With the harvest season virtually wrapped up around Greene County, that also includes a few acres near the high school in Jefferson.

Agriculture Education Teacher Steve Kehoe says agronomy and some FFA students got to learn about crop loss and post crop analysis with the test plots, along with one local business that brought the equipment needed to harvest the crops.

“Reuter’s (Red Power) were huge in bringing the combine and the semis in. I thanked them and they thanked me for coming here, because they just enjoy watching the kids. The kids were able to ride the combine.”

Kehoe is working on several ideas for the future of what the test plots could develop into, with utilizing the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and discussed options for programs with the Greene County Conservation Naturalist Jacob Fernholz, Landus Cooperative and using their Sky Scout program to monitor crops over the summer, installing buffer stripes around the retention ponds, and planting cover crops. He explains the bigger picture of how he sees these kinds of things moving forward. 

“So we are trying to develop a plan of action for this area, and try to do some things here that will be a little bit different. But it’s been wonderful, there’s just so many resources here that this program is going to expand and to me it will be one of the better programs in the area.”   

He believes there are so many options within the community to enhance this real-world experience for students.