Fifty students from the Willow Springs FFA Chapter recently visited the MU Research Farm, Wurdack Farms, located in Cookstation, Missouri. While there, students had the opportunity to learn from representatives of the University of Missouri.

Some of the subjects covered during this visit were livestock reproduction, animal nutrition, different sectors of the livestock industry, and equine science. They also watched a demonstration on handling working cattle dogs. Students learned the importance of the agriculture industry in Missouri and more specifically south central Missouri.

The idea for agriculture education was fostered in 1917 with the creation of the Smith Hughes National Vocational Education Act which brought agriculture into secondary education programs. Later career development events (CDE’s) were established in which students could compete and validate the material learned in the classroom. The first career development event was Agriculture Mechanics.