OFI 1441: A Deep FFA Heritage And Motivation For Advocacy | FFA SAE Edition | Taylor Russell | Shullsburg High School FFA

Our guest today is well ahead of her time advocating for agriculture and dispelling myths about animal ag as well as the FFA.  After listening to her interview, there will be no question in your mind why she is doing this. Taylor Russell comes from a rich, Wisconsin, FFA tradition.  Her aunt was the first ever female national officer from Wisconsin, both of her parents were state officers, her two older sisters are in the FFA and her mother is her ag teacher and FFA advisor.  Is that enough? Hearing all of that, it is no surprise that Taylor got started in the FFA as soon as she was eligible at Shullsburg High School, which for her was in the 7th Grade.  Since then she has developed three businesses.  With the rest of her family she raises sheep and sells lambs every year to exhibitors from the 4H and the FFA for participation in jackpot shows and fairs.  Taylor raises her own steers for exhibition and sale, and she raises chickens and sells eggs to friends and family in her area. As if this were not enough, she has another supervised agricultural experience in agriscience research that already yielded her a Gold level award at the national level. Taylor has been researching how people in the FFA communicate about the organization using social media.  She has seen a lot of mis-information on social media about cruelty to animals as well as the 4h and FFA being corrupt organizations that indoctrinate students to be cruel to animals.  So, she decided to combat what she knew to be untrue.