Members of North Tama FFA at the Farm Progress show with their Big A and a $1,500 check for winning second place in the Pioneer® Brand A-Series Soybeans Big A Challenge. Photo submitted.

The North Tama FFA team were awarded the second place prize of $1,500 in the Iowa FFA Chapter Wins Pioneer Brand A-Series Soybeans Big A Challenge presented by Pioneer.

“When we found we won second prize, we were beyond thrilled,” Matt Cibula, North TaFFA Advisor said. “We were just happy to get into the top 15, but the top 3 made us feel all our hard work paid off. I’m very pleased.”

The chapter was among 15 finalists for the challenge, which students created a design to promote Pioneer’s “A-Series” of soybean and then decorated a seven-foot letter A with $200 dollars to buy supplies. Work was accomplished during and after school by members of the FFA members.

“We had a lot of good people working on this A after school, homeroom, lunch, study breaks up until we put it on the truck,” Levi Beenken said. “This was a great opportunity for our chapter to put our name out there. I guess our painting skills are pretty good to win second place.”

Once completed, the A was picked up and displayed at the 2019 Farm Progress Show in Decatur, Illinois this August. Judges selected the top three designs for prizes, selecting Mount Ayr FFA for first place, North Tama FFA for second and Wayne FFA for third.

“The Farm Progress show was a really cool experience and it’s been years since we’ve went,” Beenken said. “We got to see all the new models coming out, stay in a hotel and find out we’re winning $1,500 for our chapter.”

According to Cibula, the prize money will be used to send FFA members to conferences and to rent a few acres of land in order to grow corn and soybeans for more hands-on experience.