Ithaca FFA Improves Its ‘Homegrown’ Ag Experiences
The land lab of one of Michigan’s oldest FFA chapters will receive long-needed improvements, thanks to a $10,000 grant from ACH Seeds’ Homegrown Giving Program.
Ithaca FFA was founded in 1930, and its 48-acre land lab has been a cornerstone of the chapter since 1965. A tile drainage system installed on the lab has broken over the years, with recent yields and field conditions showing the results of poor drainage. The ACH Seeds grant will provide for installation of a new tile drainage system, allowing for earlier planting, healthier crops and increased revenue from the harvest. All revenue is reinvested in the 200-member agricultural education program at Ithaca.
Chapter advisor Leslie Siefka says chapter members manage the land lab by taking soil samples, planning the crop, monitoring progress through the growing season and harvesting. Sophomore Riley Skinner is the manager of the lab this year and says the chapter grows corn and soybeans on a rotational basis. Skinner comes from a farming family, so her father, Brent (an Ithaca FFA Alumni), helped her plant last year’s soybeans in spring and harvest in fall using her family’s equipment.
“Riley is using this as her SAE,” Siefka says. “I try to pick a student to manage the lab who is interested in crop production and wants to build an SAE that way.”
In addition to anticipated higher yields, Siefka is also excited about possibly adding sugar beets to the crop rotation. “We are in a sugar beet-growing region, so I’d love for the students to learn more about growing sugar beets compared to corn and soybeans,” she says.
An Asset to a Well-Rounded Program
The ag program at Ithaca is diverse and robust, Siefka says. In addition to the land lab, students raise broiler chickens and supervise ewes in an onsite barn. Thanks to a grant from the State of Michigan, a new greenhouse offers better facilities and expanded space for horticulture students to grow flowers for the chapter’s annual plant sale.
Siefka believes the student management of the crops grown on the land lab helped the chapter’s application in the ACH Seeds’ Homegrown Giving grant process. “I do know there was a lot of competition from wonderful chapters throughout the state,” Siefka says. “I think showing the difference the tiling will make in our crop production, which the students do, is something ACH Seeds saw as a benefit. Some of my students may decide they want a career in crop production down the road.”
A possible future farmer, Skinner has already learned to pay particular attention to the weather and to the soil. “We had a lot of big rocks in the ground last year, so we had to roll the field and we had to hurry and do it before the rain,” Skinner says. “There are just so many different challenges in farming you don’t realize until you have to deal with it.”
Ithaca FFA is one of six organizations nationwide to receive a $10,000 award from the ACH Seeds’ 2025 Homegrown Giving program. “This grant has been a huge asset to our program,” Siefka says. “In addition to the obvious benefits to our crops from the tile drainage system, it’s also raised awareness of our chapter in general and what our students do here.”
