History of Agriculture:
Agriculture classes and programs were once offered here at Dee-Mack High School, but the exact history is unclear. Mr. Holmgren reported Ag classes were last offered in the 1980s. Mr Holmgren assumes that FFA was also offered at that time as well. The reason it is no longer offered is when the instructor left or retired it was a struggle to find a new instructor, so in return, FFA had to be removed from the course catalog. Mr. Holmgren was asked what were the chances of FFA being brought back and he stated that he couldn’t give a percentage, but he reassured that an interest survey went out and classes will be based on responses. If there is enough interest they will move to the next steps towards getting an instructor and classes registered. Mr. Holmgren did mention that he was a part of FFA programs and a livestock judging team when he was in school. Mr. Holmgren mentions that he does see the impact it has on kids and would like to have the opportunity to demonstrate how much this program could impact the kids at Dee-Mack.
Why Agricultural Classes Be Offered:
Agriculture classes should be offered at Dee-Mack because Ag classes at high school help students dive deeper into something that surrounds us all. Many classes we take in high school are mandatory, while others we get to take usually lead towards our career or personal interests. The variety classes that can be offered can be generally focused anywhere but the three main ones are the Livestock Category, Farming Category and Science and Math Category. If Ag classes are offered, it can lead to Ag programs such as FFA and Livestock Judging Team being an option for students as well offering programs which lead to job opportunities and experiences, not to mention, memories that will last a lifetime.
Interviews With Community Members In School and Outside of School:
Mrs. Sands, a current Dee-Mack teacher, experienced FFA, 4-H, and Ag classes in high school and beyond. Mrs. Sands says “FFA and ag classes offer hands-on skills and knowledge that one can continuously benefit from. “”
A former teacher at Dee-Mack who now teaches ag at Tremont High School, Mrs. Schwarting states that she really enjoys teaching her ag classes and that she teaches a wide spectrum of them. Her classes are more hands-on and students get to engage in fun projects, labs, and field trips and listen to ag industry speakers. She believes that ag classes help students understand where their food and products come from, the science behind modern agriculture, and the challenges that come with feeding a world wide population. She also mentions that a good high school ag program helps build practical, real-world skills in all areas within agriculture. These programs don’t just help prepare the students for college and pathways but teaches them problem-solving abilities, leadership skills, and responsibility. FFA enhances the learning from ag classes as it teaches communication skills because of the teamwork approach.
Carson Knott, a senior at Dee-Mack who also shows goats, mentions that show goats have taught him that sometimes you have to do things that you don’t want to do. It has also taught hard work and responsibility because his livestock relies on him. He believes that FFA programs and Ag Classes can only benefit both sides of the student body, those who are in the farming agriculture world and those who don’t have that opportunity and live in town. It can hand experiences out to anyone who joins and it’s not only for the farm kids, all are welcome.
Mark Johnson is a Sales Specialist for Purina Animal Nutrition. He works with Purina dealers and customers in a 4 state area. Most of that time is spent working with Purina Dealers providing training, education, and marketing. He and his wife have a small farm where they raise Southdown sheep and board horses. Mark was interviewed as part of the community of agriculture. He believes that the youth programs and activities that he participated in helped him in becoming who he is now. This includes planning for events for school and/or 4-H, which led him to learn how to plan and work with others towards a common goal. He also is involved with livestock judging and public speaking that helped him learn to think on his feet, make decisions in a timely manner and be able to share those thoughts in a clear and concise manner. He also got the opportunities to travel and visit other farms in other parts of the country and with different species it was very helpful to see and learn how others do things. He mentioned in his interview that the opportunities all started in classes that were offered in High School ag programs help bring people together that share a common interest. The interest can come in different varieties such as crops, horticulture, livestock or mechanics. Mark also mentioned that High School programs might be the only place those folks feel like they fit in and that for others it might be the first time that they might be exposed to those opportunities. His feedback on agriculture classes is, “Agriculture teaches the value of planning and responsibility at a young age better than any books. If you don’t breed the cows. You won’t have calves to sell. If you don’t plant the corn in a timely manner, there won’t be a crop to harvest and sell. If you don’t do the everyday stuff well, they turn into big problems later.”
