National FFA Officer Nominating Session

This past weekend I visited my old roots by attending the National FFA Officer Nominating Session in Louisville, KY. How the organization has changed! First, when I attended in the 1960s, the convention was in Kansas City. It will be moved to Indianapolis in a few years.

Now it has Star Farmer awards for entrepreneurs, agribusinesses, and scientists, as well as traditional agriculture. There was only one award in the past.

As I conduct programs with leading agricultural industries, I am astonished at the number of industry leaders who were former officers or award recipients.

The nominating committee asked questions ranging from biotechnology use to farm programs to educating the public about agricultural issues.

FFA, as well as 4-H, teaches many skills, such as leadership, teamwork, networking negotiations, communications, and self-confidence, to name a few.

I wish some of our high schools would not consider FFA as a second-rate program – only for those not interested in college. FFA goes a long way in building emotional intelligence, which can’t be measured by SAT scores.

Sports Perspective

Now there are only two undefeated teams in college football. It’s tough being the hunted rather than the hunter. Iowa looks real strong. Ohio State has the schedule but lacks schedule strength! Tip my hat to the Irish; they look tough.

In the NFL, it’s the team that gets hot from games 9-16 that usually carries to the playoffs and Super Bowl.

I guess the World Series was exciting. I like baseball, but it’s shown too late for me to watch on the East Coast. Sorry!

I was on a plane with the University of North Carolina-Charlotte Women’s Soccer Team. These are true student athletes. The team’s overall grade point average is 3.4, while four members have 4.0s. And, they’re ranked 12th in the Nation!

My e-mail address is:sullylab@vt.edu

Editors' note: Dave Kohl, Soybean Digest Trends Editor, is an ag economist at Virginia Tech. He recently completed a sabbatical working with the Royal Bank of Canada. He is now back at Virginia Tech with his academic appointment, which is teaching, extension, and applied research.

To see Dave Kohl's previous road warrior adventures type Dave Kohl in the Search blank at the top of the page.

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