Lawn care business expansion results in finalist for prestigious award

TRENTON, Ill. — In 2018, Blake Twenhafel started BT Lawn Care with one customer, and during the next few years, he expanded his business to include over 50 commercial and residential properties.

“I did that through different advertisements with lawn care signs and marketing on Facebook,” said Twenhafel, who is one of four FFA finalists for the American Star in Agribusiness award. “Word of mouth really allowed my business to grow and expand.”

Additional finalists are: Nash McKenzie from the Boonville FFA Chapter in Missouri, John Buryl Neely from the Woodbury FFA Chapter in Tennessee, and Trevor Wright from the Hollister-San Benito FFA Chapter in California.

The top member in the nation will be announced on Oct. 31 during the 98th National FFA Convention & Expo in Indianapolis.

About 2021, the Wesclin FFA member hired several employees to help him with his business.

“I realized the time efficiency would be greater with multiple employees,” he said.

Becoming a finalist for this prestigious award was really thrilling for Twenhafel.

“I remember watching the Star finalists my freshman year and that gave me the inspiration to pursue my SAE and work toward various awards in FFA,” he said. “I never thought I would get the opportunity to be a finalist, but here I am and I am one now.”

The Star finalist lives on his family farm in southern Illinois, where they grow corn, soybeans and wheat.

“Our farm established my passion and drive for pursuing things in FFA and gave me a great background for when I competed in career development events and leadership development events,” said the son of Michael and Angie Twenhafel.

His favorite FFA activities were the agronomy judging contests and the public speaking contests.

“My adviser, Matt Fisher, is retired now, but he is the one that got me started in FFA activities,” he said.

In addition to serving as the Wesclin chapter president during his senior year, Twenhafel was the 2022-2023 Illinois FFA Section 22 president.

During the interview process for the Star award, Twenhafel was able to meet the other finalists and learn about their projects, backgrounds and FFA careers.

“That’s a big part of it, seeing what other people have done and what got them to where they are today,” he said.

This is not the first time Twenhafel will be on the National FFA Convention stage. In 2022, he was a national proficiency finalist for turf grass management.

“The same person from Missouri that I competed against in 2022 for the proficiency award, I am competing against again for this American Star award, so that is pretty cool,” he said.

Twenhafel graduated from Kaskaskia College in May 2025 and is currently a junior at the University of Illinois where he is studying crop sciences.

“I plan to pursue a career in the ag industry, along with being involved with my family farm,” the student said.

“I want to give a really big thank you to the people in my community that supported me,” he said. “I really tried to brand my business and set myself apart with a one-on-one connection with each client to make it more personable.”