The Iowa state winner of the 2021 GROWMARK essay contest is an FFA member from the Iowa Valley Community School District.
Sydney Benscoter took the top honors in this year?s GROWMARK FFA essay contest for the state. Karen Jones with GROWMARK says the theme of this year?s contest was ?If you could invent a new technology to improve agriculture, what would it be??
?We had a lot of fun with the theme this year,? she said. ?We always try to come up with something that?s relevant and timely but also interesting so that the students will want to write essays about it. This year, we prompted them to think about something they would like to invent that would solve a problem in agriculture.?
?We told them that the sky is the limit,? Jones continued, ?don?t limit yourself to something that maybe is already being done or that you think could actually happen. We wanted them to get creative, go all out there and try to figure out if they could do anything in the world what would they do? We really got some neat essays back and some pretty creative problem solving from the students.?
In her contest entry, Benscoter said: ?There is far less land available for growing food, and that in combination with the growing population is a recipe for disaster. I believe that the solution to this problem can be found in the very cities that caused it: skyscrapers. When we ran out of space to build houses, we built up! Why not do the same with farming??
As the contest winner, Benscoter will receive a $500 award from GROWMARK. The Marengo FFA chapter will also receive a $300 award in honor of her accomplishment.
Four state runners-up will each receive a $125 award. The runners-up and their FFA chapters are: Cade Haughenbury, North Linn FFA chapter, Coggon, Iowa; Zach Ihde, North Fayette Valley FFA chapter, West Union, Iowa; Mattie Nielsen, Audubon FFA chapter, Hamlin, Iowa; and Tessa Tauke, Beckman Catholic FFA chapter, Earlville, Iowa.
This is the 28th year for the program, sponsored by the GROWMARK System and FS member cooperatives, in conjunction with state FFA leaders, to help young people develop their writing skills, learn about current issues in agriculture, and understand the unique role of cooperatives.
