Local FFA chapter feeds local farmers

Some days during harvest season, the Clark Township farmer has no idea when he will get lunch.

Gary Nolting, 60, tries to plan his days out meticulously on his 700-acre farm near Needham. However, when meal time rolls around he may have to send out for food quickly while working in one of his fields or will make something quick in a kitchen in his barn.

On Monday, a group of Whiteland Community High School students helped.

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About 20 FFA members from the school fanned out across Clark and Pleasant townships to bring lunch to 100 farms in the district where the students attend school.

Students convened at Kelsay Farms in Whiteland to assemble lunches of barbecue sandwiches, chips, string cheese, cookies, milk and water. The students then split into groups of four to get the meals delivered.

The project is one of about four community service projects that the group does annually, Hannah Goeb, FFA adviser said.

Leaders in the club came up with the idea this summer to feed farmers in their fields during harvest time.

Most of the students in leadership positions in the club work on a farm themselves or who have close family members who farm. Students know that 16-hour days on the farm can be normal, especially during harvest time, said Josh Rhodes, a senior and president of the FFA.

“We wanted to show farmers how much we appreciate their hard work,” he said.

Students called local businesses and got the entire meal donated. Students and Goeb put a social media call-out asking for families to submit the names of farmers who might benefit from a meal brought to them.

The idea also helps promote one of the main educational components to FFA, which is to educate and show students where their food comes from, she said.

“I want them to understand how much time is put in (to farming),” she said.

And the students wanted farmers to know that they appreciate the work they do to feed the community, Rhodes said.

Nolting was working on his farm, where he grows corn, soybeans and wheat and raises beef cattle, when the group of teens handed him his lunch. Days can be planned, but that schedule is often discarded, Nolting said.

“Eating is big for guys like us,” he said. “This is something that is unique.”