Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Welcome to Missouri Corn Talk, your go to weekly agriculture podcast delivering fast, reliable updates on market development efforts, ethanol demand, and issues shaping today's corn industry. I'm your host, David Geiger. Recently, 30 incoming high school senior Missouri FFA members converged in Jefferson City to sharpen their leadership and advocacy skills during the 12th helping youth prepare for Excellence or Hype Academy Sports, sponsored by the Missouri Corn Merchandising Council. Joining us today is Keith beach hold, recently retired Missouri FFA Executive Secretary and Director of Missouri Agricultural Education. Keith has worked closely with Missouri Corn to ensure the industry's next generation of agriculture leaders are prepared to enter their careers. Keith, thank you so much for joining us today and congratulations first off, on that recent retirement you have spent a lot of time with over the years with students in Missouri and those agricultural education efforts. Tell us about that and tell us about this new time in your life.
[00:01:01] Speaker B: Well, David, thank you and Missouri Corn for asking me to join this podcast. I've had the honor and the privilege to be a part of agriculture education for over 40 years as a teacher in three districts in northwest Missouri and then the opportunity to serve the State association through about 15 years of work here at the State Department. And what a rewarding career to give back to others and give back to my roots of where I started when I was in high school in the 70s. Agriculture, education and FFA shaped who I became and gave me an opportunity to give back and serve those that mean so much to Missouri agriculture and the future of Missouri agriculture. So it's been great and I'm walking out with high hopes for the future and leaving the operation and the work in good hands and look forward to what they have to do and continue the good work that we've had for over almost 100 years now in Missouri.
[00:02:01] Speaker A: Well, Keith, we are grateful that you've been around to help out, especially all these years of the Hype Academy. The 2026 Hype Academy wrapped up recently in Jefferson City. Can you tell us about that and what students were learning?
[00:02:16] Speaker B: Sure. The Hype Academy was born out of a conversation that occurred between Missouri Corn and Missouri FFA and Missouri Agriculture Education about how we could help Missouri FFA members learn how to tell their story. So many times in agriculture, there are information channels that are out there that may or may not tell the story of agriculture and Missouri Agriculture Education was very happy to jump on board with that to help tell the story of agriculture and help students understand how to frame that and how to put that together.
That was kind of the gist of helping spread the members. The challenge that has always been given to these 30 individuals is we only have room for 30 in this hype academy. And we hope that you take these skills and spread those to the chapters out in the state so that these skills can be spread and used in other ways with your members in your local chapters and local areas. I often frame that as like a raindrop and the ripple effect that a raindrop has when it drops in a pond or a body of water. And hopefully you are a piece in that raindrop that is going to ripple across and spread this work so that others can know how this operates. So that's been the gist of it and it's been very successful over its 12 year history.
[00:03:36] Speaker A: The capstone of this academy has students heading over to Missouri legislators and holding mock hearings at the state capitol. These hearings focus on issues that impact Missouri farmers and ranchers. Tell us about the feedback you get from both legislators and the students when they have this massive opportunity.
[00:03:59] Speaker B: Sure, it is a great opportunity. And we just so want to thank Missouri Corn for organizing this and the legislators who take time, not during the session, but come back to Jeff City during the summer to meet with these 30 individuals and to put on a mock committee hearing where the students have been researching different current topics in agriculture that are legislative and need policy issues.
And they present either the positives or the negatives, or the pluses and the minuses, or the pros and the cons, however you want to look at that to these legislators who are doing these mock committees. And it is very eye opening for both sides. The legislators get to hear from students that they know there's good students in Missouri, but they don't always get to see them in action. So having them present to them and provide this information to them is refreshing for the legislators to know that that's going on. But the students, boy, what do they learn? They learn so much about legislators are people, they want to hear from what you have to say and they are just like you and I and they want to listen. And the students get to learn how to frame that and put that together in an organized fashion and to spread that news to help provide information on how those policies get shaped. And so in the future, what the hope is as they move forward.
