Expanding to seven states and eight FFA chapters, Mycogen is entering the second year of its “Turn the Bag Blue and Gold” FFA program. It pairs chapters with local Mycogen retail partners to provide education and fundraisings for students and chapters.
In his second year of the program, Mycogen Seeds territory manager Matt Porter of York, Neb., says the FFA chapter’s students and advisers are excited to be involved in the program another year. He says last year was a great experience for him, too, watching and working with the students as they learned.
“Last year went great. It took some students a little time to get comfortable with the sales process but with all the training they were set up perfectly,” Porter explains. Students performed actual sales calls with farmers. Mycogen reps or retailers accompanied students during sales calls, but the students were responsible for making the sale.
Each sale raises funds for the local and state FFA associations as well as the National FFA Organization.
“We are not only dedicated to our farmers’ growth but also the growth of young agricultural leaders,” says Blake Courtney, Mycogen marketing communications manager. “Last year, we piloted the program with six FFA chapters across corn-growing regions, donating more than $35,000.”
Beyond the financial benefits, students learn life skills and more about potential career paths.
“The main thing about this program is to help students explore seed and sales, or to help them better understand what their fathers or grandfathers do on the farm,” says Casey Schleusner, Mycogen seed territory manager. He will be leading a program for the first time this year with the Central Plains FFA chapter in Gowrie, Iowa. “It also provides detailed agronomics and sales training to equip them with real life experience.”
This year the program will be implemented with the following chapters and retail partners:
- Elsberry FFA Chapter, Elsberry, Missouri
- MFA, Inc., Elsberry, Missouri
- Central Plains FFA Chapter, Gowrie, Iowa
- NEW Cooperative, Inc., Fort Dodge, Iowa
- Eastern Hancock FFA Chapter, Charlottesville, Indiana
- Harvest Land, Wilkinson, Indiana
- York FFA Chapter, York, Nebraska
- Central Valley Ag Cooperative, York, Nebraska
- Chase County FFA Chapter, Imperial, Nebraska
- Nutrien Ag Solutions, Imperial, Nebraska
- Fremont FFA Chapter, Fremont, Michigan
- Ceres Solutions, Fremont, Michigan
- Alexandria FFA Chapter, Alexandria, Minnesota
- Pro-Ag Farmers Coop, Brandon, Minnesota
- Bureau Valley FFA Chapter, Manlius, Illinois
- Nutrien Ag Solutions, Sheffield, Illinois
Chapters are provided with specific hybrids to sell that are suited to the areas in which they are selling. Those hybrids will be in blue and gold bags when purchased from students. Throughout the year, students will take part in agronomic training and scouting to learn more about seed sales from initial sale, to service calls and customer retention.
