Twenty-nine local FFA'ers from B-B-E joined 3,565 other members of the Minnesota FFA which attended the 2016 State FFA Convention held April 24-26 at the University of Minnesota in St. Paul.

Zach Schmitz, Zach Walz, Josie Kirckof, and Brady Lenarz made up BBE's Farm Management team that qualified to compete at State this year. Zach Schmitz was an impressive 12th overall individual and as a team they placed 18th overall. They were required to take a 50 question written test and complete a farm management problem consisting of a balance sheet, personal expenses, input analysis, cash flow projection, marketing, budget analysis, income tax management, investments and alternatives, and an overall evaluation of a farming operation.

The BBE Poultry team placed 35th overall and was made up of Cody Lewis, Sam Wosmek, Joe Reller, and Jaden Pastian. They were required to identify cuts of poultry, USDA grade ready-to-cook poultry carcasses, interior and exterior grade eggs, place live classes of poultry, and take a written test.

Kayle Benesh, Hannah Prentice, and Ben Feuerhake competed in the Dairy Cattle Judging CDE where they placed 49th as a team. They judged 6 classes of various breeds of dairy cows, yearling, and calves, placed a class on pedigree information, selected sires to be mated to a specific cow, and completed a team activity with information from a DHIA report.

The FFA Horse Judging team was made up of Katherine Mastey (Silver Individual), Kori DenHartog, Megan Carroll, and Jonah Voss and placed 42nd overall. The team was required to judge various classes of horses including two riding classes and give two sets of oral reasons on those classes.

Cole Garvick qualified to compete in the Meats CDE as he placed in the top 6 in the regional contest held earlier this year. The Meats CDE requires participants to identify merchandisable cuts of beef, pork and lamb, grade carcasses according to USDA Grading Standards, and place many classes of meats.

The Forestry team had to identify trees, map identification, tool identification, wood sample ID, business management to include pricing and moving of lumber, timber cruising, compass course, and a written exam. The Forestry team was made up of Aspen Peterson, Tyler Lee, Bryce Evens, and Cody Evenson which placed 25th overall.

The Soils teams consisted of five Natural Resource students. They were: Macie Kirckof, Trevor Hubert, Thaniel Cebulla, Ben Boie, and Kody Bertram. They placed a very respectable 21st in the state. Team members were required to identify depths to each soil horizon, degree of erosion, slope, land use class, available water holding capacity, soil fertilization recommendations, degree of erosion, need for drainage, and possible use of land for community development.