By TIM THORNBERRY
Kentucky Correspondent

LEXINGTON, Ky. — While farmers here are enduring a dry summer, it is nothing compared to what those in Texas are facing. Nearly the entire state is considered to be in exceptional drought conditions, according to the USDA Drought Monitor.

Texas Department of Agriculture information notes the state leads the nation in cattle and calves, sheep, goats and horses, as well as the production of cotton, hay, wool and mohair. This devastating drought has cost Texas producers untold money in a state were agriculture has an economic impact of about $100 billion.

Last week, nearly 900 miles away on a farm in Fayette County, Ky., a group of high school and college students waited for a flatbed trailer to pull into a barn to be loaded with hundreds of hay bales. The hay was donated by farm owner Mark Smith to his counterparts in the Lone Star State, as a way to help the drought-stricken in some small way.

The students, all FFA members, were gathered together by former state FFA president Logan Goggin, a student at the University of Kentucky, and his fellow student Zeke Green, the current state FFA vice president. Goggin said it is never difficult to get volunteers even for such hard work as loading hay because of the community spirit the FFA possesses.

“I didn’t have to beg or plead, I just typed a few emails and they were willing to come out and volunteer their time,” Goggin said of the student help.
Green emphasized the community service aspect of FFA and that helping others, especially in agriculture, is what the organization is all about.
Shane Wiseman is the FFA advisor from Clark County and came with five of his members to help in the humanitarian effort. He said the students were eager to help.

“We do a lot of community service, not much that is nationwide I would say but we do a lot of things on the local level like picking up trash or serving meals in the community, helping people on their farms, but this is a little different,” he said.

Wiseman thinks the general public is surprised when they find out about the many things FFA does in their communities. “The last time we did something like this was when Hurricane Katrina hit Louisiana. We had a big drive to gather water and clothes to send there,” he said.

He also said the students he brought have grown up on farms and realize the impact a drought can have and what this hay will mean.

Camila Modica, FFA president at Fayette County’s new Locust Trace Agri-Science Farm, said this event serves as good experience for the members in getting them out in the community, involved and helping build relationships with other ag community members.

“Agriculture is something we all share and when it comes time for needs, the whole ag community comes out and helps each other. I feel fortunate to be here right now to help the people in Texas. I’m sure all the other ag students here are really honored to help other people, too,” she said.

“This is where you step up, whether you’re helping people in your community or in other states. It’s something that comes from the heart.”

Christi Hack, an agriculture teacher and FFA advisor from Jessamine County, had more volunteers then she could bring. “That is how FFA students are,” she said.

Hack added after people see teenagers in the media and how they are depicted in entertainment they don’t expect this kind of volunteerism – but FFA students aren’t always typical teenagers.

“They set a standard much higher than the average teen,” she said. “My kids were really excited about coming. I think they understand there is a need and they just go to it.”

Former state and national FFA president and coordinator of the Governor’s Garden Project Steve Meredith has been instrumental in many FFA projects around the state, this being one. He said Smith, who actually lives in North Carolina, was so moved by the need of farmers in Texas, he decided to run an ad in a newspaper stating he had free hay; all someone had to do was come and get it. No small task, but volunteers answered the call.

A contact was then made within state government, which is where Meredith picked up the project, and all that was needed was the volunteer help to load it. “The obvious go-to people for volunteer labor here are the young people who are members of the FFA organization, and all I did was made a few simple calls,” he said. “I had no doubts.”

Meredith added he spoke with the Texas FFA executive secretary recently and learned of just how grave the conditions are in that state.

“It is clearly very, very serious down there,” he said. “When you are expecting to be grazing livestock this time of year, you’re expecting to graze them well into the late fall and then begin to feed hay. They had no hay harvest this year and fed up all their stockpiles. This is decimating the herds in Texas and these things are serious for our food supply.”

Meredith also said for the people of Texas, this donation is just as much about the moral support as it is the hay.

“This will help several dozen head of livestock. It will help several farmers. But more importantly, it’s a big statement of we care and Kentucky FFA is here today to say, ‘we care’ just as the owner of the hay said ‘I care,’ and it’s pretty important.