FFA Sales Contest Provides Practical Skills

Last weekend - I had the opportunity to judge the team portion of the Washington State FFA Sales Contest. If ever you worry about the future of agriculture — you just need to hang out with current FFA students based on those young people who participated in this contest we’re in good hands.
All West/Select Sires — an AI cooperative that services dairy and beef operations in Oregon, California Washington Northern Idaho and Montana as well as three Canadian providences — was the sponsor of this event. Smart move to bring awareness to the career opportunities of their organization to FFA students through this sponsorship.
Co-Coordinator of the event, Northwest Farm Credit Services Scott Weisse shares what participating FFA students gain from being involved.
Weisse: “How to present a topic. How to fully understand research. Just all those sales aspects of how we’re going to market this product. What are some suggestive sale items that we can do? How are we going to reach these customers? What is the scope of our customers — who wants to buy the product, why our product versus a competitor’s product. So they really get the whole gamut of the sales experience in this process.”
He continues with his personal experience with the sales contest.
Weisse: “There are still skills that I picked up in high school that I still use today every day in my personal and professional career. So I think it is a great opportunity for the students to partake in an event that provides exposure to different sides of agriculture that they wouldn’t necessarily be exposed to as we do try to rotate products every year.”