OFI 1267: Uncovering What Is Hidden In Agriculture | FFA SAE Edition | Madisen Jolliff | Ridgemont High School FFA

agribusiness, agricultural business coach, agricultural education, agricultural real estate, agriculture, agronomy, animals, branding your business, Business, business opportunity, business plan, cattle, coach, coaching, craigslist marketing, custom podcast production, custom podcating, drone business, entrepreneur, farm, farm coach, farm sitting, farming, ffa, ffa sae, growing a herd, high demand, high profit margin, how to buy a farm, how to market on craigslist, livestock, Marketing, mobile butcher, montana state university, organic farming, pastured poultry, permaculture, podcast marketing, regenerative farming, returning veteran farmer, rural development, rural living, sae, slow paying customers, small business, small business resources, start a business, training, urban farming, using a podcast to connect with customers, using craigslist for marketing

For the past several years the issue of mental health in the agricultural community has become more and more mainstream with some of the stigma slipping away. About the time this really started to take hold Madisen Jolliff was noticing that this existed all on her own. At the same time she was just coming into the FFA and looking for a project for her SAE. Ultimately she chose to speak with farmers about these issues and try to help people open up. The results she received were very unexpected, even for Madisen.

Madisen has friends who feel an immense sense of pressure and stress because they have or will inherit land that has been in the family for generations, and they don’t want to be the link in the chain where it all ends. She also has friends that experience stress because they will not inherit land and they cannot find their pathway into farming and raising their own livestock. She finds herself experiencing both of these as she will one day inherit part of her families farm, but that will not be for a long time. So in the meantime she is trying to figure out how to get her own land to continue growing her herd of cattle.

When Madisen really jumped into this service learning project, that propelled her all the way to being a National Proficiency Finalist, she decided to do a survey at an event that had been put on for farmers. She spoke with extension agents about what she wanted to do first and found out that they had been offering services for mental health in agriculture for some time with very few people taking advantage of the services. Therefore, Madisen decided to pass out a survey at this event to see how great the need really was.

It turned out that the farmers resonated with her, and she received over ten times the responses that she was hoping for. Also, the farmers tended to want to had the surveys to her personally or take them home so that they could answer her questions very well before returning them. There is something about Madisen that made these farmers trust her and want to share with her. That is a gift that she is going to be able to use for good, for years to come, no matter what profession she ultimately winds up in.

SUPERVISED AGRICULTURAL EXPERIENCE: Beef Advocacy and Farmer Mental Health

HIGH SCHOOL: Ridgemont High School, Kenton, Ohio

MASCOT: Goldie The Gopher

FFA ADVISOR: Stephanie Jolliff

CONTACT INFORMATION FOR MADISON JOLLIFF:

Click on the picture below to be taken to the Ridgemont High School FFA Department’s website:

Madison’s FFA Advisor’s Email Address: stephjolliff@gmail.com

Ridgemont High School’s Telephone Number: 937-354-2141

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:

“The future of American agriculture depends on the involvement and investment in America’s youth, In order to prepare for the population of tomorrow, we need to encourage America’s youth today, and show that careers in agriculture are profitable, rewarding, and vital.”.

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, Sonny Perdue