advertising Assistant.Joyce Berryman Circulation Fulfillment (Manager. Dottie M. Hinkle Assistants.JanetMagill,Harnett Fidd, TracieWeekley- May, NoraBartock,VeronicaRutfner

National Officers

National President.DanaSoukup.RR1,Box 51A.

Spencer NE68777,National Secretary.JeffJofinson.

Rt2.Box938. Dover,FL33527;National Vice Presidents.WarrenBoerger.800 Rosedale Road,Inwin.

Ohio 43029; Brad Chambliss,Rt1,Hardinsburg,KY 40143;JayeHamby,BentonStationRoad, Benton,TN 37307,JeffreyIsom,PO Box455.Fruitland.ID83619

Board

ofDirectors

Chairman,LarryCase;MembersoftheBoard.David Coffey. JofinDenmark,TerryHeiman, Leonard Lombard!,DonaldMichael.DuaneNielsen.Les Thompson,WilliamT.Woody

NationalStaff

National Advisor. ChiefExecutiveOfficer.LarryCase;

Executive Secretary.ColemanHarris,National Treasurer, DavidA. Miller;AdministrativeDirector.WilsonW.

Carnes,Managerof InternationalPrograms. Lennie Gamage, FFAProgramSpecialist(Awards).Robert Seefeldt,FFAProgramSpecialist(Contests).Ted Amick, FFAProgramSpecialist(Leadership).TonyHoyt,FFA Programspecialist(Membership),Marshall Stewart;

Director of Information.William Stagg; Director ofFFA SupplyService.DennisShafer;ExecutiveDirectorFFA AlumniAssociation.RobertW. Cox;Managerof Accounting.JoAnnGrimes

AdvertisingOffices FFANew Homons

PO.Box 15160

Alexandria.VA22309 703-360-3600

TheBrassettCompany 5150WilshireBoulevard

LosAngeles,CA90036 213-934-8502

MidwesternStates

Karaban/Labiner Associates,Inc.

333NorthMichiganAvenue

Chicago.IL 60601 312-236-6345

Pennsylvania.Delaware,NewJersey Karaban/Labiner Associates,Inc 130West42ndStreet

NewYork.NY 10036 212-840-0660

PeterC Kelly,Inc 725 SouthAdams Road #260 Birmingham. Ml44009 RobertFlahiveCompany 22Battery Street SanFrancisco.CA94111

313-642-1228

415-398-4444

ADDRESSCHANGES:Sendboth oldandnewaddressto Circulation Department. FFANewHorizons. PO Box 15180 Alexandria,Virginia22309-0160.

CORRl '"ENCE: Addressall correspondenceto

FFANew ^{-r--^}PO.Box15160, Alexandria,Virginia 22309-0160 -.;-:;locatedatthe NationalFFACenter, approximately - -lessouthofAlexandna.Virginia.

SUBSCRIPTION:J.

(FFAmembers$1.75,

fiveormore 75e^each,i

$200extraforpostage C.

FFAOrganization.

.'^arinU-S.and possessions

trdues/.Singlecopy$150;

-r;.ubscriplion5,S3,50plus

- ^!1989 by theNational

fiZT

THE BOTTOM LINE

Several

^{yearsagoIheardaspeaker}

^{who made}

^aninteresting point.

He

saidthatso

many

times

when we

drivethroughthe countryside

we

seeschool buildingsandchurchesthat are abandoned andtailing down.

He

saidtoo often

we

viewthese as failuresandthink whata pitythattime haspassedthem by.

What we

reallyneedtodo.hesaid,isview themasagreatsuccess.

View

themassomethingthatserveditspurposeand^isnolongerneeded.

It isasuccessstory,not afailure.

And

so it is with the

name

of this magazine. The Ncitional

FUTURE FARMER.

For 37 years that logo hasgraced the front coveras this magazine served

FFA members

and it's secondary audience of parentsandothersupporters of

FFA. We

seeitas a great successstory. Itisa

name

thatwithstoodthetestoftime,diditsjob welland is

now

^readyto retirewith honors.

In order to survive, a magazine must be constantly changing.

Some

people sayamagazinetakesonapersonality,hasa lifespan andeventuallydiesunlessitisconstantlyupdatedandstaysintune withthereaders.

The name

changeis aneffort todojustthat.

Some

peoplerelatetheconcept ofa

new

horizontothe risingsun in the

FFA

emblem.

As

you will note in the section about the

emblem

inthe

FFA

manual."Therisingsunsignifiesprogressand the

new

daythat will

dawn when

allfarmersareeducatedand have learnedtocooperate."

We

believe the

new name

^signifiesprogress and

makes

astate-

ment aboutthe

new

daythat is dawning for

FFA

members. Cer- tainlyour farmersandotherworkersinthefoodandfiber industry willneedtobeeducatedtosurviveinaworldofinternationalmar- ketsandtheenvironmentchallengesthatlieahead.

