CHS to make a funding announcement to support ag education in the U.S.

Sep 22, 2014

Agriculture education in the United States is expected to get a big boost this week from CHS, which describes itself as a global agribusiness owned by farmers, ranchers and cooperatives across the nation.

The announcement will take place on Thursday, September 25, at CHS headquarters in Inver Grove Heights at 11:45 a.m. The press conference is likely to be brief, but include a presentation by Lisa Zell, Executive Vice President, Business Solutions at CHS, and comments by Dr. Wm. Jay Jackman, Executive Director of the National Association of Agricultural Educators and Molly Ball, President of the National FFA Foundation. The timing will be ahead of the National Teach Ag Day celebration.

According to a release put out by the National Association of Agricultural Educators, CHS is to pledge $1.5 million dollars to the National FFA Foundation, with the intention that the funds will be spread out over a three year period. There is a portion of the funds that will be set aside for the National Teach Ag Campaign, $275,000 and the Curriculum for Agricultural Science Education.

The National Teach Ag campaign aims to raise awareness about the need for more agricultural educators and to pay tribute to the work that ag educators do in the classrooms. CHS has upped its sponsorship from years past, as it has been supporting the campaign since 2011 - gifting more than $450,000 in that time period. The entire campaign continues thanks to the generous support of CHS, DuPont Pioneer, and Growth Energy.

For more information about the National Teach campaign, please visit: www.naae.org/teachag/.

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.