By Claudia Loucks
Geneseo Current

Geneseo High School FFA members are learning about agriculture inside and outside of the classroom.

Renee Lock, GHS Ag instructor and FFA advisor, explained the students help manage a five-acre plot, located in Oakwood Cemetery. Their responsibilities include helping manage and making decisions throughout the year which includes planting and harvesting the crop, management decisions, monitoring crop prices and scouting the field.

Corn was planted for the last growing season and there will be soybeans this year…Lock said, “The corn this past year yielded 176.1 bushels per acre.”

Earlier this month, members of the Plot Committee met at Hanford Insurance Agency to discuss the insurance plan for the upcoming year…One of students commented, “ I learned about the national, state and county average yield of corn and soybeans, different types of insurance plans available for a farmer and different levels of guarantee for a crop.”

In preparation for the upcoming growing season, Lock said, “We are collaborating with Dan Baum and Dean and Dusty Olson, (area farmers)), for their added expertise in planning our 2023 FFA plot layout.”

She said there also are plans to meet with Ag Pharmacy and River Valley Coop to discuss fertilizer and chemical application best suited for the land….”A goal for this plot is to expand our opportunities by gaining more land through a student-led operation.”