Elisabeth Watkins was a guest on the Off-Farm Income Podcast in 2018.  At that time she was an FFA student at Central Catholic High School in Modesto, California.  Amazingly, Elisabeth was already a television cooking personality at that point.  She had taken her love for cooking and agriculture, combined them inside and outside the FFA and taken them to incredible heights.  She won her way onto a teen cooking challenge television show in New York City while still in high school, came away the winner and that propelled her to many different opportunities.

On tomorrow's Ag Business Episode I am profiling a chef and his new cookbook.  Going back to what Elisabeth was able to do and continues to do with her culinary skills is the perfect tie in for tomorrow's show, and I am happy to replay her episode again today.

Wyatt Black is a sophomore in high school and is already mastering the art of adding value and finding profit.  Wyatt has grown up with and around agriculture on his families small farm near Casstown, Ohio.  As a member of the Miami East FFA Chapter, he needed to develop an SAE.  That was no problem because he and his father had already been finding, repairing and re-selling used equipment for years.  It was a natural fit, and Wyatt turned this into his project.  Wyatt tends to specialize in fixing up trailers if he can.  He says that he sees the highest demand for them, and they are generally the easiest to repair.

I saw an article pop up on Bloomberg today with the title, “Farmers Can’t Keep Hogging the Water in Parched Southwest”.  I was unable to read it because it is behind the paywall, and I do not have a subscription.  However, this is a topic that I have thought a lot about.  

Allie Koss is the owner and creator of Happy's Horse Treats.  She is also a sophomore in high school and the FFA Chapter Sentinel at the Arizona Agribusiness & Equine Center of Paradise Valley, Arizona, which is a charter school specializing in agriculture.  All students at the AAEC are FFA members, but there are different levels of activity for each of them.

Allie has grown up in the city, and her parents are not experienced in agriculture.  However, at age 4 Allie said she wanted to take horseback riding lessons.  Being wise parents, they did not just let Allie jump right into full blown lessons.  For one year they took her to the Phoenix Zoo where she could get exposure to horses and some experience riding to gauge if her level of enthusiasm was genuine.  It turned out that it was, and Allie has been riding horses ever since.

One day, at the barn that she rides at, a veterinarian was floating the teeth of a horse and showed Allie how to do it.  From this point she was hooked and knew she wanted to be a veterinarian.  This led to conversations with older people at the barn and the discover of the AAEC.  Ultimately, this led her to the agricultural charter school and the FFA.  It also led to her experimenting with making horse treats, her friends telling her that she should start a business and eventually, the birth of Happy's Horse Treats.  Today, Allie sells horse treats from coast to coast and plans on growing her business through the end of high school, but possibly until she begins veterinary school in several years.

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The Agricultural College Episode is designed to profile agricultural trade schools, junior colleges, colleges and universities around the U.S.  This episode is an effort to replicate the conversation that prospective students, parents and ag teachers might have with agricultural schools at trade show like the National FFA Convention.

Texas A&M Commerce is located in the small, Northeastern Texas town of Commerce, Texas and provides abundant opportunity for developing your future in agriculture.  On today's episode, Dr. Randy Harp, the Dean of Agricultural Sciences & Natural Resources, joins the show to talk all about Texas A&M Commerce.  We hear a lot about the family feel of smaller enrollment colleges on the show.  Dr. Harp does a great job of illustrating the benefits of this.

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Tip Of The Week

Consider smart combination locks

Rural Crime In The U.S.

https://www.kwtx.com/2023/03/14/dallas-teens-riding-stolen-horses-struck-by-vehicle-one-killed-two-injured/

https://www.12newsnow.com/article/news/crime/chambers-county-sheriffs-office-investigating-after-horse-stolen-from-winnie-ranch/502-6d01bbcc-b747-43c1-b854-78d5dc349829

https://krdo.com/lifestyle/animals/2023/03/16/__trashed-4/

Across The Pond, Down Under And Up Above

https://www.herefordtimes.com/news/23385776.sentencing-delayed-man-admitted-stealing-cadbury-creme-egg-cargo/

https://www.getreading.co.uk/news/reading-berkshire-news/farmer-sick-tired-lack-police-26452948

Africa

https://www.independent.co.ug/nakasongola-235-cattle-stolen-in-10-months/

https://www.news18.com/buzz/when-200-inmates-escaped-from-uganda-prison-after-removing-their-uniforms-7304869.html

Chalk One Up For The Good Guys

https://www.kimt.com/news/minnesota-woman-pleads-guilty-to-burglarizing-a-north-iowa-farm/article_f8b71386-c394-11ed-bffe-c7e9f2222ee7.html

https://www.twincities.com/2023/03/15/southern-minnesota-farmhand-charged-with-fatally-shooting-his-employer-last-fall/

Kacee Bohle is a fourth generation farmer from Illinois, a career agriculturist and an Ag Coach.  On today's episode we are going to focus in on her business of career coaching in agriculture.  Kacee has two main customer bases - agriculture students and professionals moving into or out of agriculture.  She deals with a lot of diverse situations in this business, but being an entrepreneur gives her the flexibility to do so and to adapt to each unique situation.

Kacee's coaching is reflection of her own experiences.  When she was graduating high school she did not really know where her future in agriculture resided, but she knew that it was in agriculture.  She is the only one of her siblings interested in taking over the family farm, and she feels pressure to do so to keep the legacy alive.  And, she has had multiple experiences in agricultural industry that make her uniquely qualified to help other people find their paths.

On tomorrow's ag business episode I talking with an agricultural career coach.  This got me thinking of what episode to replay for you on today's episode, and it became clear.  Our guest tomorrow specializes in helping people find their careers in agriculture.  The other side to that same coin is how can you develop your farming and agricultural lifestyle at home.  So, in today's re-cap episode I am going back to a special coaching session I did with Wendy from Ontario, Oregon about this very thing.

Preston Sechrest is a 2022 SAE Grant Recipient.  He is also the treasurer of the East Davidson FFA Chapter in Thomasville, North Carolina, and he is going to use his grant money as well as money that he saved from working at a grocery store to purchase his first dairy heifer for showing.

This all began for Preston during his 9th Grade year of high school.  He was considering becoming a game warden in the future, he still is actually, so he took an animal science class as an elective.  When his teacher, Mrs. Leonard, did a unit on introduction to the FFA, he thought he had been tricked.  However, by the end of school year he had been hooked, and he was a full-fledged FFA member.

His advisor encouraged Preston to go to a dairy cattle showing clinic to get introduced to this event.  He went, and he took to it.  People could not believe that he had never showed cattle before, and he got several offers to show for other people.  He has done ten heifer shows for a neighboring farm since then, and this has sparked an interest that Preston believes he will have for the rest of his life!

Today I am breaking down an article that is talking about the new phenomena of "Bare Minimum Mondays".  Here is the link if you'd like to read it yourself: https://www.kmaland.com/news/business/bare-minimum-monday-marks-latest-quiet-quitting-trend/article_38ef856d-0a0c-5016-9a2d-6e5e11a176d6.html

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