DAPHNE , Ala.—Members of Daphne High School’s Future Farmers of America chapter took time from lunch Wednesday to show appreciation to dairy farmers and cows as part of FFA Week. During lunch waves, active members headed to the greenhouses and grabbed some ice cream.

DHS’s FFA president, junior Catharine Hardyman, said eating ice cream was a fun way to see how farmers are a big part of everyone’s lives.

Hardyman, a two-year member, got involved with FFA because of her father, but said she has gained much through her involvement with the organization.

“My Dad grew up with agriculture. I took a class and I just got really interested in it. (FFA sponsor) Mr. (Andrew) Jones did a great job getting me interested. I was just really interested in learning more about it and getting more involved because I had heard a lot about what the club was doing.” Hardyman said. “I am a livestock judge and I love that. I never thought I would do that. I never thought that I would become a leader in it as well.”

Teaching others

“Most students, when they pass cows on the road don’t know much about the cows; all they know is that they moo,” Jones said.

Hardyman expressed she was pleased with FFA Week’s outcome.

“I think the rest of the school is more informed about what we do after this week,” she said. “We have been coming on the announcements every day and sharing a fun fact about an animal.” For instance: an ostrich’s eye is larger than its brain; also, a cow’s spots are like fingerprints and snowflakes — each cow is identifiable by its spots; and the Chick-fil-A cow is a Holstein cow, which is primarily used for dairy — not beef — products. “I think we are educating them; we are trying to get more people involved in it. I think they are.”

Jones said this week is an opportunity for the largest student organization at the school to show peers what FFA is all about. FFA has been a student organization at Daphne High School since the school opened in the 1980s, Jones said, and the organization has grown every year.

Jones said 228 DHS students take FFA classes. Students can take up to five classes as part of the FFA curriculum; classes range from an introduction to agriculture, in which students grow small plants and re-pot them to sell for a fundraiser, to raising ducks and chickens to raise money for the organization.

All the organization’s activities are supported through fundraisers and the students do most maintenance to the greenhouses and other buildings they use on their own. The FFA even pays all of its electrical and water bills without the school’s assistance.

Farming awareness

Jones said he is not trying to make his students become farmers; he is just trying to give them the basics about agriculture, farming, landscaping and horticulture.

Ultimately, it all comes down to recognizing and respecting the farmer’s work.

“In this area, farming is all around. If it weren’t for classes like we offer at Daphne High School, most students would not realize where everything comes from. We come across something a farmer grew or raised every day. You can’t get away from it,” Jones said.

 Other events of FFA Week included an assembly for all of the FFA groups in Baldwin, Mobile and Monroe Counties where the national vice president spoke to the students.