OFI 1686: Tear It Down And Build It Back Up | FFA SAE Edition | Casey DeVries | Forreston High School FFA

Casey DeVries is the "Test Plot Chairman" for the Forreston FFA Chapter in Forreston, Illinois.  If that is a title you have never heard of before, it was also a new one for me.  Casey's family has been farming in the Forreston area since 1948 when his great grandfather purchased farmland there.  Today some of their land sits across the road from the high school.  So, during Casey's freshman year he suggested doing test plots of corn in that field to compare varieties and provide the agriculture department a way to do hands on learning.  The project stuck and is still doing four years later, and will continue after Casey leaves high school. Casey and his family have a large farm and a large shop.  Working on machinery and engines in the shop is a significant part of keeping the farm going.  So, Casey has been doing something mechanical since around age 5.  When it came time for an SAE, he decided to challenge himself.  He purchased an old tractor, brought home and tore it all apart.  He restored the transmission, the rear end and even painted it himself.  And then he marketed it on Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist.  Within one week it was sold to a gentleman in Wisconsin!