A John Deere Publication

man smiling holding and surrounded by antlers

An SAE project spurred John Bierman to look beyond the fun to the science of his hobby.

Agriculture, Education September 01, 2024

Shedding Ideas with the FFA SAE Program

SAE projects build careers and lifelong passions.

by Martha Mintz

Life is full of little sparks. Bright fleeting bursts of joy and inspiration can come from finding an antler shed, making ice cream for the first time, or considering bees to make use of long-idle family farm ground.

Most sputter and die as there's no driving need to stoke them to flame. Yet some grow to research projects, flourishing businesses, or long-standing hobbies shared with friends, family, and community. FFA Supervised Agriculture Experience (SAE) projects lend purpose to these sparks, fanning them into flames of substance.

Jenna Spangler doesn't recall ever having made ice cream before choosing it as her venture for two entrepreneurship projects—the McDonough County CEO class and an ag processing SAE. Deciding on eight flavors, the then Marietta, Illinois, teen posted Jenna Lou's Homemade Ice Cream for sale on Facebook.

"Within 48 hours I sold $900 worth of ice cream. Then I had to make $900 worth of ice cream," says Spangler, now pursuing a degree in Food Science and Human Nutrition with a concentration in hospitality and management at the University of Illinois.

Since those first 48 hours in 2019, Spangler has invested in a commercial ice cream machine, expanded into ice cream cakes, interned at the Rome gelato shop of an Italian water buffalo dairy, and sold an estimated 6,000 pints of her homemade ice cream.

The CEO program sparked the venture, but the SAE motivated and gave the project structure.

"So much of the SAE program is recordkeeping. I kept track of hours worked, expenses, and how much money I was making," she says. Those metrics may not have been as closely monitored without the requirement. "It helped me prepare for the practical experience of running a business."

Above. Jenna Spangler still finds time to make ice cream despite a busy college schedule. Her business influenced her degree path.

Purpose to passion. John Bierman has a competitive drive. The recently graduated Downs, Illinois, FFA member tapped into that competitive spirit and natural curiosity to turn his hobby of hunting whitetail antler sheds into a wildlife management and production SAE project.

Instead of just hunting sheds, he decided to collect data for use as management metrics. The idea sparked from a 2021 Furrow article about a prolific shed hunter.

"It intrigued me that he had collected all the sheds of one deer," Bierman says. "I think I have sheds from the same deer that are two years apart."

He started sourcing already collected sheds and hunting more. Each find is documented using Boone and Crockett scoring parameters. Locations are GPS-pinned, and unique features and breaks are cataloged.

"Shed hunting is a way of gathering data without stressing or influencing the deer," he says.

He surmises the data could be used to assess the health of a population. An abundance of small antlers could indicate over crowding; multiple breaks a marker for mineral deficiency.

"If there was an app to report data it could be a great way to get kids involved," he says.

While it's unclear if Bierman's project will extend beyond hobby, some SAE projects prove sticky in FFA members' lives.

Ben Goodrum of Franklin, Kentucky, is still feeling the buzz from his 2013 project. His day job as an agronomist ties directly to his FFA Career Development Event of agronomy; his side hustle as a beekeeper from his SAE project.

"My dad had an SAE on his parents' farm, and when I started FFA he wanted me to have an SAE, too," Goodrum says.

The family had drifted from agriculture. Their farm enrolled in CRP when his grandparents retired. Bees seemed a great option to use the resting land, get in some father-son bonding, and keep the family ag flame burning.

"It turns out dad is severely allergic to bees, so it became a solo project," Goodrum says.

Goodrum enjoyed producing honey for family and friends. He could never bring himself to stop tending the bees he'd collected. Instead he kept splitting and adding hives. Profits fund other projects and the hobby has come full circle to be a father-daughter project.

"My 3-year-old has a suit and loves watching hive inspections. She'll grow to be a much better beekeeper than me," he says. ‡