(Story by Atlantic FFA Reporter Maddy Anderson) -The Atlantic FFA Banquet was held on Sunday, March 24th at the Atlantic High School. There were 165 members and guests were present at the event. The banquet started with the opening ceremonies, led by the 2023-2024 chapter officers. This year the officers include President Colton Rudy, Vice President Lola Comes, Secretary Claire Pellet, Treasurer Roth Den Beste, Reporter Lily Johnson, Sentinel Wyatt Simon, and Student Advisor Charli Goff. 2023-24 Chapter President Colton Rudy said, “As FFA President, it was a memorable year leading the chapter with new record numbers and fruit sales. I hope I encouraged the younger members to become involved in our Chapter and strive to become future leaders in the Chapter and the industry.”

The opening ceremony was followed by a welcome to members and guests, and was given by President Colton Rudy. A reflection was then said by Claire Pellett. Following that, dinner was held for members and guests. Wiota Steakhouse provided the pulled pork and the sides for the FFA members and guests. At the conclusion of dinner, two guest speakers spoke to the audience. The first was Chuck Rudy, the Father of FFA President Colton Rudy. Mr. Rudy talked about how FFA is a great program and how it can impact your future greatly if you put in the effort. The next speaker was Southwest District FFA President, Collin Bauer Martin talked about getting outside your comfort zone and realizing the many great opportunities and life lessons FFA can bring to you that will be valuable in yours and other people’s futures.

Claire Pellet gave the secretary’s report and the treasurer’s report was given by Jackson McLaren. Following the guest speakers, awards were given out. First were those recognized for earning 10,000 FFA points throughout their time as a member. These points are earned through getting involved with our chapter. The more activities and events a member participates in, the more points they earn. Those recognized for reaching 10,000 points included Colton Becker, Colton Rudy, Charli Goff, Callee Pellett, and Claire Pellett.

The next award was the Academic Achievement Award. This award is given to those who have been a part of the Atlantic FFA chapter for three years, and have maintained a 3.5 GPA throughout all those years. Those who received the Academic Achievement Award included Makayla Atkinson, Parker Brock, Avery Knuth, Callee Pellett, Claire Pellett, Colton Rudy, Wyatt Simons.

After the Academic Achievement Award came the Star Greenhand, Star Ag Placement, Star Ag Business, and Star of Ag Production Awards. The Star Greenhand is awarded to a freshman who the chapter officers feel was the most involved with the chapter in the past year. This year the award was given to Alyson Dreager. The next award, Star Ag Placement, is an award given to a member that has done an exceptional job in their employment, whether that be in or out of agriculture. This award was received by Colton Rudy. The Star in Ag Business was awarded to Colton Becker for his work for a variety of different businesses in the livestock industry and outside it as well. Finally, the star Ag Production was awarded to Callee Pellett for her work Pellett Farms. This award shows Callee’s dedication to Agriculture and the FFA.

Star Placement
Left to Right
President Lola Comes, Colton Rudy

Star Famer
Left to Right
President Lola Comes, Callee Pellett

Star Ag Business
Left to Right
President Lola Comes, Colton Becker

Honorary Chapter Farmer
Left to right
Mike & Stacey Pellett, Tyler Comes, Lisa Sonntag, Kristy & Brad Pellett

2023-24 Retiring Officers
Left to Right Front Row
Claire Pellett, Charli Goff, Lola Comes
Left to right back row
Colton Rudy, Roth DenBeste, Wyatt Simons, Lily Johnson

This year, the new officers for the 2023-2024 term elected four members to receive the Atlantic FFA Leadership Award, which is given in appreciation to those who have shown leadership through their years in FFA. These 4 members who received the award include Claire Pellett and Charli Goff. Officers also elected 2 individuals and 2 families were awarded to receive the Honorary Chapter Farmer award. This award is given to people who have played a large role in helping the Atlantic FFA chapter and the activities they do. Those that accepted this award include Lisa Sonntag, Tyler Comes, Mike & Stacey Pellett, and Bradley and Kristy Pellett and Mike and Stacey Pellett.

