GROWMARK essay contest open until Nov. 6

by | Sep 21, 2020 | 5 Ag Stories, News

FFA members in six states have until November 6th to submit an entry to the 28th annual GROWMARK essay contest.

The essay contest is sponsored by GROWMARK System and FS member cooperatives in conjunction with state FFA leaders. Karen Jones is youth and young producers? specialist with GROWMARK. She says the contest helps students learn about current Ag issues and also gives them a chance to further develop their writing skills.

?This year our topic happens to be, ?If you could invent a new technology to improve agriculture, what would it be?? So, we?re looking for students to really share some interesting ideas,? Jones said. ?We?d like them to identify a problem that they see in agriculture and propose a solution. We want them to be creative. We don?t necessarily expect their solutions to be feasible at this time, but we just want to see their creativity come out and see what things they think are problems that need to be solved in our industry.?

Jones says winners of the contest will earn cash prizes.

?Our contest is open to FFA members in six states: Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, and Wisconsin,? Jones said. ?The students that win ? each state has a prize package ? the winning student in each state gets $500 and then their chapter gets $300. So, not only does the winning author get an award, but their chapter does too. We also select four runners up in each state and those students get $125 each.?

The submission process is simple and is done online at GROWMARK?s website.

?If you visit growmark.com you can find a link to the page where you submit the essay, or if you find us on social media it has been posted there as well,? Jones said. ?All students have to do is fill out a little bit of personal information ? name and address ? and then they can upload an essay or type it directly into the online form.?