FFA members at the 98th National Convention & Expo left downtown Indianapolis for an in-depth tour of a real-working forestry business. It’s all part of the FFA Career Success Tours that showcase the unlimited opportunities that await members in the future.
This year, chapters could select from nearly 25 different Career Success Tours at locations across central Indiana, from a wide variety of industries including manufacturing companies, the Indianapolis International Airport, an exotic feline rescue and also forestry.
“We have a philosophy where we want to give back to the community. But it’s more than that for FFA,” says Tri State Forestry President and Owner Matt Lohmeyer. “If we want young people to be interested in what we do, there’s no better way than to educate them at this stage of their life.”
Tri State Forestry specializes in tree removal projects of all sizes. The company serves customers across a large part of the Hoosier State, as well as western parts of Ohio and northern Kentucky.
“Everything we take out of the field, we end up doing something with ,so the back side of our business is recycling,” Lohmeyer says. “When you take a whole tree and you put it in a machine and it comes out, essentially in toothpicks on the other end, that’s pretty impressive.”
On the tour, members gained in-depth knowledge of the business and had the opportunity to ask questions. They toured the recycling facility to see a unique side of the tree removal process.
Taylor FFA member Wyatt Ruth of Florida says he’s wanted to become a forester for a long time and has even considered going into agricultural education.
“Forestry makes up everything around you — lumber, chairs, everything,” Ruth says. “We need lumber yards, people who are in forestry and this helps me learn so much more about the industry and expands my knowledge.”
