Youth News
Meet Your 2014 National Proficiency Award Winner in Oil Crop Production- Clayton Mack of Drummond
Sat, 01 Nov 2014 05:42:27 CDT
The Agricultural Proficiency Awards honor FFA members who, through their Supervised Agricultural Experiences have developed specialized skills that they can apply toward their future careers. Students can compete for awards in 49 areas covering everything from Agricultural Communications to Wildlife Management. Each award area has two categories, placement and entrepreneurship- although in some award area- those two categories are combined.
Placement proficiency awards are given to those whose SAEs are related to employment, apprenticeships, or internships at an agribusiness or agriculture-related organization. Entrepreneurship proficiency awards are given to those whose SAEs are related to ownership of an agribusiness or agriculture-related organization. Proficiency awards are given out at the local, state and national levels.
Here in 2014, Oklahoma had 12 finalists vying for national honors in the Proficiency categories- and five of them were named national champions on Friday afternoon in Freedom Hall at the 87th National Convention of the FFA organization. Oklahoma was tied for the third most National winners this year, with only Ohio (7) and Wisconsin (6) claiming more. Oklahoma and Wisconsin were the most efficient in converting national finalists into national champions, with both states having just under fifty percent of their finalists named as the overall winners.
Clayton Mack of the Drummond FFA Chapter won National Proficiency title in Fiber and Oil Crop Production, Entrepreneurship/Placement. Mack remembers being perched on a car seat that his dad mounted in his tractor so that he could ride with him when he was little. Fast forward a few years and he farms 320 acres himself that he rotates between wheat, canola, soybeans, and corn. He also custom plants an additional 300 acres of canola for local farmers. Before marketing his commodities, Mack always evaluates stand establishment and studies previous year's production to better understand the market. He is currently pursuing an animal science degree at Oklahoma State University and looks forward to being a 5th generation farmer on his family's farm. He is supported by his parents Curtis and Marcie Mack.
In talking with Ron Hays after being named national champion on Friday afternoon, Mack says that canola offers a world of potential for his farming operation- providing a rotational crop that will help improve his winter wheat the next growing season. You can hear their conversation by clicking on the LISTEN BAR below.
Coverage of the 2014 National FFA Convention and Expo can be seen and heard on the Radio Oklahoma Ag Network, OklahomaFarmReport.Com, our Daily Farm and Ranch News Email, Twitter via our Ron_on_RON feed, Facebook , FLICKR and on our Oklahoma Farm Report App- available for Apple and Andrioid Devices.
Our exclusive coverage from Louisville is a service of the Oklahoma FFA Association, the Oklahoma FFA Alumni Association and your Oklahoma Ford Dealers. For more information about this youth organization, click here.
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