Reestablishing agriculture roots

POSTVILLE, Iowa — In 2021, Ryan Holthaus left his agriculture education position at North Fayette Valley High in Iowa. Two years later, a call from a former student brought him back to education.
“I was just burnt out,” Holthaus said, “I went into banking. I loved the people and networking, but I didn’t enjoy it. I missed the kids and wanted to get back into teaching.”
The high school in the Postville Community School District had seen its agriculture education program dip in the years before Holthaus’ arrival. The part-time teacher at the school left in the summer of 2023, leaving a prime opportunity for a banker, who was a teacher at heart. Holthaus dusted off his agriculture education degree from Iowa State University and 18 years of teaching experience as he took over at Postville.
“Before I got here, the agriculture education program had a half-time, long-term substitute teacher,” Holthaus said. “A lot of the courses were online, where the kids would get modules and learn.”
With online modules, there was less and less hands-on learning. With that limiting factor of the program, the Postville FFA Chapter had just 14 members in a high school with nearly 200 students enrolled.
Holthaus rewrote the entire curriculum, focusing on more hands-on experiences. That started with cleaning out the industrial shop.
“(The) biggest thing we had to do was just rolling up our sleeves and getting to work,” Holthaus said. “I just started cleaning the shop. I’d go home filthy, but we figured out what we had available and how to make it work. When I started, we’d have kids come down and help during their study halls, so they knew what we could do if it was available.”
A month later, Holthaus and his students had the shop ready to use. Cleaning up the program did not end in the shop; it continued as Holthaus attempted to find what would work best for the Postville area. To fully embrace what the students and community needed, Holthaus and the administration worked with the community to better tailor their agriculture education efforts.
“I talked to the farmers in the community to see what they thought the program was lacking,” Holthaus said. “The biggest thing they came back with was to just go do something. Be active.”
Holthaus set sights on reestablishing the FFA program.
“My first year, I rounded up enough kids to form a dairy judging team,” Holthaus said. “We weren’t good, but that’s alright. We were introducing kids to something they might not have had exposure to. That’s the best part of FFA. There are a lot of different activities, and we encourage kids to get out of their comfort zone.”
The following year, the Postville FFA Chapter received a Gold Rating at State Dairy Cattle Judging. Holthaus has led numerous FFA proficiencies to state titles, in addition to helping students find their passion.
“FFA exposes kids to things they might not have known they wanted to do,” Holthaus said. “We had one student who was set on being a state trooper, but after we introduced him to welding, he shifted his focus. It’s also helped kids find out exactly what they don’t want to do. Experience is the best teacher, and it can help shape their knowledge of what they want or don’t want to do.”
Connecting with his students and finding out what they are passionate about is what has helped Holthaus rediscover his own passion.
“There’s no better feeling than helping a young person find what they are passionate about,” Holthaus said. “It’s amazing. I have three kids of my own, but I treat the kids that I teach like they are my own, and there’s no better feeling than helping them find what they love.”
To do that, Holthaus uses what could be viewed as the most lackluster parts of FFA excursions, the bus rides, to better get to know his students.
“We build those relationships through those bus trips to different conferences and events,” Holthaus said. “I have my commercial driver’s license, so I’m the bus driver. I’ll have the kids come up individually and sit with me and talk while I drive. It helps me get to know them so much better, and that helps me learn where they want to be.”
His own FFA experience is a catalyst for why he wants to continue to revive agriculture education and continue to build relationships with students.
“I’m biased, but FFA is the greatest youth organization there is,” Holthaus said. “It just offers so much.”
FFA has mock job interviews, Holthaus said, to help better prepare kids when they have an actual job interview.
The real-world experience that FFA provides has led to a resurgence in the FFA program at Postville, which had 61 members for the 2024-2025 school year.
“Every town needs FFA, in my opinion,” Holhaus said. “Every big town, (every) small town, the kids need a place to call their own, and FFA can provide that to a lot of kids.”