FFA Inside the Emblem: Postville

61 members
Postville, Iowa
Allamakee County

Tell us about your chapter. Our chapter is located in Postville, Iowa. We have a very diverse and active chapter.

How does your chapter volunteer in the community throughout the year? We have quite a few things for which we volunteer during the year. During the summer, we volunteer at the Big 4 Fair in Postville and four county fairs in our area at different events. At the Big 4 Fair, we help by doing pre-fair cleanup along with trash pickup on one of the nights. At Winneshiek, Allamakee and Clayton, we volunteer to serve food and ice cream in their various buildings. At Fayette, we help during the fair queen elections by raising the flag for the national anthem and having some of our boys be escorts. During the fall, our local vet clinic hosts a luncheon for the community. We have a few members who go and serve the meal and visit with local farmers and community members. We also have a stretch of highway outside of Castalia we clean up during the fall and spring.

What fundraisers does your chapter do throughout the year? Which is the most successful? During the fall, we do mums and fruit sales. In the spring, we do a spring plant sale. Our most successful fundraiser is fruit sales. During fruit sales, we sell fruit, meat, cheese, candy, coffee and metalworks. In 2024, we made $7,489 in profit from fruit sales.

What are the biggest events of the year? Our biggest events of the year are the dairy cattle evaluation and dairy products judging that take place in the fall, as well as the state FFA convention. At the dairy cattle evaluation, members look at different groups of cattle, write their reasons and give optional oral reasons at the end. In dairy products judging, members taste different types of cheese and decide what it is, taste different cups of milk and decide what defect was put in it and learn how to test milk using the California Mastitis Test. The state FFA convention is in Ames at Iowa State University; members compete in different tests and group Leadership Development Events. Our chapter gets recognized for awards, and members get various degrees and individual awards.

What is unique about your chapter? The diversity of our chapter is unique. Our chapter is also very active, and every member does at least one activity throughout the year.

When was your chapter founded and how has it evolved? Our chapter was founded in 1932 and has evolved with the town. Like the town, our chapter has become more and more diverse as the years have gone on.