The 2011 World Ag Expo, held in Tulare, CA, was over 2 million square feet of land covered in agriculture machinery and equipment! In other words, a farmer’s paradise.

Fillmore FFA started the fun-filled day bright and early as we loaded the bus along with Santa Paula FFA at 6AM. A couple of hours later we found ourselves listening to Michael Peterson, a motivational speaker who came to talk to the FFA members, explain that “life is full of uncertainty” and we should “deal with the uncertainty with out hesitation.” Mr. Peterson’s main goal during his speech was to have us realize that “when you change the things you look at, the things you look at will change,” meaning that we shouldn’t look at the bad in the picture, but the opportunity in it. After the motivational speaker, we were given the chance to roam through the show. We saw many different types of machinery like John Deere tractors, tillers and implements. Students also got to experience seeing Fillmore member Brandon Pina, ’12, test drive various tractors. Don’t worry folks, they checked his driver’s license! As well as displays, there were about 1600 agri-business booths including everything from chemicals to technology. Students who are enrolled in the Ag Fabrications class were excited when they came across the welding tent. There, members were able to see new welding tools and helmets being demonstrated. All the business representatives were excited to see the 2,000 FFA members in attendance. I even got to enjoy hearing a farmer’s FFA story from when he went to high school. The World Ag Expo. was definitely a great way to show students just how many job opportunities agriculture has to offer. The Fillmore and Santa Paula FFA chapters enjoyed their visit to the World Ag Expo and look forward to attending next year’s event.

Brooke Aguirre is the Fillmore FFA Chapter Reporter