MINNEAPOLIS — The Minnesota FFA Association named Lucas Wingert the 2018 Minnesota FFA Star in Agribusiness. Wingert, a Plainview-Elgin-Millville FFA member, received one of the association’s highest honors at the annual awards ceremony held on Monday, April 23.
“The summer after my tenth-grade year, I started my own custom bale wrapping business,” Wingert said.
The 2018 Star in Agribusiness provides service for more than 30 customers in southeastern Minnesota and has wrapped approximately 16,000 bales in the past two years. Since the beginning, Wingert has built relationships with farmers, grown his agricultural knowledge, and paid off his equipment.
Aside from his business, Wingert participates in trapshooting, is a member of the National Honor Society and currently serves as the Plainview-Elgin-Millville FFA chapter president. He plans to study agribusiness at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls in the fall of 2018.
In a supervised agricultural experience (SAE) program, students apply what they are learning in the classroom. A student designs a program to gain hands-on experience and develop skills in agricultural career areas which interest them. Students are supervised by agricultural education teachers in cooperation with parents, employers and other adults who assist them in the development and achievement of their educational and career goals. The Plainview-Elgin-Millville FFA chapter is led by agricultural education teachers and advisors Paul Aarsvold and Steve Hinrichs.
Each year, 16 state finalists—four in each category—vie for the association’s top awards: Star Farmer, Star in Agribusiness, Star in Production Placement and Star in Agriscience. These awards honor students who have developed outstanding agricultural skills through their SAE and earned the state degree. The 2018 FFA Stars over Minnesota recognition program is sponsored by Compeer Financial Services as a special project of the Minnesota FFA Foundation.
Visit mnffa.org for more details about the 89th Minnesota FFA convention. Follow along on social media or watch the general sessions on youtube.com/minnesotaffa.
— Minnesota FFA Association
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