Belt wins Agricultural Sales – Entrepreneurship Proficiency Award

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COLUMBIA, Mo., April 24, 2025 – Andi Belt has been named Missouri’s 2025 State Winner in the Agricultural Sales – Entrepreneurship Proficiency Award area. This honor recognizes FFA members who demonstrate outstanding achievement in developing and operating their own agricultural businesses.

Belt is a 2024 graduate of North Shelby High School, is the daughter of Travis and Jessi Belt of Leonard, Missouri. She is a member of North Shelby FFA Chapter. Her advisors are Tim Davis, Jenny Bradley, and Harold Eckler.

Belt began her Supervised Agricultural Experience in 2020 with the help of a National FFA Grant and a vision to connect farm production to consumers. Her business focuses on the marketing and sale of homegrown lamb meat to local buyers, restaurants, and out-of-state customers.

What started as a small-scale project quickly grew into a successful and diversified agribusiness. Belt sources, processes, packages, and ships various lamb products—including ground lamb, leg of lamb, kabob meat, gyro-seasoned lamb burgers, and flavored bratwursts. Through effective digital marketing and strong customer service, she has expanded her brand beyond Missouri to reach customers in Indiana and Iowa.

Over the years, Belts’s responsibilities have expanded to pricing decisions, inventory tracking, customer outreach, and logistics. She also established a partnership with Crane’s Farmhouse restaurant in Shelbyville, introducing lamb to their menu and increasing local demand.

Belt served as Missouri FFA State President and credits her SAE with sparking her passion for teaching and advocating for agriculture. Now a freshman at the University of Missouri, she is pursuing a degree in agricultural education with plans to become an agriculture teacher.

Proficiency awards recognize FFA members who excel as agricultural entrepreneurs, employees or volunteers while gaining hands-on career experience. Agricultural Sales Entrepreneurship is one of 45 proficiency award areas recognized at the state level. River Valley Ag Exchange sponsored this award.

The Missouri FFA has 26,900 members representing 365 chapters. The national organization has more than 1,027,273 members representing 9,235 chapters in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The 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.

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