By ND FFA Foundation, Heather Riemer & Glen Huettl, Garrison FFA Advisors
The North Dakota Soybean Council sponsored the Fiber and/or Oil Crop Production – Entrepreneurship/Placement Proficiency Award at the 2019 state convention. This award is given to a member who owns the enterprise, or works for a business that includes the best management practices available to efficiently produce and market crops for fiber and/or oil, such as cotton, hemp, soybeans, flax, sunflower, and more.
The 2019 award winner, recognized at the 90th State FFA Convention in June, is Aaron Johnson of the Garrison FFA Chapter. Aaron has been working at his family farm since the day he could walk, so the life of growing up on a farm has created his passion for agriculture. Lessons learned while working on the family farm prepared Aaron to be successful in his Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE), which focused on the production of flax and soybeans.
Not only is Aaron involved in cropland procurement to grow flax and soybeans, but also manages record keeping, paying bills, seeding, harvesting, and equipment maintenance. Growing crops is a time-demanding job, so balancing that with being involved in high school has made Aaron an efficient time manager as well. Aaron has plans of attending college in the future but has not decided where he will go yet, but plans to keep agriculture a part of his life. Today, Aaron rents land and manages a variety of different crops, while continuing to learn important lessons of farm management and production that he started learning during his SAE. Following college, Aaron plans to return to the family farm with hopes of taking over the operation one day. Aaron is the son of Dwight and Patty Johnson, while Heather Riemer and Glen Huettl are his FFA advisors. The North Dakota Soybean Council has sponsored this event since 2008. Aaron was presented his award on June 5th at the 90th State FFA Convention in Fargo.
