Montevallo High and Shelby County High Future Farmers of America members recently attended the annual Sunbelt Agricultural Exposition, held October 15 in Albany, GA.  The Expo provided an opportunity for students to learn more about various agricultural colleges and careers.

Attending the Expo showed students importance of agriculture to our society.  It also showed them that agriculture is a booming career choice – no longer seen as only farm work, but an important part of the business world.

At the expo, the FFA members saw livestock, agriculture companies, new technologies, college booths, and fields being harvested on site. Students had the opportunity to look into various agricultural careers and to speak with professionals in each of these careers. They also spoke with college representatives and learned about how colleges of agriculture can have a positive impact on their lives.

The expo offered students the chance to see the latest equipment and watch presentations of how agriculture has evolved. Inside the John Deere exhibit, the students watched a video on how agriculture began as strictly hands-on, but has since evolved because of technology. The students’ perspective of agriculture being just about farming changed to a widened view of the business and technology side to agriculture.

“Since the expo, I see Ag in a whole new way,” said Cameron Cummings, from Montevallo High said. “I learned that people take for granted how much time and effort that farmers and agriculture specialists put into growing the food that’s on our tables.”

“This year’s trip to the Sunbelt Agricultural Expo was a huge success,” added MHS FFA Advisor, Blake Ray. “Our students had the perfect opportunity to see agricultural corporations that could be potential employers, post-secondary university and technical college opportunities, and hundreds of acres of the latest agricultural commodities along with the equipment that maintains and harvests those crops.”