If they don't do it in the capitol, they can do it when they're sitting at dinner, they can do it when they're sitting on the bus, they can do it when they're in the airplane visiting with people that have concerns about Agriculture and they can frame those and share those opportunities and those facts about agriculture and how we are working to sustain the work that we do and save agriculture and continue to feed the people in the United States and Missouri.
[00:05:56] Speaker A: Keith, Missouri Corn is a partner of Hype. Can you tell us about how there are avenues of support for not only educating and giving students more opportunities, but also taking a look at other major issues around the state, including FFA projects and award sponsorships, as well as volunteering. Can you tell us more about that?
[00:06:23] Speaker B: Sure, absolutely. Missouri Corn has been a partner for many, many years of Missouri agriculture education in Missouri FFA. Back in 1997, I believe that's the correct year, Missouri Corn and Missouri FFA struck a partnership on a vehicle that was ethanol powered to both help Missouri FFA in their travels across the state for our state officers and the state staff, but also to have the state officers learn more about ethanol production and then be able to share that across when they're in their travels. And in the early years it was a van that we used and here lately it's been an ethanol powered, what we call an FFA truck, spreading the good news of not only Missouri FFA but also the good news of renewable fuels in the state of Missouri and that Missouri Corn is a piece of that so that we can continue to be a sustainable society and make through. So that's been a very beneficial partnership. Missouri Corn also has been a long time sponsor of proficiency awards, which are awards for our students that are based on their supervised agriculture experiences. For instance, grain production, which is, you know, of course, corn production. And they've been a longtime sponsor of that. And then their board, their staff has always been willing when we call to step up and volunteer for judging our online applications for showing up in person to judge those resources are valuable to organizations such as ours to make sure that we provide those opportunities for students, but yet continue to have successful growing of our organization. So very, very happy and pleased that Missouri Corn has been that partner and look forward to many, many more years. As the years move on, I wanted
[00:08:10] Speaker A: to take a moment for folks listening in. There are many people that are involved in this.
There's industry partners as well as alumni who take a look or hear about what's going on and want to know how they could potentially give back. What opportunities are available to those folk.
[00:08:30] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. I'm glad you asked. We are always interested in individuals that want to give back to agriculture education or start, you know, maybe they didn't grow up in agriculture education, but find that it's something they want to support.
Several avenues. They can always reach out to state staff here at the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and Ag.
If monetary is something that you want to support, we have a Missouri FFA foundation and that Missouri FFA foundation is always looking for people that are interested in providing sponsorships to Missouri Agriculture Education, which Missouri FFA is a part of. Could also be in the form of interest or support to our post secondary Ag students as well as our adult students in the Missouri Young Farmers Educational Association. So different ways they can give back When I was talking about time, talents and treasures. So giving your time providing your talents to help students and then is so inclined to provide those treasures. We are open to any of those and always welcome to have a discussion about how you can help and move forward and support Missouri Agriculture education.
[00:09:38] Speaker A: Keith Dietold joining us. Thank you so much for your time today and talking about the important aspects of investing in tomorrow's agricultural leaders. I know the folks at Missouri Corn have really enjoyed working along with you over the years to make sure that Missouri's FFA students have great access to tools and opportunities as they head towards college as well as their future careers. Thank you again for joining and congratulations on your well earned retirement.
[00:10:04] Speaker B: Yeah, well thank you David. It's been an honor to serve Missouri Agriculture and Missouri Agriculture Education and specifically corn has been a great partner and working with those folks has always been enjoyable. So thank you and best wishes to everybody. And hey, if anybody out there wants to connect and I'm available, I'd be willing to help as I walk out this particular door and start a new season.
[00:10:25] Speaker A: Keith, thanks again for the time and thank you for listening to this conversation. This podcast is made possible by the Missouri Corn Merchandising Council and the Missouri Corn Growers Association. To learn more about Missouri Corn's effort to build demand at home and abroad, visit mocorn. Org.
