Erbsen becomes an FFA American Star

LANARK, Ill. — Last fall, Nevin Erbsen was back in Indianapolis, Ind., attending the 98th National FFA Convention & Expo. Though he had attended national conventions for awards and competitions before, this year it felt different. He was the elder statesman, and this time, he was up for the American Star in Agricultural Placement.

“I didn’t think I was going to win,” Erbsen said. 

In the past, Erbsen attended national conventions as a competitor in dairy judging, dairy handling and a national semifinalist for dairy placement record books. This time, he was back in Indianapolis as a junior at Iowa State University, majoring in agriculture systems technology with a minor in agronomy. This year, Erbsen was attempting to achieve one of the top awards offered by the National FFA Organization.

The American Star in Agricultural Placement is awarded to the FFA member with the top agricultural placement Supervised Agricultural Experience in the nation. The member must demonstrate outstanding achievement, active FFA participation and an exemplary scholastic record. To be selected, candidates must keep a record book of their SAE and participate in an interview process while at the national convention and meet other standards.

“(The process is) scary, very scary,” Erbsen said. “I hadn’t interviewed for a couple of years, so I was knocking the dust off. Once the interview was over, I thought I didn’t do well, but it worked out in the end.”

Joining Erbsen at the national convention this year were his parents, Becky and Carl, and his cousin, Delana Erbsen. Delana was also a finalist for the American Star award in Agriscience. His parents received their Honorary American FFA Degree at the convention earlier in the day.

“It was a cool experience to go to Indianapolis with my cousin,” Erbsen said. “We’ve been best friends since we were able to walk, so being able to do our final stage of FFA together was a pretty awesome experience.”

The work Erbsen demonstrated throughout his SAE helped him stand out at the national convention.  Erbsen works at two dairies near his hometown of Lanark. One is his  family’s farm where they milk 50 cows in a tiestall barn, with a focus on high-quality genetics. He also works for nearby Gunderson Dairy Farm, a 240-cow dairy that uses four robotic milking units.

“I have worked on the family farm for as long as I can remember,” Erbsen said. “When I got older and I could drive, I started taking on more responsibility at my uncle’s farm, where he does more genetic work. There, I took care of a lot of show cattle. Washing, trimming, you name it, I did it.”

It was around that same time that Erbsen began working for Gunderson Dairy Farms. This operation provides a different experience for Erbsen — one that helps him see the wide variety of ways dairying can be done. Working on the robotic dairy also helps him gain experience while working with automated processes,
something he hopes to continue to do after graduating from college.

“(I enjoy) seeing how the robots operate and understanding that’s going to be the future of agriculture,” Erbsen said. “Labor is the No. 1 leading cost in dairy production, so being able to minimize that is definitely something farmers look forward to, and it’s also rapidly growing on the tractor side of things.”

In Ames, Iowa, the junior works for Chad West of West Acres, assisting with cash crops and tillage, while also balancing work with Kimberly Ag Sales & Service. This experience is helping him curate a future where he can lead agriculture into the coming years with automation.

“The autonomy and the automation that you can utilize to help grow your crops and make the most of your ground is definitely something that I want to be a part of,” Erbsen said.

While at the convention, Erbsen and the other candidates spent time with each other, getting to know about one another’s farms and the challenges they face.

“They’re all from different parts of the country,” Erbsen said. “I competed against someone from California, another from Kentucky. They’re from all sorts of different climates and landscapes. They have hills, they have sand, so just talking about how they farm, what they do, what their ani-mal care is like was (interesting).”

At the awards ceremony, Erbsen was not sure of how he measured up to the other candidates.

“I listened to the other interviewees and I’ve talked to them,” Erbsen said. “I thought there was no way I could compete with these people.”

Maintaining six years of record books, working on his family farm, creating value through genetics, gaining experience in automation with robotic milking units, assisting with cash crops and building new technology to find new, more profitable strategies had boiled down to one moment in Indianapolis. As the announcement was made, Erbsen recalled what he felt.

“I was shocked when they called my name,” he said. “It was a cool feeling.”