Saturday, February 17, 2024 | Country Acres South • Page 1 PRSRT STD ECR U.S. POSTAGE PAID PERMIT #278 Madelia, MN 522 Sinclair Lewis Ave Sauk Centre MN 56378
SOUTH Saturday, February 17, 2024
Focusing g on Today Today’ss Rural Environment
Volume 2, Edition 18
Fresh produce,
inside
Meet FFA members from local counties Triton FFA Chapter helps purchase hydroponic systems inside. PHOTO BY AMY KYLLO
Robert Ickler (left) and Poe Broskoff smile by a hydroponic unit Feb. 8 at Triton High School in Dodge Center. Broskoff, who has been a FFA member for three years, is helping to launch the hydroponic system as part of his senior project.
BY AMY KYLLO | STAFF WRITER
DODGE CENTER — What was once an old boiler room-turned storage closet at Triton High School has been repurposed and filled with units where there are lights, trickling water and the start of growing produce. Triton High School, in Dodge Center, used funds from the FFA chapter and the Dodge Center Foundation to purchase two types of hydroponic farming units. Already, there are signs of life with the small beginnings of lettuce transplanted into the five hydroponic units. Robert Ickler is the Triton FFA adviser. “I always wanted to grow food,” Ickler said. “It’s great to grow flowers, but that was a 90s thing. ... We need to get creative on where our food is coming from in the future.” Ickler said he has been working toward this project for 10 years. Initially, the plan was to build a greenhouse, but the cost was prohibitive, so they decided to go with hydroponic farming instead. “This is one pathway we haven’t had a very strong presence in during the whole history of the chapter,” Ickler
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Publications bli ti The newspaper of today is the history of tomorrow.
said. “This gives us the opportunity for S E E PAG E S 5 - 1 1 students to have career experiences in a facility. ... What this really provides is that experience of actively growing food.” The FFA chapter put $17,000 toward the project to pay for the five new hydroponic units. The chapter raised money growing corn and soybeans on 5 acres of land with inputs paid for by CHS Inc. in Claremont. They also saved a portion of the money from their annual corn drive fundraiser. In addition to those five units, the school received funds to purchase a Dutch bucket hydroponic system. These six new systems are in addition to the bath-style systems Ickler began teaching hydroponics with in a room adjacent to his classroom. “This is definitely non-traditional agriculture, growing food inside a storage room,” Ickler said. “Our producers understand that we have to get food from a lot of different sources. Anything they can do to help someone get excited to get into agriculture, ... they’re excited about that, because people are coming into the PHOTO SUBMITTED Lettuce grows in one of the old hydroponic units in 2023 at Triton High School in industry.”
Triton FFA page 2
This month in the
COUNTRY: Watch for the next edition of Country Acres on March 2, 2024
Dodge Center. Robert Ickler estimates that he will grow 150-300 pounds of lettuce per 60-day growing period on the five new hydroponic units purchased with funds from the Triton FFA Chapter. 4 5 6 7
Weddings Amy Kyllo Column Dodge County FFA Wabasha County FFA Fillmore County FFA
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