Local Agriculture Business Spotlight:
Agriculture doesn’t have to be a teaching job or the way you grew up, it can be starting a business of your own and spreading your passion to others.
In Deer-Creek there is a company that is family run and offers row crop operation producing mostly corn and soybeans. They run an ag service business that sells and services seed, drain tile & fittings, and shortline equipment. Also, they have an equipment manufacturing company that specializes in farm drainage and utility installation equipment, this company’s name is Legacy Equipment Co.
They have more than just Legacy Equipment Co, they have a few more. The first one being their family farm and the second one being Nicholson ag services.
Their family farm was started in 1981, Jake and his brother Matt then took over in 2024. They mainly produce soy beans and corn but have occasional winter wheat and oats and at one time they provided hay as well. As for the Nicholson Family Farm it was started in 2014 with a partnership between Jake, Matt and their dad. They sold seed, drain tile & fittings along with short line equipment implements. Most of this business sells and services their local tri-county area. One of their short line companies that was their dealer approached them a few years ago about purchasing their company and they accepted. Legacy Co. was purchased in 2020 originally known as O’connell Farm Drainage Plows and they started the rebranding under the Legacy name in honor of the two generations that worked before them in Waverly IA. They manufacture farm drainage and utility installation equipment along with selling and servicing laser and gps grade control equipment and utility location tools as well. They work with our dealer network across the United States and Canada. In all three of the businesses they are all family run businesses and they hired part time help for busy seasons but they are looking for a few full – time employees to add to the company in the next year.
Community Feedback:
Jake and Jenna conducted an interview via email, they stated that the ag classes that they took were instrumental in them learning more about how the farms around us operated and more importantly how agriculture across the continent and the world worked. Also how to communicate and educate others on agriculture that haven’t had the same ag education opportunities that they had. With agriculture being the largest industry in our state, country, and in the world it is so important because everyone needs food but yet agriculture goes unnoticed more than other industries and is less taught in schools. Moving right along, Jake and Jenna were asked for their opinion on ag classes being offered at Dee-Mack. They stated their opinion as “Ag classes should absolutely be offered in the Dee-Mack school district. They should be offered as part of the curriculum across the country. Agriculture is the largest and most important industry. Everyone needs agriculture to produce food for survival. And if we do not educate everyone on at least the most basic structure of how agriculture works, we will continue to see more and more issues with the basic structure of societies. Somewhere along our path, we quit teaching where our daily food comes from and a lot of people truly think that food is just made in the back of a grocery store and not grown and cared for as our land and livestock are.” They were then asked, what classes would you think should be offered, they mentioned an intro to Ag. They described the class as “A simple class teaching on where products come from both from the plants or animals and regions that specialize on those products. And then the basic transportation and processing of different products. It really should start with the history of how agriculture was in our early society and how it grew and was mechanized through the 20th century and has now become specialized. This can also be the starting point to where students become interested in gardening and could find more focused classes on that leading to more opportunities for knowledge.” Community was mentioned in the interview with the view point of how the classes and the head start can help our community. They believe that it would help in this agriculture-rich area, and programs help the community by teaching students what they see out their window. Jake stated as well “We need at least the basics taught as part of the core curriculum to help these students understand the basics of the largest industry and even get them interested in all of the different types of careers within agriculture. There is not a type of career that cannot be found within agriculture. To list just a few; laborer, equipment operator, truck driver, mechanic, parts management, sales, technology/electric, HR, marketing, engineering, welding/fabrication repair. There are so many career paths within agriculture that are shared within sub sectors besides the specialized experts within a part of agriculture. It is truly what our world is built on for the success and survival of each generation.” To wrap up the email they were asked if they wanted anything mentioned whether it be feedback or just a thought and they wanted to mention “They say that No Farmers = No Food but farmers/ranchers are only about 1-2% of our society today. But the supporting roles that supply the production of food/fiber/fuel is somewhere around 10% of our population. And I suspect if we dig deeper in the numbers that number could be significantly higher showing just how important agriculture is and how important ag education is.”
Take Away:
Agriculture is important to have and experience because it serves everyone in the community in different ways. Without agriculture there would be no food, clothes and so much more. The student body of Dee-Mack could only benefit from the programs and classes.