Roundup Record Tribune & Winnett Times -

By Cody Johannes

FFA or the National FFA Organization maintains the spot as one of the largest Youth Organizations in the Country and certainly has the largest Agriculture base. Unique from other ag based organizations FFA is an intra-curricular program that uses a 3-circle model of Classroom Ag Education, Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE), and FFA Leadership to teach students the importance of agriculture and leadership and how to apply it. The National FFA Organization Motto is "Learning to Do, Doing to Learn, Earning to Live, and Living to Serve", this motto is something each state association and each chapter takes to heart and applies in their community, career, and future. All 50 states and 5 territories that FFA encompasses provide their own opportunities and teach their own skills for future success, but Montana FFA has their own specific projects, plans, experiences, and opportunities for their 5250 members across the state.

One that certainly stands out for Montana FFA is their annual Agriculture Commodity tour. As an opportunity to connect, network, and learn more about international and different agricultural pathways and niche's Montana FFA State officers for the year and the year's Montana FFA Agronomy team take a tour of over 1500 miles covering Idaho, Washington, Oregon, and Montana soaking in all the agriculture that takes place in these states. This year Montana FFA Advisor Mr. Jim Rose and the 2021-22 Montana FFA State Officer Team were accompanied by the Stevensville FFA Agronomy team and their advisor Mrs. Josette Hackett and FFA Foundation Staff Member Katherine Taylor.

Starting with the Port of Lewiston in Lewiston, ID the members were able to tour the farthest inland port on the West coast of the United States and got to experience truck to barge transportation of grain, lumber, and paper products. This provided a unique opportunity to understand how the smaller waterways help feed and support the larger ports. Moving from Lewiston to Portland, stops were made at the Columbia Gorge Hotel, Multnomah Falls and the Bonneville Hatchery and Locks. These sites provided an understanding for all that takes place along the Columbia River and how vital it is to the success of agriculture.

Next on the trip was the United Grain Corporation (UGC) elevator and port. At this location we watched the docking crew at work sending a ship on it's way to the ocean. In addition to seeing how grain is transported on water ways we also watched their rail yard at work as they unloaded hopper bottom train cars and sorted the grain accordingly. According to Montana FFA's Second Vice President Danielle Horan "It is super cool to see grain go from being harvested in a field in Montana to being loaded on a barge in Vancouver, Washington". One of the highlights of the trip was visiting the Wheat Marketing Center in Portland, Oregon where longtime supporters of Montana FFA provided a better understanding for the grain market on a global scale and gave us an inside look at the different applications for Wheat.

After completing our visit to the Wheat Market Center and UGC our group visited Shaver Tug Boat Company in Portland. This tour afforded us the opportunity to take a very interesting ride on one of their company's tug boats. We learned all the ins and outs of grain transportation through the river and how their amazing boat worked. Additionally, we visited the Oregon State University Food Testing Center and got an education of the marketing and retail side of agriculture. During our return trip home, we visited perhaps one of the most impressive parts of the tour. That was visiting the Three Mile Canyon Farm in Boardman, OR. This tour was especially interesting as we saw their entire operation from irrigation, fertilization, harvesting, nutrition, farming, and of course their substantial milking operation. The Three Mile Canyon Farm milks 35,000 head of Jersey cattle twice a day and we were fortunate enough to experience this operation. The tour concluded by visiting sites in Spokane, WA, and Coeur D'A Lene, ID

None of these opportunities would have been possible if we were not supported by our generous sponsors which include Columbia Grain, the Montana Wheat and Barley Committee and the Idaho Forest Group.