North Mahaska Teens Sell Sweet Corn For Project

Austin Lanphier, Colter Lanphier and Dakota Hudnut are selling sweet corn along A Ave for their FFA project. (photo by Candace Allsup)

Oskaloosa, Iowa – Iowa weather is notoriously hot, muggy and miserable this time of year, but a few teens from North Mahaska have taken advantage of the seasonably mild weather to dispose of their sweet corn crop.

The group set up along A Avenue in Oskaloosa, selling the corn for their FFA Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE) until the supply is exhausted. At $3.00 per dozen, it may not take them long to dispose of the 1.5 acres of corn.

The project requires the students to know exactly how much was sold and how much the project cost, in order to show how much was earned during the project.

According to the FFA Website:

An agricultural education program is made up of three integrated parts: Classroom instruction, FFA and Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE).

Students with an SAE learn by doing. With help from their agricultural teachers, students develop an SAE project based on one or more SAE categories:

Entrepreneurship
Own and operate an agricultural business (e.g. a lawn care service, a pay-to-fish operation, holiday poinsettia production and sales.)

Placement
Get a job or internship on a farm or ranch, at an agriculture-based business, or in a school or factory laboratory.

Research and Experimentation
Plan and conduct a scientific experiment. (e.g. Determine whether the phases of the moon affect plant growth, or test and determine the efficacy of different welding methods.)

Exploratory
Explore careers in agriculture by attending an agriculture career fair, or creating a report or documentary on the work of a veterinarian.