Young Leaders Sponsors FFA “Commodity Challenge” Contest

The Young Leader (YL) Committee of the Clinton County Farm Bureau (CFB) recently offered the FFA members and agriculture students in the county with an opportunity to compete in their second “Commodity Challenge” contest.

The YL’s “Commodity Challenge” centered on an online, interactive commodity game, using current market prices that allowed participants to test their knowledge and practice their marketing skills without the financial risk. Through the exercise, participants traded corn, soybeans, and wheat on the cash, futures, and options markets to help them learn about the “ins and outs” of today’s commodity markets.

The exercise ran from March 1^st through April 15^th.  It was the hope of the committee that this exercise complimented the current Ag business curriculum, and that the students were able to learn valuable skills while having fun. 

To further encourage the students to do their best, the Farm Bureau even offered some cash incentives to the top marketers from each of the high schools in the county.  This year over 100 students from Mrs. Ibendahl’s class at Carlyle High School, Deacon Netemeyer’s class at Mater Dei, and Mr. Zurliene’s Wesclin Ag program took us up on the offer to test their marketing skills against their Advisor and each other.  At the conclusion of the event, cash prizes were awarded to the top three traders from each school.

The Young Leader Committee would like to thank all the teachers and students for their cooperation and spirited competition, and they look forward to repeating the contest in the future.