Malta FFA Chapter to Set Up Beside 4-H at Ag Day

One new aspect of AG Day in 2024 is the fact that the Malta Chapter of FFA will be present.

“Normally we have State Convention at the time of FFA,” Murphy said. “Or it just doesn’t work with our schedules. But this year, we will have FFA at AG Day, which is awesome because we will not only have a 4-H booth but we will have an FFA booth.”

Both booths will be set up near each other.

“Both organizations are youth-driven,” Murphy said. “They are there for the kids and they have the same morals and purpose. Their mission statements are very similar.”

For those that did not know, FFA changed it’s name from Future Farmers of America in 1988 to National FFA Organization, because agriculture is more than the occupation of farmer.

“Agriculture is anything and everything,” Murphy said. “It’s not just farming, it’s not just ranching. It’s clothing, it’s media, it’s photography, it’s mechanics, it’s welding. Pretty much every industry is related to agriculture.”

Murphy says that there is a good majority of high schoolers and middle schoolers in 4-H and FFA. For four years Murphy was the FFA Advisor for Malta High School and worked very closely with 4-H.

“I love still being able to work with those kids because it allows me to continue to guide them through their projects, whether that is their 4-H projects or FFA Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE) projects that they have to have for the program,” Murphy said.

Every once in a while, Murphy gets to teach alongside Mrs. Rachel Mortenson in her eighth grade Ag Class. She teaches them record keeping.

“Whether you are in FFA or 4-H, or any realm of the Ag world, record keeping is very important, so we start them off very early, learning that,” Murphy said.

Murphy also works closely with Malta High School’s Interim FFA Advisor Lynnel LaBrie.

“I really enjoy working with Lynnel,” she said. “We work together on the FFA side because she is our Council President. Mainly, if she has questions, I guide her from there but truly she has done a fantastic job being interim FFA Advisor.”

Murphy is excited that Lynnel stepped into the short term position so that the program did not get “stale” but she does hope that one day the school will find an Agriculture Teacher, a position that she held from 2019 to 2023.

“It’s an amazing program and it is an amazing facility, and let’s be real, the kids are next to none,” Murphy said. “They are awesome.”