The donation was announced as members of the North Scott FFA chapter “Farm Squad” were harvesting soybeans at a 40-acre test plot.
DAVENPORT, Iowa (KWQC) – River Valley Cooperative announced today that they are donating $100,000 to support the Regional Innovation Center.
This announcement came as members of the North Scott FFA chapter ‘Farm Squad’ were harvesting soybeans at a 40-acre test plot.
The Farm Squad is a committee of high school students that plans and manages nearly 70 acres of farm land in Scott County, Iowa as a part of their involvement in the agriculture program.
One of their collective responsibilities involves creating a neutral testing environment for various seed companies to evaluate their products, all while gaining hands-on agricultural knowledge and practical experience.
Ava Urbain, a junior, also co-chairs the Farm Squad, explained what this donation means to the Farm Squad.
“Especially for a Farm Squad, it keeps our plot going, and our whole program as a whole. We’re having a huge building being built that’s going to help all of our students in agriculture in many different fields.”
“We do a lot of projects throughout our program, a lot of science projects for all different sorts of agriculture, animal food, plants, everything, and a lot of them cost a lot of money, so this funding today will help a lot with that.
So students don’t have to pay out of pocket and they can get a project fully funded to do the research they would like to do,” said Urbain.
The North Scott Chapter was named one of the top ten chapters in the state of Iowa for 2021. The chapter includes students from seventh grade through twelfth grade from several school districts including North Scott, Davenport, Bettendorf, and Pleasant Valley.
