April 24, 2024

Time to celebrate: Winners in the 4-H/FFA Youth in Agriculture contest

By James Henry

Judges’ Favorite — Mary Jones of Monroe, Indiana: “Raising lambs for 4-H is a true passion of mine. A Mini 4-H project has turned into my business, Mary’s Little Lambs. I am a 10-year member this year and have been a part of the sheep project every year. My hard work and drive to always push myself has come from this project. Showing sheep at the local, state and national levels has afforded me many opportunities, including the honor of winning numerous banners and awards. Most importantly, though, my 4-H sheep project has given me the chance to give back to the organization by being a mentor to several younger members who are in the beginning stages of their 4-H experience.”

LA SALLE, Ill. — AgriNews is once again leading a celebration of youth in agriculture. Last year, after the cancellation of county fairs and state fairs, AgriNews launched its own 4-H contest online. This year, the contest has been expanded to also include FFA.

See all of the entries in AgriNews’ 2021 Celebrating Youth in Agriculture contest at: qr.shawlocal.com/youthinag21.

The public could vote for their favorite in each category once a day online. A panel of judges also picked their favorites.

Here are the 12 winners — the judges’ favorite and the people’s choice in the six categories: 4-H Livestock, sponsored by MacAllister Agriculture; 4-H Crops & Conservation, sponsored by NDY Manufacturing; 4-H Foods & Nutrition; 4-H Arts & Crafts; Mini 4-H; and FFA Experiences.

Youths could enter multiple categories. Projects had to have been completed between Aug. 1, 2020, and July 31, 2021.

The Winners

4-H Livestock

Category sponsored by MacAllister Agriculture

People’s Choice — Olivia Gieseking of Whiteland, Indiana: “I have been in the 4-H swine project for eight years. This project has taught me a great deal about responsibility, hard work and perseverance. Each year I set a new goal for my project and this goal-setting has helped me continually better and improve my animals and showmanship skills over the years. These are skills I will take with me into furthering my education after high school and future career.”

4-H Crops & Conservation

Category sponsored by NDY Manufacturing

Judges’ Favorite — Maddi Simpson of Morris, Illinois: “This is my vegetable gardening project. I decided to plant a vegetable garden this year and I researched while doing it. I wanted to learn when to plant things and when harvest would be ready. This project was important to me because I will use this information from year to year when I plant my garden. I love gardening and hope to grow my garden next year.”

People’s Choice — Kallen Pequignot of Havana, Illinois: “This is my archery project. It is important to me because I worked hard on it and I love archery.”

4-H Foods & Nutrition

Judges’ Favorite — Connor McCauley of Streator, Illinois: “This project became important to me this last year when I found certain foods were not agreeing with me. My dad and grandmother taught me how to shop at the grocery store. The healthiest selections are the outside aisles with fresh fruits and vegetables. I learned how to read boxed, canned and frozen-food items and understand the nutrients of fats, sugar, sodium, protein and other contents. I helped plant a garden and take care of tomatoes and peppers. My grandmother taught me how to use them in making a spaghetti sauce with low sodium and sugar and select spices. Bon appétit!”

People’s Choice — Makayla Learned of Penfield, Illinois: “This is a photo of my cake that I competed with in 4-H this year. The theme of my cake is a memorial for my great aunt who passed away earlier this year. My aunt and my mother were the ones to pass down the tradition of cake decorating in my family. For the past 10 years being apart of 4-H, I have competed in the Champaign County Fair 4-H Show in cake decorating and every year my aunt helped me with my cake. For multiple years, I received Champion Cake in multiple divisions, State Fair Delegate and Best in Show. This year was my first year without my aunt’s help, which was hard. I instantly knew that I wanted to make a cake in honor of her, incorporating multiple key things about her such as her favorite color green, calla lilies, antique wooden candle holders as cake stands and greenery. For the Champaign County Fair, I was the Champion Advance Cake, State Fair Delegate and Best in Show. Just recently, I took my cake to the Illinois State Fair 4-H Show. There I won Champion Advance Cake. This was a tremendous feeling that is unlike every other time I won with one of my cakes, and I know that my aunt would be so proud.”

4-H Arts & Crafts

Judges’ Favorite — Katelyn Garner of Crossville, Illinois: “Katelyn made these candles as part of her Visual Arts-Heritage Arts project. This is her third year studying candle making. This project was important to her because she learned some cool techniques for working with wax.”

People’s Choice — Kallen Pequignot of Havana, Illinois: “This is my tractor project. I loved doing it with my dad.”

