Many of today’s youth are served well through 4-H and FFA programs throughout the state and nation, but those aren’t the only successful youth programs available in agriculture. Several commodity or livestock groups tailor specific programs to encourage youth involvement beyond 4-H or FFA, and Amalgamated Sugar Youth Grower Program is one example of these outstanding programs.
It works like this: Kids make an application to Amalgamated Sugar Co. in combination with a participating grower to grow sugarbeets for a growing season. The participating grower is a grower currently growing sugarbeets for the company. If accepted, Amalgamated Sugar Co. provides a grower share, and the participating grower provides a share, equaling two shares for the youth. Then the work really begins. The grower and the youth sign a contract that outlines the terms as to how expenses are paid, equipment used, and how irrigation and fieldwork will be handled.
“This part of the program provides a lot of flexibility between the growers and the kids,” says Alisha Samples, Youth Grower Project committee secretary of the Cassia County Sugarbeet Association. “Because the ages of the kids and skill levels are so varied, a trade can look like picking clods on a spud table, riding to the beet dump six times, keeping their room clean all winter, fixing field lunches, changing hand lines or driving in the tractor with Dad when he plants beets.”
Tucker Lootens fills the sugarbeet planter as part of his involvement in the family farm. Photo by Breeana Lootens Photography.
Nathan Garner, a grower in the Declo area, has a daughter enrolled in the program this year as a first-year participant and says, “Some contracts between youth and their participating growers will be something like the dad is going to give them the ground and water and carry their upfront costs, and then is paid some portion back at harvest. On our farm, our thought was to treat this experience just like a business, so we track all the costs, labor, land rental fees and everything that goes into it, just like farmers do, and then all of those costs are taken out of the market prices at harvest. There’s nothing like real-world experience, and we want them to learn about actual finances. But that’s the great thing about the program – the flexibility to fit different needs.”
There are several other requirements of the program, one of which is to make a weekly journal entry about what’s going on with the crop or the farm – whether they scouted for bugs, moved lines, took stand counts, worked on their presentation or whatever. “We want them to be active,” Garner says. “Getting kids involved in the farm is the number one goal.”
Another requirement of the program is to research and prepare a presentation, complete with a trifold display. Topics can range from trucking issues, why the beets are piled with vents, diseases, the farm bill and whatever topic interests them and touches the ag world. Each of the seven company-wide grower associations (Cassia, Minidoka, Twin Falls, Upper Snake, Northside, Nissa-Nampa and Elwyhee) has a grower panel established to hear and judge presentations and ask the youth questions.
“When I was in the program,” says Mitchell Searle, a grower in the Burley area, “I was about 14 and thought I knew what was going on, but I remember giving a presentation and one of the judges asked me what nozzle size we put in the wheel line sprinklers. It caught me off guard and I didn’t know the answer, but it was valuable for me to find out that nozzles were interchangeable with different sizes and options. That’s not on a list you study for, and I had just done what my dad did, so I didn’t know there were options.” He adds, “I’m sure I got deducted points for not knowing, but it humbled me and helped me realize there were a lot of things I didn’t know yet.”
Oliver and Tucker Lootens (Homedale) presented their research topics (and sugarbeet samples) at the fair on irrigation types and spider mites. Photo by Breeana Lootens Photography.
Today, Searle farms with his father and has two children participating in the program this year. He says his mother has really helped prepare the kids for their presentations and with their projects, just like she helped him “back in the day.” He says, “That bonding with grandparents and working across generations, that’s a great opportunity for both.”
As part of the project requirements, the youth also display three sugarbeets at their respective fairs, and these are judged on size, color and uniformity. In addition, the youth are required to attend an Amalgamated Sugar field day, field trial or company-sponsored event. Garner says, “The kids are bringing their dads, in some cases, who might not have otherwise come. The whole family is involved and that’s great to see.”
“This year at one of the field days they demonstrated a big spray drone,” Searle says, “and the kids thought that was really cool, and of course they wanted me to get one. I reminded them this was for spraying weeds, and there are a lot of them, so be careful what you wish for. But at least it forces them to pay attention to what’s happening in the industry.”
As with all ag-related youth projects, a record book is involved as well. “But this record book isn’t one of those that leaves everybody in tears,” says Samples. “And it’s updated. It really pertains to today’s farming practices.” The new record book was written to be more fluid with FFA projects, for those youth who also participate in that program. Samples and Kerry Bowen, Youth Grower Project committee chairman of the Cassia Sugarbeet Growers Association, compiled the record book with input from other growers and industry professionals.
“One of our goals,” says Samples, “was to teach kids more about the industry so even if they don’t come home to the family farm as adults, it would broaden their horizons and give them some real ag experience so that they can do research or crop consulting, be a chemical retailer, mechanic, welder or equipment retailer, but still work in agriculture.”
Dakota Wankier is one of those who went through the program as a youth but didn’t come back to the family farm as a grower. Today, she works in the human resources department at Amalgamated Sugar Co. in Twin Falls.
Crew Matthews from Oakley presented his research on strip tillage to judges in the Cassia County youth program. Photo courtesy of Snake River Sugarbeet Growers Association.
“My background on the farm and in the program helps me know what the new hires are really going to be doing,” Wankier says. She helps with hiring for beet receiving stations, using work campers and helping them know what their jobs will require. “I appreciate the whole scope of what I know, which makes me more successful. And interviewing and preparing presentations in the Youth Grower Program gave me confidence to explain to people what we’re trying to accomplish in the company. It taught me responsibility and ignited my passion for agriculture and people.”
The project culminates in December. Each grower association sponsors an awards banquet for not only their regular growers, but which also includes the Young Grower Program awards. “It’s gotten more and more competitive,” says Garner. “Industry sponsorship in our area is impressive and they give out belt buckles, jackets, cash and lots of prizes between the three levels [juniors, intermediate and senior]. And, of course, there’s the harvest paycheck.”
“It’s a killer program,” Samples says. “It’s amazing to see the growth in these kids and help them realize their potential. I know it’s scary for them to do all of these things, but the growth they’re getting is amazing to watch through the years.”
“We worried when we started the new program that with the presentations and research and all, the participation might drop off. That didn’t happen,” Samples says. “In fact, it grew.” The program has grown to about 220-250 kids participating this year.
“It’s an investment in our future,” Garner says. “Getting kids involved on the farm is the number one goal. Preparing for the future is number two. Educating about sugarbeets is number three.”
Lydia and David Searle have a promising crop in Cassia County. Both are enrolled in the youth sugarbeet program with their father, Mitchell Searle, as the participating grower. Photo by Lynn Jaynes.
