Story and photos by Susan Meeker
ARBUCKLE, CA (MPG) – FFA members from high schools all over California converged on Pierce High School on Saturday for one first agriculture field day competitions to be held in California in 2024.
This year marked the 26th year of the Arbuckle Field Day, which grew from three agriculture-related contests and a handful of students in 1998 to the largest student-organized FFA Field Day in the state.
About 1,400 students from 106 FFA chapters competed in the event, which was spread across the Pierce High School campus, and attended also by school advisors, drivers, and about 150 local community volunteers.
Pierce FFA Advisor, Erin Sweet, who teaches floral design, food science, ag pest management, and Ag Life Choices, said the Arbuckle Field Day is a generational event that brings former students back year after year.
“It is a mainstay in our community,” Sweet said. “We have younger siblings who take over events that older siblings ran. We have kids that ran contests that now come back as volunteers or to judge. That’s a big feather in their cap.”
The 2024 Arbuckle Field Day provided a venue for students to explore career opportunities, skills, and proficiency in the agriculture industry through contests that emphasized critical thinking and problem solving. Contests included public speaking, floriculture judging, farm equipment operation, dairy identification, surveying, soil evaluation, vegetable crop judging, ag mechanics, wood working, veterinary science, among others.
For students just starting out in the FFA high school program, reciting the FFA Creed or being tested on the aims, purposes, and history of the FFA organization, emphasized the opportunities that membership has provided them.
“I like seeing and meeting new people,” said Cindel Oliver, 15, a Colusa High School ninth grader, who took four written tests for Best Informed Greenhand, and plans to show a lamb at the Colusa County Fair this year.
The FFA Creed outlines the organization’s beliefs regarding the agricultural industry, FFA membership, and the value of citizenship and patriotism, said Kennedy Nall, 14, also a Colusa High freshman.
“Out of the creed, I learned what FFA was like back in 1930 when it was written, and all the changes that were made over the years,” Nall said. “I learned what agriculture meant to people then, and what it means now.”
Nall, who hopes to attend Oklahoma State University for a degree in animal nutrition, has grown up around livestock and has shown animals in 4-H since she was four years old. In her first year as a member of Colusa FFA, Nall plans to show a market goat at the fair, along with her six heifers.
About 20 Gridley High School students attended the Arbuckle Field Day, competing in contests from floral identification to welding.
Gridley High School junior, Nolan Weagant, 16, senior Gabriela Avelar, 18, and sophomore Gracie Leishman, 16, competed in the Cooperative Marketing Test, which effectively prepares students with the practices and operations of agricultural cooperatives.
Avelar said she was distant from agriculture, despite it being the primary economic driver in the Gridley area, until she joined FFA three years ago.
“FFA fosters a love for agriculture,” said Avelar, who plans to become a veterinarian. “FFA introduced me to it, and I just fell in love with it.”
The Arbuckle Field Day was a mix of sunshine and sprinkles, but students, who were bussed from as far away as Crescent City and Eureka, came prepared for inclement weather.
At the end of the competition, students gathered in the gym to find where they placed in their contests and what chapters will advance to state competitions.
Students, who were also fed a lunch of tri-tip and beans in the cafeteria, said the Arbuckle FFA Field Day is one of the best events in the state.
It’s just a fun experience, to be honest,” said Weagant, who competed last year. “People are great; instructors are great; it’s just a great place.”
Pierce High School sophomore Jocelynn Sastre, 15, who worked the event scoring tests, said the FFA Field Day has run smoothly the last two years she has been involved.
“It’s a great opportunity to meet new people and see how they grow in their knowledge,” Sastre said.