We

believe the

FFA

magazinehasarole toplayinthetaskof helping

FFA members

prepare forthat future and the

new name

should helpdefine that goal

more

clearly.

As

astaff

we

areencouraged bythesupportforthe

FFA

magazine whichwasexpressedas

we

wentthroughthedifficulttaskof

com-

ingupwitha

new

name.

Even

the strongestadvocates ofthe

name

changedid notfeeltheeditorialcontentwasoutofstepwith

FFA

andagriculturaleducationtoday.

Under

the

name

of

FFA New Ho-

rizons this magazine will continue to carry stories for

FFA members

and storiesabout

FFA

members. It

was

^the

FFA

maga-

zine. Itstillisthe

FFA

magazine.

The

goalisforthemagazineto lead

FFA members

on to

"new

horizons" in their career and personallife,justthe

way

TheNational

FUTURE FARMER

did for yourparentsandin

some

casesforyourgrandparents.

We

hopeyou

like the

new

name.

We

also hope

we

can continue to count you

among

our readers as

we

pick up

momentum moving

toward the 21stcentury.

"^A^^^-^ ^, a^y\A^\UyQ^

FFANewHorizons

Nevs^Qri2Dns

OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF THE NATIONAL FFA ORGANIZATION

December^-January, 1989-90 Volume38 Number2

COVER STORY

14 10 ₂₁

Unlocking

the

Secrets

of Plant

Breeding On

thecover, IllinoisAgriscience winner

Mark McCuUy

records the growthrates ofthe hybrid seed corn heisresearching near Varna.Illinois.

Photo by Wilson

Communications

AGRICULTURE 11

Agriculture's

New Professionals:

Commodity Marketing

College senior Steve Kahlertrades

commodity

futurescontractson the Minneapolis Grain Exchange.

16

A View From

Atlantis Space shuttle astronaut

Mark

Leetalks

aboutthe Earth'senvironment and what concerned

young

peoplecan do.

BOAC Award Winners Meet

thisyear's national Building

Our

American Communities

winners from Coloradoand

West

Virginia.

National

FFA Convention A

full reporton the

news

andevents

ofthe

62nd

gathering of

FFA mem-

bers in Kansas City.Missouri.

18 30

Making

the

Trade

A new commodity

marketingcontest

isbeingtested by

FFA

chapters in three states thisyear.

Deer and

Buffalo

Pay FFA members Ken

and

Ko\

Holland

raise elk andbuffalo in Montana's

"Big

Sky

Country."

DEPARTMENTS 20

Winning

with

Value-Added

There's profittobe

made

bytaking that

commodity

just one

more

step

towardthe marketplace.

4 The

BottomLine

6

^Mailbag

7

Looking

Ahead

8 News

In Brief

34

^Chapter

^Scoop 36 ^FFA

^InAction

41 ^My

Turn

42

^Joke

Page

FFANewHorizons (ISSN 0027-9315), formerly TheNationalFUTUREFARMER,ispublishedbimonthlybythe NationalFFAOrganization,5632Mount VernonMemorial Highway, Alexandria,Virginia22309-0160.

December-January, 1989-90

College Catalogs Wanted

The Peach Couiuy

HFA

needs your

help.

We

^{are iryiiig to start a college}

libraryofailAgiicuUural Collegesinthe nation.

We

wouldgieatlyappreciate it ifyou could helpusbywritingtothe collegesin yourstaleandhavingthemsendacopyof their catalog lo Peach County

FFA

c/o Peach County High^School,900

Campus

Drive. Fort Valley.Georgia 31030.

Coiirutcy iciiiuiic It. ^\alley.Geoi^iia

Name Change

1 find ahardlobelieveyou're goingto

change the

name

ofthismagazine. Allof these new changes are demoralizing. 1

say. "Tf it isn't broke, don't fi.\ it." It's lasted aloim timeso

why

change'.'

Zckc

WcM

Bciiitinoin.Ti'Mis

fiZT

M ^A

^I

LB ^{A G}

New Not Always

^Better

We

noted with great interest yourar- ticle entitled "The Bottom Line" in the

October-November

issue.

Many

timesthe olderconceptsremain the best.

The

newersubstitutionsjust do not fill the gap.

New

does not always

mean

better as yourarticle plainly illus- trates.

We

thinktheyareomittingthemost important and meaningful^part.

Carl

and

PaulineCoiner WiHidstock. Virginia

More Than Hearsay

1

am w

rilingloencourageother people tojoin FFA.

Before I joined, everyone saidthat it

was only about pigs and

cows

but I let curiosity

overwhelm

me. ¹ have learned

many

things in

FFA

and enjoy every minuleofit.

Gidget

Malone

Preston.Mississippi

Young Farmer Contact

We

are local fami youth

who

would

liketocontact.some ofyour

young

farm- ers(forexample ineducation).

We

would like to correspond with young fanners aboutcrops, culture, ani- mals,etc. First

we

wouldlike

some names

that

we

can writeto.

Hanne

Rossen Fredensgade3

6300

Grdsten

Denmark Pen Pals

1wouldliketosuggestthatyouputpen palarticles inthemagazinetogive

some

ofthe

FFA members

a chance to get to

know

one another through letters.

BeverlyMeteulf Jasper. Missouri Sendlettersor noteswithname,addressand chapter to

MAILBAG. FFA New

Horizons.

P.O.Box 15160. Alexandria. VA 22309. All lettersaresubjectto editin);.

Washington apples

mean ^{healthier sales.}

America's favorite fruit is a natural for fund raising.

\\hilc

many people can

[xis.s

up

candy,

magazines

t^)!'

M

K{\\lew

can

.say iK)tt>cri.sp, juic\'

apples

fresh ffDni the

orchards of Wash

inoion.state.

The pick

t)fthecr);:) isa\'aiiablefor

your club

to sel1riL;ht

now - Red

Deliciou.s,

Golden Delicious or Gi'anny Smith,

justcall

or

\\ritetothe

address below

ft)ra free

bn

)chure

with

ci

jmplete

details

on how

to

make your

fui ^Iising

efR)n

tlie

an

)stprofitable

ever Washington Apple Commission

Fund-l^iisingDivision

i'O. Bo.\ 18,

Wenatchee,WA 98801 Phone:(509)663-9600

The

Original

Health Food.

CZ7

LOOKING AHEAD

fey:^

^>>.r. '^-> v»i>r

V

^-'• '^

^.

^-/

y

^ ^•.'

Looking like a cross

between

a dwarf

hippopotamus and

a Sharpei dog, the

Chinese Meishan

pigsare resistanttodisease

and produce

largelitters.

"^JMMi

More

Difficultto

be a TeenToday?

According to the California Depart- ment of Education, the top seven disci- pline problems in schools in 1940 in- cluded: 1) Talking; 2)

Chewing gum:

3)

Making

noise: 4)Runninginthehalls:5) Getting out of turn in line; 6) Wearing improperclothing: 7)Notputtingpaperin the trashcan.

The same

question

was

recentlyasked bythe

same

organization.

The

resultswere quitedifferent. Accordingtothepoll,the top seven problems in today's schools include: 1)

Drug

abuse ^- Nearly 50 per- cent of all seniors have tried drugs. 2) Alcohol ^- Nearly 90 percent have used alcohol,

some

on a daily basis. 3)

Teen

Pregnancy ^-Every31 secondsateenager

becomes

pregnant.4)Suicide^- Every 78 seconds a teenager attemptssuicide and every90secondsonesucceeds.5)

Rape

^- Thereare100,000casesofincestperyear.

Rape

has increased700percentinthelast

40years. 6)Robbery ^-Thirty percentof American seniors have shopliftedin the lastyear. 7) Assault.

This doesnot

mean

thatteenagerstoday areworsepeople,butthattheyare living December-January, 1989-90

with peer pressures vastly different from what their parents experienced 40 years ago.Also,

some

oftheproblemslisted

may

appearbecause there is

more

openness in discussing these topics today than there wasin 1949.

(Basedona reportinTheThirteen

Towns

newspaper,Fosston,Minnesota.)

Porl(Beliiesto

Poland

Between

15-22 millionpoundsof U.S.

pork bellies will be donated to Poland duringthe

coming

wintermonthsas partof PresidentBush'sfoodaidpackageto that country's

new noncommunist

government.

The

Porkbellies willbedonated under the

Food

for Progress Program which is

usedto supportcountriesthat

make com-

mitments to introduceorexpand freeen- terpriseelements intheireconomies.

The

value oftheporkbellies tobe includedin the shipment ^is estimated at about SIO million.

The

aid package

came

about through discussionsbetweentopBushadministra- tion officials and representatives of the NationalPorkProducersCouncil

(NPPC)

and theAmerican

Meat

Institute (AMI).

Chinese Pigs Welcome

The

People's Republic of China re- cently sent ¹40pigsofexoticbreedstothe United States, according to the U.S.

Department ofAgriculture.

The

shipment of Meishan.

Ming

and Fengjing pigs were obtained through a contract between

USDA's

Agricultural ResearchService

(ARS)

andtheChinese National Animal Breeding Stock Import and Export Corporation.

ARS,

the Uni- versityofIllinoisandIowaStateUniver- sityshared equallyinthecostof importa- tion and will receive equal shares ofthe imported animalsforstudy.

The

pigs are attractive to their U.S.

hostsbecause oftheir ability toreproduce.

Their twice-yearly litters average 16-20 piglets, with a record of 33.

Most

U.S.

breedsaverage 10-12piglets.

The

pigs are also hardier and

more

resistant to

some

diseases than U.S. breeds. Researchers willdetermineifthese characteristicscan help improveU.S. swineproduction.

