OFI 1820: Building A Family Farm Legacy And Learning The Business | FFA SAE Edition | Brooklyn Lowe | Kuna High School FFA | Re-Cap Episode

On tomorrow’s Agricultural Business Episode I will be speaking with the CEO of Harvest Hosts about how farmers can make extra money hosting people on their farms overnight.  This made me think back to the interview I did with Kuna’s own, Brooklyn Lowe, formerly of the Kuna FFA Chapter.  Brooklyn and her family own and operate “The Farmstead” which is an agritourism destination about three miles from my own farm.

When I owned the gopher extermination business I did work for Brooklyn’s father, Jim, at a previous location they operated at.  Later, I was able to interview Jim about their business, and then I eventually came to know Brooklyn through my and Hattie’s involvement in the Kuna FFA.  The story of this family business, which Brooklyn will one day take over, is one of vision, patience, persistence and growth.  And I think it ties in perfectly with tomorrow’s ag business episode.

Brooklyn’s previous show notes are below:

SHOW NOTES

INTRODUCING BROOKLYN LOWE!

There is a great agricultural business in our area, and I have been watching it grow for well over a decade now.  I first visited the Lowe Family Farmstead when I still lived in Boise and was a police officer.  Our police officer’s association had a night for the police families there, and we took a drive to Kuna to get a taste of the harvest season, walk through their corn maze and pick some pumpkins.

Years later, after I had started my first business, Idaho Gopher Control, I was hired by the Farmstead to exterminate gophers for them.  This was at a new, bigger and better location.  This was before I had a podcast and when today’s guest was nine years old.

Brooklyn Lowe was just getting started working in her families business back then.  Today she is a sophomore at Kuna High School, and she is progressively getting more and more experience in her families farm business.

The Lowe Family Farmstead will be celebrating its first year on its own ground this year.  Brooklyn’s parents purchased their own farm this year, and this will be the first year that they are not leasing.  Brooklyn is learning a lot about business and about finding a niche that will support the farm.  She told me that one of her favorite parts of working on the Farmstead is teaching their customers about agriculture.

Brooklyn is one to watch, and she will be a part of our agricultural community for a long time to come.

SUPERVISED AGRICULTURAL EXPERIENCE: Agritourism

HIGH SCHOOL: Kuna High School, Kuna, Idaho

MASCOT: Kavemen

FFA ADVISOR: Joe Blackstock

CONTACT INFORMATION FOR BROOKLYN LOWE:

Click on the picture below to be taken to the Kuna High School Ag. Department’s website:

Brooklyn’s FFA Advisor’s Email Address: jblackstock@kunaschools.org

Kuna High School Telephone Number: 208.955.0200

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

More Places You Can Listen to Off-Farm Income And Matt Brechwald: