By Chris Aldridge

Kentucky Ag News

If it weren’t for ag tag funds, Callie Derossett and Trenton Page might not have gotten involved in 4-H and FFA, respectively, not to mention becoming the state president of each organization.

Every year, when Kentuckians renew their farm license plates, or “ag tags,” they can make a $10 donation. That money goes into a fund divided equally among Kentucky 4-H, Kentucky FFA, and the Kentucky Department of Agriculture to support Kentucky’s agriculture youth and other organizations and programs benefiting Kentucky’s farm families.

“I actually got my first-ever (blue corduroy FFA) jacket through money that was sponsored through the Ag Tag Program,” said Page, a freshman at the University of Kentucky (UK) majoring in agricultural education and advocacy.

“I was a freshman (at Adair County High School),” he remembered. “I wasn't really for sure if I wanted to be involved with FFA, and my advisor told me, ‘Hey, we have some funds left over from the ag tags…. We'll get you a jacket if you’ll come and compete with us.’

“And those funds really are what got me involved in FFA and, quite honestly, is probably the reason that I'm where I am today.”

Derossett, a senior at Henry County High School, called the ag tag funds “life changing.”

“This is an investment,” she said. “I've been able to benefit. I was able to go on a lot of trips free of charge…. I got to attend the National (4-H) Congress in Atlanta.

Derossett joined 4-H to show livestock but was exposed to other activities that interested her.

“It started in Livestock Club, but then I started sewing and cooking and photography,” she said. “My 4-H agent liked to joke that I was at the (Henry County) Extension Office five days a week. I even got off the bus there, and I'd run in, have a snack, and start sewing on my project for that year.

“So, it started as kind of a fun club, but then I got more involved in the communications and leadership side.”

Derossett said she’s come a long way from “a shy little kid who just wanted to show livestock.”

“Clearly, 4-H pushed me to be a lot more,” she said. “Now I consider myself to be a leader.”

Derossett plans to attend UK this fall to study animal science. Her goal is to become a veterinarian to help alleviate the critical shortage of food animal vets in the state.

“With the shortage that we're in right now, what we're facing, I think that there's no better time to help be the solution with that issue,” Derossett said.

Page had a similar experience to Derossett’s. FFA exposed him to something new – public speaking. Although he wasn’t comfortable with it at first, his advisors signed him up to compete in a beef impromptu speech contest. He was given a topic and had to write and memorize the speech within a time frame.

“I was not very good at it,” Page remembered. “More than anything, it just got me to step outside of my comfort zone and try something new, and that really got me involved in the organization.”

Traveling the state as FFA president, Page sees the benefits of ag tag funds.

“That's really opened my eyes,” he said. “I went to one school, and I saw that they used all their funds to help kids go to (FFA) camp or (state) convention. These are trips that a lot of students really wouldn't be able to afford.”

Page said he’s proof that the $10 donation goes a long way.

“Ag tag is what got me where I'm at today,” he said. “At the end of the day, that $10 may not be that much to you. But to a student, it could completely change their journey, just like how it changed mine.”