The

overall objectiveoftheresearchis to cross the Chinese breeds with U.S.

breeds to increase littersizewhilemain- taining the lean yieldandqualityof U.S.

pork.

Soymark

to

Appear

Food

shoppers will soonbe seeing a

new "SoyMark"

symbol on

many

oftheir food productsatthe grocery.

The

trade-

mark

was developedto

^help

^{health conscious}

consumers

quickly identifyproducts

made

withsoybeanoil,which

is low in saturated fat.

" without having to read long and confusing in- gredientlabels.

The SoyMark was

developed by the

American Soybean

Association(ASA),a30.000-plus

mem-

ber farmer-run

commodity

organization toindicateahighlevelof soybeanoil in foodproducts.

The

trademark depicts the opening leavesofa so>beanplantinyellow against around-cornered greensquare.TTiewords

"SonOil"appear alongthebottomofthe design.

Food

manufacturers \\ illdisplay the

SoyMark

on the labels of products

made

with acceptable levels ofsoybean

oil.

SoyOil

NEWS ^{IN BRIEF}

New FFA Emblems Ready The new FFA emblems

for theoffi- cialjacket are

now

available

from theNational

FFA

Sup- ply Service.

The new emblems

include thewords""AgriculturalEdu- cation" insteadof'"Vocational

Ag-

riculture."

The

^first

new emblems

to appearonthe jacketswerepre- sentedtothe1989-90national officersatNationalConven-

tion inKansasCity.Alljacket ordersreceivedafterconven- tion will bear the

new

em- blems.

Old

emblems

on jackets

may

be replaced with

new em-

blems after the convention by sendingjacketstothe

FFA

Supply

Service.

The

old

emblems

will be re-

moved

andreplaced with

new

versionsat a cost of$7.95 plus

$2.00 shipping.

FFA members may

also

remove

the front and back

em-

blems at

home

and send

them

to the Supply Service in

exchangefor

new emblems

ata cost of $3.95 (price includes ship- ping).

Formore

information,call

703/360-3600.

ext. 281.

RAISING MONEY CAN ^BE

YOUR PET PROJECTS.

Americans Helping Americans.

For your PTA, church group,

scouts,

FFA, 4H,

anciother non-profitgroups,collecta

minimum

of200 Proof

Of Purchase coupons from

40-lb.

bags

of

newly reformulated

CLA5"'C® Puppy,

Adult,Lite,

orSuprL

e.

Manna Pro

will

donate

50t ^{^r}returned

coupon

toyc non-profit organization.

Put On A Show-With Manna

Pro.

Manna Pro has

apacket offree materials

on how

toset

up your

rules,

judging

forms,prizes,

and

otherguidelines-everything

you need

to

know

to

have

apet

show

thatwill

be fun and

profitable for

your

group.

Look on

the

back

of40-lb.

CLASSIC® Dog Food bags

for information

about

raising

funds with CLASSIC® coupons.

Or,for information

about

eitherofthe

above programs,

write:

Manna

Pro,PetFoods,1

No. Walnut,

Suite 125,Cleburne,

TX7603L

Manna Pro

New Career Film

'"Agriculture's

New

Professionals" is

a

new

film produced by the

FFA

that highlights exciting careersinthe agricul- tural industry.

Shot on location around the United States and Europe, the film visits seven professionals, mostof

whom

are former

FFA

members,

who work

inengineering, governmentpolicy, internationalmarket- ing, farming, research, environmental

management

and agribusiness sales and service.

The

fast-paced, 14-minute film was premieredatnationalconventionandwill

soonbeavailablethroughthe

FFA

Supply Service and on free loan from Venard Filmson

16mm

filmand

VHS

tape.

Production ofthefilm was sponsored by John Deereasa specialprojectofthe National

FFA

Foundation.

FFA Today Premiers, Then Put on Hold

The

first

FFA

Todaytelevision

show

premieredon 36stationsacross the nation onSeptember23.

The

first

show

focusedonagriscience andfeaturedGary Todd,nationalwinner

in the Agriscience Student Recognition Program,atourthroughMonsanto'sbio- technology research facilities and adis- cussion ofthe pros and cons ofbiotech- nology.

The show

was hosted from the Land Pavilion at

EPCOT

Center, part ofWalt Disney

World

inLake

Buena

Vista,Flor- ida.

Future

FFA

Today programshavebeen postponed^untilsufficient advertisersand sponsorscan be obtainedtofinancefuture shows.

Helmeid, McCall Named WCP

Directors

Cheryl Helmeid and

Mickey

McCall have been

named

directors ofthe 1990 Washington Conference Program.

Helmeid is a fomierWisconsin state

FFA

officerand^isreturning forher fourth year with

WCP,

hersecondasadirector.

McCall is aformernational officerfrom NorthCarolinaandwasa

WCP

^counselor

in 1989.

FFANewHorizons

Because Sheep ^Don't Look likeThis,

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start

here

^'

ClipThis.

