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Youth & Young Farmers - 2005 GROWMARK Essay Contest

2005 marks the twelfth year for the essay contest sponsored by GROWMARK and participating FS member cooperatives.

The contest goals are to improve writing skills and knowledge of a current issue in agriculture.

The contest is for in-school FFA members in Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin and entries are due in February and March. This year's theme was “The Seed Industry: Today and Tomorrow”

Essay writers were encouraged to begin by researching the role and importance of the seed industry and how it is expanding, how biotechnology is driving agricultural change, and how cooperatives are taking a greater role in seed purchase decisions.

Questions to answer were:

How has the seed industry become more important in agriculture?
What are are some of the driving factors in the future of the seed industry?
What role do cooperatives play in the future of the seed industry?

The three winning essays are published at right:

The winners

Robb Bender, of Cleveland, Wisconsin

Looking out the window at my small country farm, I see numerous fields growing in my backyard. Even further in the distance are more varieties of crops. The different shades of green show that it is mid-summer, when many of the crops are developing. It’s fascinating to realize that such a huge field can grow and become the food that the world consumes... (more)

Miranda Metzger, of Rock Rapids, Iowa

The seed industry is an ever-changing force in agriculture. From the beginnings of agriculture until the most recent advances in biotechnology, farmers and consumers have relied on seeds to support and sustain themselves. This essay will explain the driving forces of the seed industry and how it has become more important to agriculture... (more)

Scott Bergman, of Mason City, Illinois

Imagine my great-grandfather’s excitement when he harvested his first hybrid corn crop with a one-row corn picker. In the early forties that first hybrid corn crop yielded almost eighty bushels per acre in the early forties. Now, fast-forward to 2004. This year my dad harvested genetically modified corn from the same farm... (more)

April 2005

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