Mini 4-H

Judges’ Favorite — Kade Parker of Columbia City, Indiana: “This was my first year in Mini 4-H. My favorite project was Farm Animals, and I also participated in the mini mentor program. This is a picture of me showing my mentor’s chicken at our 4-H fair. She taught me a lot and our families have become friends. I am looking forward to taking this project again and have already asked her to be my mentor next year!”

People’s Choice — Maria Schnelle of Lockwood, Missouri: “Maria made this quilt for her Clover Kid project. Her grandma helped her tie the pieces together. She loved spending time with her grandma and was excited to complete this.”

FFA Experiences

Judges’ Favorite — Tyler Hortsmann of Trenton, Illinois: “I would like to start off by saying thank you for the opportunity to be able to share my FFA experience. My FFA experience is an internship; the internship consisted of working with crop-dusters. I have gone to airplane events in years past, where I learned a little more about airplanes and what they are involved with. This year I was involved with airplanes that are involved in agriculture. I have grown up with a family of farmers. Both of my grandfathers are or have been farmers; one of them is retired and my dad took over the operation. My grandfather who is still farming had crop dusters spray on his fungicide for his corn and soybeans. He mixed the chemicals at the local airport himself when they were spraying his crops. I went to the airport to help my grandpa organize his products on his truck. While I was there we talked to the owner of the crop dusting operation. During that conversation, the owner was intrigued by me assisting my grandfather with the farming tasks and he decided to offer me a job to help him for a few weeks washing windows on the airplanes for the pilots and hooking up hoses to fill the plane up with fuel and chemicals. I was obviously excited and I took the offer after discussing it with my parents. A lot more effort and personnel go into the crop dusters than what I first realized. One of the other things I learned was responsibility. The responsibility I learned to keep is to be at a job on time and to manage my time accordingly. Account for drive time and time to get ready in the morning to be able to get there on time. I learned how to work faster so the planes can be more efficient and how to take care of other people’s things better than my own. I understood a better work ethic and how hard people work to get stuff done during the short window that there is. I learned how to get along with the people I work with and how to have fun when doing the job. I acquired the skill of washing airplane windows with fewer towels and window cleaner. I grasped the concept of doing stuff that I see that needs to be done without being asked to do so. I learned to gain respect from others by respecting them. I understand better how to introduce myself to new people and how to represent myself and the company that I work for. I obtained some knowledge of how to respond to people that do not like what you are doing and how to apologize if something happened that they didn’t like. Fungicide is sprayed on crops to kill the fungus that grows on the plants. If it is not sprayed on the crops, the fungus will grow on some plants and reduce yield. When it is sprayed on the crops, the fungus dies and it produces more yield, because that fungus is not growing on the plants. If the farmer wants, he or she can buy a type of bug killer that can be mixed in the same chemical to kill harmful bugs that eat the plants away. When the airplane is flying a lot of bugs get hit by the plane. It is like when you are driving your car at night and you hit a ton of bugs on your drive. That is what happens to the airplane, but in the air and during all times of the day. The bugs on the plane have to be cleaned off often because it affects how the plane flies and the pilot’s ability to see. The bug residue on the planes makes it work harder to fly because the airflow around the plane is not as smooth as it needs to be for the plane to fly efficiently. The airflow cannot go across the wings as easily. I learned many things during my crop dusting internship and I realize it takes individuals to do a job, but most importantly it takes a team to do a job well. Thank you for reading about my experiences in agriculture and FFA.”

People’s Choice — Hailee Dannenberg of Newark, Illinois: “My FFA project is swine. In this picture I am driving my January Yorkshire Gilt to Champion Purebred Gilt and Reserve Grand Overall Gilt honors at the Section 7 FFA Livestock Expo. I just completed my junior year of high school, but I have been involved in showing pigs since I was 2 years old and did showmanship at the North American International Livestock Exposition. I am the youngest of four children and had great role models to look up to as they were all involved in FFA and 4H showing livestock also. My swine project is important to me because it has taught me many valuable life lessons. I am responsible for making sure my pigs are fed and well cared for every day. I have had to learn what nutritional needs they must have to grow and perform to the best of their ability. I need to wash them and clean them on a daily basis to keep their skin and hair coat looking clean and shiny. It is my responsibility to train them to walk in the ring and behave while they are being shown. There are many mornings and evenings that my pigs are fed and taken care of before I get to eat or shower, but I wouldn’t change a thing about any of it. I have made wonderful memories with my family, as well as lifelong friends from all over Illinois and other states across the nation.”

Farm Family LifeFFA4-HMacAllister AgricultureNDY ManufacturingYoung Leaders
James Henry

James Henry

Executive Editor