Schwanke wins Poultry Production Proficiency

CONTACT INFORMATION

COLUMBIA, Mo., April 16, 2026 – Samuel Schwanke of North Shelby won the Missouri FFA Poultry Production Proficiency Award at the 98th FFA Convention.

Schwanke, a graduate of North Shelby High School, is the son of Diana and Jesse Schwanke. His advisors were Harold Eckler, Jenny Bradley, and Tim Davis.

Schwanke’s supervised agricultural experience program involved owning and managing poultry enterprises. Schwanke maintained a flock of 30 laying hens and marketed eggs directly to consumers. He also raised and sold broiler chickens. Periodically he raised Thanksgiving turkeys; he managed nutrition and growth schedules to ensure they were market ready before the holiday. His roles included daily care and egg collection. He planned, scheduled and made hard decisions about housing, feed management, processing timelines and marketing.

Schwanke’s FFA experience included, FFA Knowledge, Agronomy, Ag Management, and Parliamentary Procedure.

Since graduating high school, Schwanke has been attending Northwest Missouri State University, majoring in Agricultural Business.

Proficiency awards recognize FFA members who excel as agricultural entrepreneurs, employees or volunteers while gaining hands-on career experience. Poultry Production is one of 46 proficiency award areas recognized at the state level. The Poultry Federation sponsored this award.

The Missouri FFA has 27,000 members representing 369 chapters. The national organization has more than 1,042,245 members representing 9,407 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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