Ben Meyer Named State Star Farmer
By Trenton Horn
June 08, 2009
Ben Meyer of the Linn FFA Chapter was named the Kansas FFA State
Star Farmer last Friday in Manhattan during the Kansas FFA State
Convention. The Star Farmer award is the highest honor a student
can receive at the state level for their Supervised Agriculture
Experience program. Ben earned this award for his program which
consists of renting farm ground that he uses to raise wheat, milo
and soybeans. Ben also purchases Holstein bull calves from the Linn
Willow Creek Dairy and raises them as feeder cattle. The final
portion of his entrepreneurial program includes owning and
maintaining 40 bee hives. Ben was one of three students from the
area that were named as Kansas stars. Tucker Stewart of the
Washington County FFA chapter was named the state star in
Agricultural Placement and Garret Lister of the Marysville FFA
chapter was named the star in Agribusiness.
During convention several other members of the Linn FFA chapter
attended and were recognized for their accomplishments. On
Wednesday Kelli Voelker, Jake Ohlde and Rachel Meyer were
recognized as the state winning Entomology team. Linn will also be
competing in the National Forestry Career Development Event in
Indianapolis, Indiana next October. The team consisting of Bryce
Joonas, Jake Ohlde, Jared Roetter, Josh Gruoner and Alyssa Lohse
were also recognized. Aaron Peters was also in attendance and was
recognized as a scholarship winner for his efforts in the state
Nursery Landscape Career Development Event. Aaron placed 4th in the
event which earned him a $1,000.00 scholarship which was sponsored
by Crader Distributing.
Shaun Ohlde and Ben Meyer were also in attendance as they were
recognized as state proficiency award winners. On Thursday both
members attended a luncheon for all of the state proficiency award
winners. Shaun and Ben were both recognized on stage for their
outstanding programs. Shaun was the winner in the area of Specialty
Crop Production based upon his SAE which consists of working for
Ohlde Seed Farm. Ben won the area of Diversified Crop Production
Entrepreneurship for his crop production enterprise. Both members
will now go on to compete at the national level when the judging
takes place this summer in Indianapolis, Indiana.
