Ethan Riley, 13, an eighth-grader at Tarkio (Mo.) Junior High School, took first place in the Ak-Sar-Ben Essay Contest facilitated by the Agriculture Business & Management Technology program at Southeast Community College.In late September, SCC cosponsored a live farrowing demonstration with the Iowa and Nebraska Pork Producers during Ak-Sar-Ben’s River City Roundup in Omaha. At the end of the event, two 4-H and/or FFA members each were awarded one registered Duroc sow bred by Waldo Farms of DeWitt, along with her litter of pigs. Winners were selected based on a 500-word essay detailing how they would benefit from winning the sow and her litter and how the award will improve the profitability and growth of their livestock project.

Riley wrote that winning the sow and her litter wouldn’t just help him, but also his family.

“It would help me because now that I’m starting FFA, I will have to have an SAE (Supervised Agricultural Experience), and this would be the perfect project for me,” Riley wrote. “I would be able to start raising, showing and selling Duroc pigs. I could either breed her to have a purebred litter or breed her to have a crossbred litter, therefore it would benefit me because I wouldn’t have to buy pigs to show, and it would help me save money to put into building my pig herd.”

Second place was a tie between twin brothers Heath and Hunter Schroeder of Howells, 15-year-old freshmen at West Point-Beemer High School.

The judging panel was comprised of SCC Beatrice Campus faculty and ABMT program chairs. There were 16 entries.

“However, we had about 40 requests and inquiries on how to apply and so forth,” said Dennis Toalson, SCC Ag instructor. “We were happy with the number of entries for the first year. Next year we’ll work to get the word out sooner.”

Toalson said the criteria for the contest may change slightly in 2012.

“This was a brand-new project, and we couldn’t be happier with the way it turned out,” he said.

For more information on the Agriculture Business & Management Technology program, readers can visit the following link: Agriculture Business & Management Technology