Education

Thaddeus Bergschneider is excited about connecting FFA members to opportunities through partners during his year as the National FFA president.

Four new Illinois agriculture education teachers were recently recognized by the IAA Foundation as recipients of an Illinois Agricultural Education Teacher Grant.

Beef production spans generations in the Hanson and Kuipers family in Iroquois County where they operate a forage-based program utilizing a paddock grazing system along with growing corn, soybeans and wheat.

The Illinois Agri-Women organization has awarded five scholarships for students studying agriculture.

Indiana Farm Bureau awarded scholarships to three young women pursuing careers in agriculture.

A couple from Columbus announced a new faculty endowment fund to Vincennes University, which will support agricultural innovation and education.

Illinois Farm Bureau is accepting applications for its Illinois Veterinary Education and Training loan program.

A celebration of agriculture that crossed generations kicked off the 54th annual Illinois Agricultural Legislative Day. The event drew nearly 50 diverse agricultural organizations and about 1,000 FFA members together to meet with lawmakers.

Tim McConville, president and CEO of First State Bank, is transitioning to president and CEO of Tri-County Financial Group, the holding company of the bank.

Drivers can signal their support for Indiana Farm Bureau and ag education when they purchase the Indiana Farm Bureau special recognition license plate.

The Illinois Corn Growers Association honored several individuals for their roles in supporting farmers and the industry during the organization’s annual meeting.

The Illinois Agriculture in the Classroom program has named Amanda Stanko, a STEM and preschool teacher with Corpus Christi Catholic School in Bloomington, as the 2024 IAITC Teacher of the Year.

October is National Farm to School Month — a time to celebrate food education, school gardens and healthy, local ingredients in school lunches.

As the National FFA eastern region vice president, Gracie Murphy has met members and been involved in events across the nation, including eight state conventions.

When her father became ill several years ago, the interactions with his doctors stood out to Rock Falls native Heather Moser.

Cattle producers are the original stewards of land and livestock and are constantly striving to improve their operations through education and professional development.

Illinois Valley Community College has learned it will be the recipient of a $3.5 million U.S. Department of Economic Development Administration grant to construct a new agriculture education facility.

In an attempt to keep brain cells active this winter, I have signed up for a college course. The good news is that it’s all online and it’s free. The other good news is that it’s sponsored by a major university.

Happy September! Always seems like the summer goes by so fast. It is nice to have a little cooler evenings. Great weather to sit out on the porch and enjoy. My Shetland lambs are growing nicely. Their color patterns are really starting to be vibrant.

A new agriculture program is in the works at Grace College. The college is planning a Center for Agriculture. The school is seeking a director and program coordinator for the center.

Enthusiastic fifth-grade students from the Whitehead Elementary School learned about dairy cows, the feed the cows eat and spent time petting calves during a tour of a farm.

Agriculture teachers mentor, motivate and make a difference in the lives of their students every day. AgriNews thanks these teachers for the work they do to prepare the next generation for the future, and life.

Miss Walters is really the person who got me involved in FFA and she has a way of including you in everything to make you feel super welcome. Mrs. Stanley has definitely brought my love of horticulture to light and she really encouraged me to pursue it.

For well over a century, this Macon County city has been on the cutting-edge of innovation in processing agriculture products, and a major financial commitment sets a solid foundation for the next generation of leaders in that space.

Chris Vick has been a student, a worker, a teacher and a farm director, all at the same university. For Vick, Southern Illinois University, more precisely the SIU University Farms, isn’t just work, but also home and family.

Although it was not her first career choice, Lisa Oellerich found her calling when she started teaching agriculture and advising the Scales Mound FFA Chapter.

Elizabeth Karcher is known for her love for teaching. As an animal sciences professor at Purdue University, she has taught nearly 2,000 students. Her classes range from introduction to animal agriculture to mammary physiology.

“This is different every day. It’s always challenging and it’s very interesting. You’ve got to really be the type of individual that likes to find answers. This career path is never going to be boring.”

African swine fever, a highly contagious swine disease, is in the Dominican Republic. The disease does not infect people, but it can wipe out pork production in a region.

In the late 1990s, Prairie Central was among the first school districts in Illinois to extend FFA opportunities to junior high students.

College students graduating with a degree in agricultural education have a lot of job opportunities.

Normal Community High School made a commitment to an expanded agriculture program and hired its first full-time ag teacher in 2014. It was a good move, as the number of students taking ag classes increased from 75 to 80 the first year to about 200 students this school year.

Row crops and livestock were part of Tammy Miller’s day-to-day life on her family’s Livingston County farm and she now shares her experiences and helps guide college students toward agricultural careers.

Faith, farming and agricultural education are all tied together at Huntington University, where Raymie Porter teaches agriculture to students. Porter is also director of academic programs at Haupert Institute for Agricultural Studies.

They are very selfless with all of the time that they put toward all of their students and making sure each of their students feels like their own kid. An ag teacher is not just another teacher that goes from 8:05 to 3:05 in the classroom.

The welcome mat that his fellow faculty rolled out for him is the same one that Riley Hintzsche has ready for his students in the Streator High School ag program.

Megan Ramsey has been volunteering to teach children about agriculture since 2014. She was named Agriculture in the Classroom Volunteer of the Year by Indiana Farm Bureau in 2021.

A YouTube video shows Chris Lawson exploring and explaining the goings-on of a greenhouse at Paramount Schools of Excellence.

From watching chicks hatch in an incubator to hands-on lessons with drones, students at the Indiana Agriculture and Technology School are learning all things ag. The school is a tuition-free online public school for grades 7-12.

Travis Scherer, FFA adviser at Tri-County FFA Chapter, has been teaching for 21 years. Every day is different, and that’s what he likes about teaching agriculture. Last year he was honored with the Golden Owl Award, sponsored by Nationwide and Farm Credit Mid-America.

Sandy Dall’erba, professor of agricultural and consumer economics and co-founder of the Center for Climate, Regional, Environmental and Trade Economics at the University of Illinois, has received a Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program award for the 2022-2023 academic year from the U.S.

The Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics honored Maria Teresa Serra Devesa as Thomas A. Hieronymus Distinguished Chair in Futures Markets during an investiture ceremony at the University of Illinois.

The students and ag teachers, those are the two things Kent Weber will miss when he retires from teaching at Seneca Township High School at the end of the school year.

All students at the Grand Ridge School are learning about agriculture this year with the development of an ag program at the school that includes kindergarten through eighth grade.

Purdue University’s Agricultural and Biological Engineering Graduate Program is again ranked No. 1 in its category in the annual U.S. News & World Report rankings of Best Graduate Schools.