Sam Mills, an 11th grader from Chieflin Senior FFA chapter in Florida, operates a pine straw baling operation as his SAE project, which he learned from his father and grandfather starting in middle school. His work involves seasonal tasks including raking and plowing fire lines in fall and winter, spraying and mowing vegetation in summer, and hand-baling pine straw using a custom baler his grandfather invented in 1976, primarily for landscaping use. He applies knowledge from his agriculture classes about plant functions to ensure quality pine straw production while following strict safety protocols for herbicide application.
