About “Beyond the Rows”

Beyond the Rows is a Monsanto Company blog focused on one of the world’s most important industries, agriculture. Monsanto employees write about Monsanto’s business, the agriculture industry, and the farmer.avatar Monsantoco Posts

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Tag Archives: FFA

FAN2050062

What FFA Means to Me

This past summer, Monsanto presented an Ag Youth in the Spotlight Award to Vance Zacharias, son on of a North Dakota farmer. Vance is heavily involved in FFA at the local and state levels, and we asked him to tell us why he believes FFA is important to himself and to agriculture. Here’s what he said.

Throughout life, we make choices, choices that define who we are as individuals. One choice that has defined me as an individual is the choice to join the FFA. Throughout the past six years, the FFA has effectively made me the individual that I … Full Article »

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Originally published
November 30, 2011 by Monsantoco

FFA Ag Sales

FFA: Nurturing Seeds Called Young People

My name is Greg Wildhaber, and I am the FFA Ag Sales coach from Dayton, Oregon. Four students from Dayton, a small farming town with one blinking light, are $1,000 richer because of Monsanto. And, also because of Monsanto’s continuous contribution to the FFA and Ag Sales Career Development Event, thousands of FFA students across the United States are enabled to start a career as salespeople in agriculture or many other fields.

The real life skills they learn when preparing for the Ag Sales Career Development Event, are invaluable to further themselves, as well as creating a career path for … Full Article »

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Originally published
November 1, 2011 by Monsantoco

The Kindness of Strangers

Monsanto has a number of community and youth programs underway, like community grants and youth scholarships. They range in size from $1500 to $2500, and are designed to give back to or invest in the community and its young people. The money from the programs can be used in a number of ways – schools, community programs, local fire departments and the like.

The FFA chapter at United High School in Monmouth, Ill., was the recipient of one such $2,500 grant.

What it did with its grant, however, was something else, something that speaks to whose these young people are … Full Article »

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Originally published
May 24, 2011 by Glynn Young

Video: Youth Getting Back to the Farm

By Kate

Did you know that about forty percent of the farmers in this country are 55 years old or older? I first heard this statistic from Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack, at a 2010 Commodity Classic session and it really stuck with me. It got me thinking…you often hear parents talk about their childrens’ professions, “Oh, well they’re a [teacher, engineer, computer programmer…]” but it’s extremely rare, I believe, to hear someone say “my child is a farmer.”

Agriculture is increasingly overlooked as a career choice for young people. This is partly due to the nature of the … Full Article »

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Originally published
June 17, 2010 by Monsantoco

Muscatine Ag Students Take Hands On Learning to the Extreme

By Kate

Most farmers don’t have to worry about getting the crops in and making time for their algebra homework but at the Muscatine Ag Learning center in Muscatine, IA, the students face that very time crunch.

The Muscatine Agriculture Learning Center is a unique center that serves Muscatine High School and the community college. High school students in the agriculture program, the majority of which live in an urban environment, get hands on experience running the farm and in some cases, college credit. At the center the students are the backbone of the farming operations.

I was at the … Full Article »

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Originally published
May 24, 2010 by Monsantoco

The Photo Tells the Story

I read a lot of farm publications, mostly online, to see what’s happening in agriculture, follow issues and trends, see what’s happening politically in Washington and the state capitals and generally to understand the news environment of this big complex industry we call agriculture.

Every so often, I’ll find a story that isn’t about any of these “big news” things but nonetheless tells the story of agriculture better than anything else.

Like the story of the FFA Tractor Drive in Indiana. Now, there’s nothing especially newsworthy about a tractor drive. But this story included a photo of four generations … Full Article »

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Originally published
May 13, 2010 by Glynn Young

Farm Mom – A View from Here

Note from Mica: With our America’s Farmers Farm Mom of the Year contest in full swing with over 170 submissions so far, I asked my good friend and colleague Tami Craig Schilling to write a guest post for the blog, reflecting on what it means to be a farm mom. Tami is a full-time Monsanto employee, farm wife and mom, community volunteer and mentor for many of her colleagues. She’s one of those women that other moms’ envy (including me), and has us constantly asking, “How does she do it all and make it look so easy?”

At a recent … Full Article »

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Originally published
March 23, 2010 by Mica Veihman