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you've never groomed an animal for show before, don't worry. Stewart oy Oster

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help you learn how to

do the job

right.

Start by

filling

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this

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it

out, and mailing

it

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us.

We'll send you a free

illustrated

booklet or walTposter showing you

all

the grooming strokes, plus any additional instructional materials you need.

And remember, when

it

comes to animal grooming

clippers,

Stewart by Oster

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cm"

STW-89-5

FFA Members Honored ^for Community ^Service

Top individual and chapter named ^at national Building

Our American Communities conference

By

JodyE. Pollok

Jenny

_tional^PrattAchievement^was

^named

in^theVolunteer-^{1989 Na-} ism winnerattheSeventhNational Conferenceon

Community

Devel- opment held September 30 ^- October ^4.

Judges

named

Pratt national winner be- causeof her dedicationtoMarion County,

West

Virginia'sBuilding

Our

American Communities

(BOAC)

^project"Help Save theHigh Gate Mansion."

Pratt workedwith her

FFA

chapterin savingtheHigh Gate Mansion,ahistori- cal local estate, which was going to be purchasedbyafastfoodrestaurant. "The

historical value of High Gate Mansion would have beenlostifitweretorndown,"

saidPratt.

"A

partofour(community's) history would be gone."

Community

leaders agreed with Prattand her fellow

FFA

members, so they rallied to raise

money

topurchasethe property.

Prattpromotedtheprojectonbothtele- visionandradio,metwith governmental agencies and leaders and helped in sub- mitting grant applications.

The

first runner-up for the 1989 Achievement in Volunteerism award is

Robert Wilfahrt of the Kimball, Minne- sota

FFA

Chapter.

The

second- runnerup

isTraciHiggins oftheBartlett,Tennessee

FFA

Chapter.

Top Chapter Honors The

Flagler,Colorado

FFA

Chapteris

the 1989National

BOAC

chapteraward winner.

The

chapter created fourseparate livingsnowfencestwoofwhichare along Interstate 70. one of Colorado's most importanthighways,toincrease the safety ofthe road.

The

snowfences,whichcon-

sistofyoung

Red

Cedar andRussian Olive trees, were built primarily to serve as protective barriers against drifting snow.

They

also offer wildlifehabitat,conserve moistureai J topsoii.

Accordin^ oMitchKlann,Flagler

FFA

representative ^vcry

member

^inthechap-

ter, 19inall,we. nvolvedwiththe proj- ect.Maintenancec ^eliving

snow

fences

is essential, especi in the

summer

months

when

waterinj. .d

weed

control arevital toplantgrowth i; c survival.

The

other regionalchap.^.; ,dnnersare

the Marion County,

West

Virginia

FFA

Chapter, which

won

the eastern region

titleforthefifthtime; the Bowdle, South Dakota

FFA

Chapter,centralregion win- ner: andthe Taylor-Senior

FFA

Chapter fromFlorida,southern region winner.

National Conference

Eachyear everystatewinning

BOAC

chapter sends the

FFA member who

is

chairpersonofthe

BOAC

projectontothe nationallevel tocompetefortheAchieve- mentinVolunteerism(

AIV)

award. That individual also

comes

toWashingtonD.C.

totake partintheNationalConferenceon

Community

Development.

Forty-eight state

BOAC

project win- ners and theiradvisorsattendedthecon- ference. Participantsattendedworkshop sessionsandtouredthenation'scapital.

The

highlight of the conference

was

theTuesdayafternoonawardsceremony held on Capitol Hill. Participants spent the morning meeting withtheircongres- sional representatives.

Many

congress-

men

accompaniedthe

BOAC

winnersto the luncheon where the results of the

BOAC

and

AIV

competitions were an- nounced.

Attheconference,

FFA members

and advisorsheardfroma

number

ofagricul- tural leaders, includingthe HonorableE.

"Kika"delaGarza,chairmanoftheHouse

Committee

on Agriculture; SenatorPat- rickLeahy,chairmanoftheSenate

Com-

mitteeon Agriculture, nutritionand for- estry; Roger Semerad, senior vice presi- dent of

RJR

Nabisco andpresidentofthe

RJR

NabiscoFoundation;BillHollis.past national

FFA

vice president and

Dana

Soukup,national

FFA

^{president. •••}

The

BOAC program

is

sponsored by

RJR

Nabisco

Foundation, Inc. as

a

special project of the National FFA Foundation.

Advisor Larry

Watson

helps 1989 AIV winner

Jenny

Prattwithher

new

jacket as

Dana Soukup and

the Honorable Kika

de

laGarza watch.

Odle

Dowse,

left,

and

Daren

Jones

roto-till

around

the

young

trees that the Flagler,Colorado,

FFA

Chapter planted asa "livingsnowfence."

10 FFANewHorizons

Agriculture's New Professionals

Commodity Marketing

By Andrew

Markwart

It's

thedarn

middleman

^who's

making

all the

money

in agricuhure today!"

