The rain held off last night so planting in Central Iowa continues, including on the Big Show Corn Cam plot at DMACC with our friends at Wyffels Hybrids:
Practicing appropriate social distancing, of course, Doug and our friends from Wyffels are providing their Smart Staxx hybrids to do some tests on long term corn-on-corn and downforce:
You can watch these wonderful Wyffels Hybrids develop throughout the growing season by watching The Big Show Corn Cam at DMACC anytime 24/7 here. Of course, the farm at DMACC is a working farm and while there are no students around today unfortunately, DMACC officials made a big announcement on The Big Show. 68 Mark Pearson FFA Leadership Scholarships for students entering the College in the fall of 2020 are being handed out. The scholarship is named after long-time WHO Radio Farm broadcaster Mark Pearson who died in 2012 at the age of 54.
All graduating seniors who served as presidents of their FFA chapters in Iowa during their junior or senior year and maintain at least a 2.0 grade point average are eligible for the scholarship. In addition, the student must submit an application for admission to DMACC, provide an essay of 500 to 1,200 words describing their FFA leadership experiences, activities accomplishments and career goals, and provide a letter of recommendation from their FFA advisor.
“The student must enroll full-time in an AA, AS or AAS degree program at any DMACC campus or learning center, maintain a 2.5 GPA while a student at DMACC and enrolled in the Leadership in Agriculture course at DMACC,” said Academic Advisor Megan Snook Lautner.
The Mark Pearson FFA Leadership Scholarship was created in April of 2016 in an announcement made in the Formal Office of at the time Governor Terry Branstad.
Mark Pearson, who died in 2012, hosted Iowa Public Television’s “Market to Market’ program for more than 20 years and was the host of WHO Radio’s “The Big Show.” Pearson was a Madison County farmer who also served as an Assistant Secretary of the Iowa Department of Agriculture and was the Markets Editor for Successful Farming Magazine.
At the time of the announcement of the new scholarship, more than $325,000 had been raised to provide a full-tuition scholarship for every qualifying FFA Chapter President in Iowa.
To date, more than $1.3 million has been distributed in Mark Pearson scholarships for DMACC students. A total of 255 students have received these full-tuition scholarships since 2016.