This year, 12 members were given the Discovery Degree. The Discovery Degree is awarded to members who are finishing their 8th grade year of schooling, and have been involved in FFA for one year.Those that have been involved for one year of high school Ag, received the Greenhand Degree, which was given to 20 members. Next came 20 members who were Chapter FFA degrees, which are given to members who have been involved in FFA for 2 years since being in high school, or members who have been in FFA for three years including their 8th grade year.

The banquet concluded with the installation of new chapter officers. For the upcoming 2023-2024 year, the new officers include the following: Lola Comes as President, Lily Johnsonas Vice President, Lauren Comes as Secretary, Hayden Kleen as Treasurer, Maddy Anderson as Reporter, Frank Freund as Sentinel, and Joaquin Wails as Student Advisor. 2024-2025 President Lola Comes said “The outgoing officer team was an incredible group of friends, and I am very thankful for all of the opportunities we experienced together. I am looking forward to my senior year to continue networking with and learning from FFA members and Advisors from across Southwest Iowa. Our newly elected team has big plans for the chapter and cannot wait to get started.”

(Radio Iowa) – Researchers say information they’ve discovered might change how conservationists should deal with the invasive species known as garlic mustard. Garlic mustard blocks out light from other plants and ISU researcher Cathy McMullin says the data she is following shows it also releases chemicals that prevent the seeds of other plants from growing.  “Native plants and their associated — what we call mycorrhizal fungi — appear to be developing a resistance to garlic mustard allele chemicals. And this increases with the time of exposure to garlic mustard. So the resistance increases,” McMullin says. She says the older the population of garlic mustard is, the fewer toxic compounds it produces.

“This is likely due to the cost of producing these allele chemicals,” McMullin says. “They take a lot of carbon and a lot nutrients to produce them. And if the yields are diminishing than selection kind of suggest its not worth producing these anymore.” McMullin is an adjunct associate professor in the Department of Natural Resource Ecology and Management at Iowa State University. She says for those trying to keep new garlic mustard from taking root, spring is the right time to be pulling it out of the ground. For more mature garlic mustard, she recommended removing the seed head, preventing them from maturing and entering the seed bank.

McMullin made her remarks on Wednesday’s Talk of Iowa on Iowa Public Radio.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa legislature has set aside 250-thousand dollars to start developing accurate maps of Iowa’s underground water resources. State geologist Keith Schilling is director of the Iowa Geological Survey, the agency that will develop the maps of shallow groundwater supplies.

“There’s an increasing demand for groundwater in Iowa from municipal users, business and industries and even irrigation,” Schilling says. “We know something about Iowa’s shallow underground water resources, but not everything we need to know.” Schilling says his agency has done some site specific research in some locations around the state.

“What we really need to do is to connect the dots,” Schilling says, “and understand how much of this groundwater is available, what’s the recharge rate that occurs, how much is discharged to the streams and how much is being used in order to develop some idea of the long term sustainability of our groundwater supplies.” Schilling’s agency has the equipment, supplies and technology that can be used to evaluate water supplies above the bedrock surface.

“That includes the shallow sand and gravel alluvium along our river courses,” Schilling says. “It also includes deeper sand and gravel bodies sitting on top of the bedrock, buried by thick glacial materials.” The alluvium he mentioned is generally the area that borders a river where sediment is deposited by the flow of water at the surface. The shallow GROUNDWATER maps — once completed — should help determine the long-term sustainability of each aquifer in Iowa according to Schilling.

“What product could we do first and easiest to get some producible results? In which case we might focus year one more on the Iowa River alluvium,” Schilling says, “because there are several users working in this water supply.” Schilling says understanding the basic distribution of Iowa’s shallow groundwater resources may prevent potential disputes over water access in the future.  “As users increase, the aquifer itself is not changing shape. There’s only so much water there,” Schilling says. “We need to understand how much water’s there and how sustainable its use is.”

Mapping DEEP underground aquifers that are BELOW the bedrock is really expensive and is NOT part of this project. The funding to start mapping shallow aquifers is included in a budget bill that cleared the legislature last week.