Farmers huddled together in coffee shops around the country have mut- tered those words foras long as anyone can remember.

When

corn producers hear the statis- tics about

how

"onlytwocentsworth of

com

go into a box of cornflakes," it's natural forthemtoget alittleruffled-the farmer hasdonemostofthe work,right?

Butwhat ifthere were nocornflakes?

And

what would happeniftherewasn'ta futuresmarketthatkept

com

fromtaking wildprice swings?

Steve Kahler ^is amiddleman.

He

has ^' studied the trade diligentlyincollegeand

'

has begun his

joumey

into acareer area ;

filledwith possibilities.

Kahler,22.isa seniorattheUniversity of Minnesota majoring in agribusiness administration. While most college stu- dents don'tbother withthebusinessworld

untilaftergraduation,Kahlerjust couldn't wait.

InFebruary 198S. Kahlerbegan trad- ing grain on the Minnesota Grain Ex- changethroughabroker.InJuneheleased a

membership

withtheExchange, which enables him to

make

transactions in the trading pits.

The

advantage, he says, is that

when

it'stimetobuyorsellafutures contract,"you

make

asplit-second deci- sionandtheonly delayisinyouramis and hands."

His dealings with

commodity

futures tradingbegan

when

he wasa

sophomore

at Sherburn High School. Kahler was introduced to the system by hisagricul- ture teacher,Robert Roesler,

who

taught futuresmarketsand hedging inclass.

That

same

year hedecided toraise 18 head ofcattleforhisSupervisedOccupa-

tional Experience Program.

By

the time hewasaseniorin1984, he

owned

65head ofheifersand

was

watchingthemarkets.

"I wentto ourlocal commodities broker and learned a little bit about hedging -

how

it worked,

how

you sold a futures contract and

how

this protected you,"

recallsKahler.

Abouta

month

laterhefeltthefutures prices had peaked and sold acontract in the feeder cattle market. This meant he DecemberJanuary. 1989-90

Steve Kahler tradesfutures contracts

on

theMinnesota Grain

Exchange.

guaranteed that he would deliver a spe- cific

number

ofcattleata specificplaceon

a specific day in return for a specific

amount

ofmoney.

A

few weeksafter he sold the future's contract, the market started taking anose-dive.

AccordingtoKahler,"Augustfutures on feeder cattle were trading right up around$72apound andtheydroppedall the

way down

toalow

of $51. For every dollar that

market

dropped, I gained

$440."

He

played out his

"hedge" bybuyinghis contract back, at a

much

lower price,

which released

him ^____^.^^_^^

from any obligation

to actually deliver the cattle.

The

same day he sold the cattle at the local stock yards.

By

doing ^this, the former

FFA member made

$8,000

more

profit thanif

he hadsold the cattle at thecashmarket valueonly.

He

was 17 atthetime.

Kahler admitsthere

was

abitof begin- ners luck involved withhis firsttrade. "I

was

lucky that the market did what I

expected ^it to do,"he cautions. "People need to understand that there is real risk involvedhere."

Trading contracts on the Grain E.\-

change floor is a big

jump

from selling

You make a split-

second decision and

the only delay is in

your arms and hands.

one feeder cattle contract, but it didn't happenovemight.Kahlerliterallygothis foot in the door at the Grain E.xchange v\hen he worked for a \ear giving tours and

semmars

to visitors.Duringthattime, hega\etourstoo\er 7,tK)0guestsranging from 7- to 80-years-old.

He was

also writing a market report called

"MGE

Trading rrends"thatwassenttofamiers.

elevators, brokers and foreign tradeambassa- dors thatgavean o\er-

Viev\ of what the mar-

ket had been doing.

These

jobs enabled Kahler to "learn a lot

about futures markets before I got into trad-

_^^^^^^^^

^ing.

"

.As a "speculator."

which is

someone

w ho bu\s and sells futurescontractsinorderto

make

aprofit, Kahler hastraded nearlv amillionbushels of

gram

since he began, averaging about .W.OOObushel perweek. In Minneapolis, he trades hard red spring wheat futures contractsonthetlooi^.

He

also trades

com

andsovbeanctrntractsthroughabrokerat theChicago BoardofTrade.

Kahlersavs that although speculators

make

a profit from price tluctuations in the markets, they also play an important roleinacceptinga laige

amount

ofrisk,a majorelement inthefuturesmarket^.•••

11

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V wmM _{Unlocking the Secrets}

of Plant Breeding

Mark McCully combines an inter- est in science and agriculture to find new solutions to problems in

,^ ^the seed corn industry

-'^^-^^mm !r.-»^..,.

Mdsl _com

^lainicis_andsec^looklittle^at

mote

^{a stalk ol}than livestockteedoigraintosell loi cash.

When Maik

McCullv looks at a coin plant.liesees

new

challengestoconquer.

