ND FFA Foundation

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Emily Martwick – Vegetable Production Proficiency Award Winner

 Emily Martwick, a recent graduate from Drake High School , is a gardener.  She remembers helping plant a garden in the spring for as long as she can remember and in 2003 she decided to take this work to the next level and start her own Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE) program, in the area of vegetable production.   

Emily’s duties include planting the garden, pest and weed management through organic measures, advertising and marketing, food preservation, and many others.  She has grown pumpkins, potatoes, corn, beans, peas, beets, and broccoli in her organic garden.  Emily has been lucky in that the plot of land where the garden is located is supplied by her parents, but she has been inventive in methods for obtaining other pieces of machinery.  “We obtained the two-row cultivator and an old corn planter by trading an old oven with a neighbor,” said Emily.  She also uses a tractor that has been in the family for years.   

Emily has used the local farmer’s market to sell her vegetables and said, “I found that experience in sales helps a great deal.  In order to make a good sale, both the customer and the vendor need to feel they benefited by the trade.  I feel as if I can make some improvements to the marketing plans.  As soon as we establish a steady market, profit outcomes will not be so unpredictable.”  

Emily has such good sales skills that her Ag Sales team won the State FFA Ag Sales Career Development Event this spring and will be competing at the National FFA Convention this fall in Indianapolis , IN.   She is also a persuasive speaker and won her district level extemporaneous public speaking event last fall and competed at the State FFA Convention in June.  In addition, Emily also was elected as the ND FFA Secretary at convention.  She will spend the next year serving the members of ND FFA through various capacities.  

The Vegetable Production Proficiency awards are sponsored by R. D. Offutt Company. 

Ths page is sponsored by the ND Grain Growers Association

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Last modified: April 22, 2008