COOKEVILLE, TN—Austin Barry of the Bedford County Future Farmers of America (FFA) chapter is Tennessee FFA’s 2016 Star in Agricultural Placement. The Star in Agricultural Placement is awarded to the top student who best demonstrates knowledge and skill through experiential, service and work-based learning opportunities. His Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE) project is Dairy Production. The Star in Agricultural Placement is sponsored by the Governor Ned McWherter Fund.
Austin is a vital component of Billing’s Family Dairy Farm, a more than three generation dairy farm located in McMinnville, TN. He is instrumental in the management of the dairy farm, making key decisions and utilizing employee management practices. The family farm consists of a thousand acres of wheat, soybeans and corn, which Austin harvests. In addition to working on his family farm, Austin was the Warren County FFA Chapter President and served as the Middle Region FFA Sentinel.
Austin is the son of Michael and Gena Barry of McMinnville. Austin plans on attending Tennessee Technological University in the fall majoring in agribusiness with the hopes of returning to the farm and advocating for the agriculture industry.
For his achievement, Austin was honored last week during the Second Annual Tennessee FFA Star Tour presented by Farm Credit Mid-America. The trip was centered on Tennessee agriculture; students got a once in a lifetime opportunity to visit agribusinesses, meet key industry leaders and showcase their superior projects.
The tour began in Doyle at Camp Clements: Tennessee FFA Leadership Training Camp where Farm Credit Mid-America presented each of the Stars with $1,000 scholarships. The tour included visits to First Farmers and Merchants Bank in Columbia, the Tennessee Farm Bureau Federation, and Hatcher Family Dairy in College Grove, Batey Farms in Murfreesboro, Warren County FFA, and the farm of Joe Moore, former American Star Farmer in Granville. The Stars also visited Wampler’s Farm Sausage, met with Farm Credit Mid-America in Dandridge, visited
the Appalachian Electric Cooperative, and was hosted by the Daniel Boone FFA chapter for dinner in East Tennessee. The tour ended with a day spent at Dollywood.
Austin was named the Tennessee FFA Star in Agricultural Placement in March at the Tennessee FFA State Convention in Gatlinburg. Having received his State FFA Degree, Austin is now eligible to earn his American FFA Degree and represent Tennessee in the competition to become the American Star in Agricultural Placement. Likewise, Tennessee will have a Star Farmer, Star in Agribusiness and Star in Agriscience candidate.
FFA makes a positive difference in the lives of students by developing their potential for premier leadership, personal growth, and career success through agricultural education. Nationally, there are 629,367 FFA members, aged 12-21. The Tennessee FFA Association is comprised of 14,084 members from 214 high school chapters, 7 middle school chapters, and 8 collegiate chapters across the state of Tennessee.
(Photo caption: Austin Barry, Tennessee Future Farmers of America Star in Agricultural Placement, is pictured at FFA Camp Clements in Doyle moments before the Star Tour Kick Off.)