SHOW NOTES:

INTRODUCING DEAN POWERS!

Of all the FFA businesses that we profile on the Off-Farm Income Podcast, there is one that is available to almost any student and has some of the deepest impact in both business education and financial reward.  That business is known by several different names: landscaping, horticulture and lawn mowing.  I have seen several students start this business with no car, no equipment and no money.

Today’s guest, Dean Powers, is realizing the impact of this business as well.  Dean started “Powers Landscape” years ago, and it has taken him in a lot of different directions.  He has learned about running a business, and he has learned about keeping records.  All of this led him to the national stage in Indianapolis in 2017 when he won a national gold award.  He also won the Massachusetts’ state award for diversified horticulture.

Dean attended Norfolk County Agricultural High School in Walpole, Massachusetts.  He explained to me that there are about 500 students at Norfolk and they are all FFA members.  If a student has an interested in agriculture in that region of Massachusetts, Norfolk is the place for them to go.

SUPERVISED AGRICULTURAL EXPERIENCE: Horticulture

HIGH SCHOOL: Norfolk County Agricultural High School; Walpole, Massachusetts

MASCOT: Rams

FFA ADVISOR: Melissa McKenna

CONTACT INFORMATION FOR DEAN POWERS:

Click on the picture below to be taken to the Norfolk County High School website:

Dean’s FFA Advisors’ Email Addresses: mmckenna@norfolkaggie.org

Norfolk County High School’s Telephone Number: 508-668-0268

FFA LINKS:

National FFA Organization

Supervised Agricultural Experiences (SAE’s)

Support FFA 

Donate to FFA – One way that FFA students are able to start small businesses is through an FFA grant of $1,000.  In 2014, 141 FFA students received these grants.  With your donations, more students can get this head start – pay it forward.

REASONS TO DONATE TO FFA:

• Only 2% of Americans grow and raise most of the food and livestock consumed by the other 98% as well as the rest of the world.  FFA is providing the needed education, training and resources to Americans that will carry that torch forward and insure that America continues to have inexpensive, quality food.
• Rural Communities will rely on entrepreneurship in the future for population growth and job creation.  The FFA is a major catalyst to that entrepreneurial growth.
• Farmers, ranchers and those working in agriculture give the rest of America incredible amounts of freedom because the search for food is as simple as going to the grocery store:

“Because American farmers are able to provide for so many of us, they give more and more of us the freedom to pursue goals and livelihoods beyond growing the food we need to survive.”

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack 

Other Places You Can Listen To Us:

D&B Supply Show

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