Soon

enough, this 18-)ear-old

FFA member

liom Vaina. Illinois, will begin to ponder: hi.)w can

we

increase ^ield.s?

How

can

we

better insure pollination.'

How

can v\ebuild abettercornplant?

Such

are the visions of an up- and-coming plant

^

breeder, agrono- mist, and SLientist

- all areas where

McCully

excels, andareas vtheiehe hopes to

someday

work. His interest in science has al-

ready paid oil' lor seed corn gioweis.

His pollination delay sciencepio|- ect could help seedsmen suUe a

problem that has pu/./ledihciiieach spring

when

dealii duction.

Left to Moihci Natuie. the male corn plant in

some

h_ '^rids will shed pollen aboutfive da>sbe, le thefemale inbred plant can accept il. ^' r.iditionally. seeds-

men

willplant themale -..'ediiibreds five days later than the feinak- mbreds. then hope thetwoplantsachieve pollination.

"The project Mark is

pursuing couid provide some very beneficial information

to tile hybrid seed corn industry. " —

Griffith

with seedcorn pro-

I'his strategyworks well enough, ex- plains McCully,butitstill involves risk,

"if heavy rains or

some

other weather condition would delay planting of the maleseedby

more

thansi.xorsevendays, asevere reductioninpollinationcouldoc- cur." he says. Thai's because the male pollen releasewould

come

too late.

"In a severe situation, the end result could bethelossofhundredsof thousands ofdollars,"hesays.That wouldtranslate to higher costs for

^ seed,highercoststo

_

_{_}

farmers,andpoten- tially higher food costs for U.S. con- sumers.

After two years of

much

research.

McCully

discov- ereda

way

todelay pollination

among com

plants so that

seedsmen would

face less risk in production ofseed.

He

found that the

growth

regulator ethephon,

which

goes by the brand

name

Cerone,would delaygrowthofthe male plant ifappliedin therightpropor- tion about five days before tassel emer- gence

—

thecriticalpoint

when

pollina- tionoccurs.

McCully

"sprojectisstillinthe experi- mental stage. He's working on

how

to isolate the spray from the female ^plants and avoid stunted plant growth. But the

experiment itself was a success by any standard.

"The less

money

it takes the compa- niesto raisetheseed, thecheaper^itwillbe availabletothe farmer." explainsMcCully.

"As

a farmer,you wouldn't haveto face the possibilityofajack inprices,because thiswillhelp

make

theseedindustry

more

stable inproducingseed."

McCully'sideasstirred theinterestof

Lynn

Griffith,presidentofGriffithSeed Co..

McNabb.

Illinois.

He

was so im- pressed he allowedthe studenttoconduct his experimentsonplotsfeaturingtwoof thecompany'sinbredlines. "Theproject

Mark

ispursuingcould provide

some

very beneficial informationto thehybrid seed

com

industry,"saysGriffith.

Corn

is

King

Bothfannersandagribusinessmenlike Griffith, depend on enterprising young pet)ple like

McCully

to improve crop profitability.Evenwithgovernmentseta- side programs, ^last spring U.S. fanners planted 72million acresofcom.

making

itbyfarthecountry'smost abundantcrop.

Notsurprisingly,

McCully

wasreared on a farm

smack

in the middle of the nation's cornbelt.

He

began his agricul- tural experienceprogram with five head of Polled Herefordcattle, 10acresof

com

and 3 acres ofoats, expanding the next year withanother 10 acresofhay.

By

his senior year he was raising 16 head of cattle. ¹6acresofcornand 24acresofhay.

Throughoutthattime he hasworked on scienceprojectsthatrelate toagriculture.

14 FFANewHorizons

"F

vebeen doingscienceprojectssince

Iwasintheseventhgrade,andthey^'veail dealtwithcom,"saysMcCully,a

member

oftheMid-County

FFA

Chapterat Mid- County High School. "I think

when

I

started out I was

more

^{interested in the} farmangle.

They

werea lot

more

practi- cal,thingslike solar graindrying."

McCully

wasn't looking for awards

when

hebegan ^the pollination delayex- periment.Allhewanted

was

tolearn

—

a point

made

clearby thefact thatheeven attempted this particular experiment.

When Mark

firstdiscussedhis ideawith UniversityofIllinoisagronomistDr.Fred Below, he was told it was doubtful he would find an agent that would delay pollination. Dr.

Below recommended

a

more

"safe,"guaranteed experiment.

By

then, though,

McCully

was con- vinced of the experiment's value.

The

rest,as theysay.is history.This

summer

hewas

named

StarFannerofIllinoisand competednationally inthe

FFA's

Agris- cience Student Recognition program.

He

earned top honors at the Illinois Junior Science andHumanities

Symposium,

then

won

firstplace intheBotanycategoryat the National Junior Science

& Humani-

ties

Symposium.

That awardearnedhima tripto

London

for theInternationalYouth Science Fortnight.

