Biggest high school farm in America: Lincoln FFA offers several industry pathways

The Lincoln High School farm is back in full swing as school starts. The Lincoln Future Farmers of America Chapter was founded in 1955. The Lincoln High School farm began in 1974. The original property was 280 acres and was acquired from McClellan Air Force Base. In 1984, they opened a welding and fabrication shop for the students. In 1998, they built a hay barn alongside classrooms for students to learn agriculture education. In 2006, the farm acquired an additional 125 acres by Wildlands Inc. This brought the farm to 405 acres. Community members would brag it is the "largest high school farm to the west of the Mississippi River." In 2016, Mariner Ranch donated 535 acres of land, which has secured the farm's legacy as the biggest high school farm in America at 940 total acres. In 2017, the school farm got a new welding shop. Chapter members Lilyana Petersen, Matthew Marino, Hudson Hants and Carrie Marino recently gave the Lincoln News Messenger a tour of the school farm. Walking around the farm, you can find animals, stacks of hay bales, vineyards, garden beds, pumpkin patches, wetlands, welding machines and classrooms. Students take a 15-minute bus ride from the main school campus and traditionally stay for one or two classes a day. Since the beginning of the FFA chapter, the agriculture education has grown at Lincoln High. The school has five industry pathways for students to complete: agribusiness, agricultural mechanics, animal science, floriculture and sustainable agriculture. Students have opportunities to take unique courses like veterinary science, math of sustainable agribusiness, agricultural chemistry, advanced floral and advanced welding and fabrication. The FFA chapter is led by agriculture teachers Barret Hess, Jessica Armistead, Jacob Willhite, Cassandra Killingsworth and Thomas Toy. Petersen, the chapter president, said FFA has changed her for the better. "I never thought in a million years I would be the chapter president," she shared. "I was very shy. I did not know how to speak in front of other people when it came to presentations and classrooms." She explained her teachers pushed her to learn creed, a five-paragraph statement of FFA beliefs. She had to memorize it and then be asked questions about it in front of judges. At the Greenhand Leadership Conference, Petersen took a 200-question test about the FFA. Between these two experiences within her freshman year, she became involved in the organization, which has grown her leadership skills and knowledge. Besides agricultural education, the FFA program focuses on life skills. This includes preparing for public speaking, job interviews, parliamentary procedure, sales and more. Students are encouraged to create Supervised Agricultural Experience projects. Lincoln FFA also has an outreach program – Lincoln Environmental and Agriculture Program (LEAP) – which gets younger students from Western Placer Unified School District involved with the farm. This includes hands-on educational farm tours in the spring and summer and pumpkin patch experience in the fall. Petersen said being involved in the LEAP program is full circle for her. "When I was in sixth grade, OLE (the previous title) was for sixth-graders. We would come out here for two days as a kid and that's actually what got me interested in FFA," she shared. "It is cool to see the students come and watch them just light up seeing the cows. They get to feed the cows and it's just so exciting for them." The FFA students have been preparing for the Gold Country Fair in Auburn where students will showcase their animals through Sept. 8. After the fair, students will prepare for their Commitment to Corduroy Benefit Dinner at Fowler Ranch, where the public can attend to support their organization.