FFA student earns national honor
By Phyllis Moore
Published in News on November 10, 2008 1:57 PM
News-Argus/GREG SOUSA
Rex Price operates a combine to harvest soybeans on his family's farm in the Pricetown section of Seven Springs. The 17-year-old Spring Creek High School senior plans to make a career out of farming and recently won a national FFA award for a project on tobacco farming.
News-Argus/GREG SOUSA
Rex Price operates a combine to harvest soybeans on his family's farm in the Pricetown section of Seven Springs. The 17-year-old Spring Creek High School senior plans to make a career out of farming and recently won a national FFA award for a project on tobacco farming.
News-Argus/GREG SOUSA
Rex Price, a senior at Spring Creek High School, talks about his plans to make a career out of farming, just as the past four generations of his family have in the Pricetown section of Seven Springs. Price recently won a national FFA award for his presentation on tobacco farming.
Farming is all Rex Price has ever wanted to do.
"When I get up and go to school, it's all I think about. I'd rather be out in the dirt," the 17-year-old Spring Creek High School senior said. "You might work long hours, but then again, if you need to go somewhere, you make your own hours."
For five generations, his family has made its way living off the land -- from tobacco, grain crops, corn, wheat, cotton and soybeans, to livestock and turkeys. And now Price has added one more family tradition -- a national award from Future Farmers of America.
In the Pricetown section of Seven Springs, dad Tracy and uncle Michael operate Price Brothers Farming Inc. Rex recalls tagging along when he was 8 years old.
"Back when I started, I didn't do much of anything really, I went along on the harvester, riding with my daddy on the machines," he said. "He didn't really take me along -- my mama made him take me along."
These days, he has his hands in every aspect of the operation from working the fields to doing paperwork for the business.
"My dad taught me everything," he said.
Nearly three years ago, Price told his adviser at Spring Creek High School, Chris Stewart, about his goal to become a national FFA competition winner. He even stepped down as a chapter officer to concentrate on the task.
"Daddy had a national proficiency," he said. Tracy actually placed second in the national competition in 1981-82 while a student at Southern Wayne High School.
He was proud when his son went to the national competition in Indianapolis last month and beat three other finalists in the last round.
Rex's award was in the category of "Specialty Crop Production -- Entrepreneur-ship/ Placement Proficiency." It is one of 47 proficiency program areas FFA members can participate in to develop experience and leadership skills.
Sponsored by the National FFA Foundation, each of the four finalists received a plaque and $500. As national winner, Rex also received an additional $500.
His project entailed demonstrating knowledge of tobacco crops and recordkeeping, mostly through photos and a presentation.
"Basically you're on the honor system," Rex said.
When it came time to appear before the judges, however, he said he thinks he won because of his long-time, hands-on experience at home.
"They knew when I left that room that I knew what I was talking about," he said.
Farming is something, he said, that "keeps me on fire."
It is also a career he hopes to pursue on his own one day.
"When you're out there in the field, it isn't the whole working-behind-a-desk deal," he said. "You're out there working with nature."
Farming has provided a good life, his father said, but it's also a hard life, fraught with struggles -- especially financial.
When his son mentions his aspiration to one day farm on his own, Tracy is quick to say, "It's probably not going to be possible because of the financial aspects."
One way or another, Rex plans to be part of a farming operation. After graduation, he hopes to attend N.C. State University and major in agronomy, the study of field crops.
The national recognition of his achievements and dedication meant even more because of the personal sense of satisfaction it brought.
"It was something that I could do right by myself," Rex explained. "If I didn't win, I couldn't blame anybody else."
It is that sense of diligence and the willingness to work hard that is also making his family and teachers proud.
"He's worked hard for it," Tracy said. "He's done it all on his own."
Also by Rex's side through the process is co-adviser Andrea Sanderson, who worked closely with Rex on his award-winning project.
Ms. Sanderson is only in her second year of teaching, a real coup as an agriculture educator, Stewart said.
"It's a real big deal to have a national winner this early in your career," he said.
Thirty years ago, there were far more students entering farming than there are now, Stewart said. So Rex's pursuits are all the more inspiring.
"To me, what Rex has done here gives hope to others," he said. "Certainly it's accomplishing his goal, but it gives hope to others . It's been good for Rex, it's been good for our chapter."