"Almostall

my

judges have

commented

on the fact that they liked this project becauseit

showed

aproblem,Iresearched

it,

came

upwith the solution,and

now

^it

can be appliedtosolvethatproblem,"he says.

His project

was

also featured at last

month's National Agricultural Career

Show

held inconjunction withthe 1989 National

FFA

ConventioninKansasCity.

FFA Means

Agriculture

— and Science

McCully

sayshelikesthe

FFA's new

emphasis on science asit relates to agri- culture. "Ithinkscienceandagricultureis

agoodmix," hesays.

That mixture

may

bethekeyto

FFA's

survival.

McCully

thinkshigh schoolag- ricultureenrollments are decreasing be- causestrictercollegerequirements,

some

emphasizingthesciences, are tyingupall theclasstimeofcollege

bound

agriculture students

— making

agricultureoneofthe firstclassestheydrop.

"Vocationalagricultureisagoodclass to take but if there's no

room

in your schedule it's the first thing to go," says McCully,

who

plans to transfer to the

University of Illinois after two years of juniorcollege.

"And

Ithinkalotofcoun- selors thinkthat way."

McCully

speaks from experience.

He

chose to drop a math class as a junior because hedid notwanttodropagriculture class."SoIended upwith onlythreeyears of math, whichI

may

regret,"hesays.

"Schools would have to alter curricu- lum slightly, buthaving ag classescount

for science credit would be one

way

to boost enrollments," hesays.

"In agriculture

we

cover scienceasfar assoils,chemicals,plant science,but

we

alsodo mechanicsandsurveying.

To make

that a science credit it would have to be centered around soils and chemicals, a little genetics, and possibly

some

horti- culture,"he concludes. _•••

Mark

McCully

used

a

growth

regulating spray

on

the

male

corn plantsso they

would

be readyforpollinationatthe

same

timeasthefemaleplants.

December-January. 1989-90 15

A ^{View From Atlantis}

By

Michelle

Domangue

Shuttle Astronaut Mark Lee says

agriculturalists need ^{to consider wtiat}

^is

hiappening to Earthi's environment

hen

Mark

Leeorbited theEarthlast

May,

hisobser- vationswereperhapsalittledifferent fromthose of otherastronauts.Hisconnectiontoagriculturemade himsensitive, in a special way,to whathe

saw —

clearevidenceofcountries burningofftheir forests causingland erosion, depletionoftheozonelayerand atmospheric changes.

Lee,a37-year-oldastronautand U.S. Air Force major,

made

his first trip into space aboard the shuttle Atlantis.

On

that mission, he

was

assignedtolaunchthe spacecraftprobe Magel-

lan.

The

satellite will eventually orbit the planet

Venus

and, through radar technology,collect detailedinformation about our

neighboring planet.

OriginallyfromViroqua, Wisconsin,Lee grew up ona

mink

ranch surroundedby dairy farms. After graduating from high school,he earnedacouple of engineering degrees,trained asan Air Forcepilotandtookmilitaryassignmentsaroundthe globe.

The

National Aeronauticsand Space Administration

(NASA)

selectedhimasanastronautcandidatein 1984 andassignedhim as amissionspecialist thenext year.

Hisactivities

now

focusmainly onthe U.S. spaceprogram but Lee's otherinterestsinclude raisingcattleandfarming.

He

and his wife, Deirdre, recently bought land in his

home

state

wheretheyare startingan

Angus

^herd.

The

logofor theiropera- tion.Astro

Angus

Farms,featuresand

Angus

bullridinginto

space

—

^{atopashuttle.}

One

of Lee"s tasks last

May was

to deploy the spacecraftMagellan, designedtoradar-mapthe

•- surfaceofVenus. Magellan's mission ^is"to tellwhetheror not there are rivers,volca- noes, valleys,^hills,like

we

havehere,"

heexplains.

"Venus

isalmostthesame

^

^sizeasEarth, but the atmosphere ^is 90 times our atmospheric pres- sure,and it's 900degrees Fahr- enheit.

So

we're trying to un- derstand

why

^the Earth ^is so k perfect,and

why Venus

^isso

^ ^much

different."

He

wonders if Venus' forbidding conditions hold

' any predictions for us.

"We'retryingtojust seeil'

'

Venus

^is similar, or not,"

he continues.

"They

talk about

Venus

havinga run-

away

greenhouseelfecl."

No

one's saying Earth willend upwith exactlythe same conditions as Venus has, Lee adds. "But if

we

don't take care of our planet

—

if

we

burnupalltheforests,

and ^if

we

don't take careofthe rivers

—

we'll haveahard time supportingthepopulation

we

have, from anagricultural standpoint."

Lee's concerns stem from a deep lovefortheland, especially the beautiful, rollinghillswherehegrew up."I'm notan environmentalist," heclaims. "I think ofthe

environment

more

from the standpoint of

how

beautiful the landishackin

my ^home

^town...and

^how

FFANewHorizons