Missouri FFA News Releases

Laura Mooney named first place winner of Missouri FFA Agricultural Processing Entrepreneurship and Placement Combined Proficiency Award

COLUMBIA , Mo., April 16, 2009 – Laura Mooney, from the Fredericktown FFA Chapter, Fredericktown, Mo., received first place in FFA Agricultural Processing Entrepreneurship and Placement Combined Proficiency Award at the 81^st Missouri FFA Convention.

She is the daughter of Tom and Becky Mooney. Her advisors are Mike Graham and Tom Mooney.

In FFA, Mooney has attended State and National conventions. She is a Missouri Agribusiness Academy participant. She competed on the Parliamentary Procedure and Agronomy Career Development events.

Mooney’s Supervised Agricultural Experience began by purchasing her dads beehive and equipment. Mooney has gone from raising bees to purchasing and processing her own honey for resale. She has developed her own business called Moon-Bee Honey. She learned how to process and sell honey, as well as how it reacts to storage. Mooney plans to continue to process and sell honey while forming a business partnership with her younger sister. Mooney’s SAE also consists of consists of beef, sheep, agricultural placement, agriculture processing, and agribusiness sales. She is currently attending University of Missouri .

Proficiency awards recognize FFA members who excel as agricultural entrepreneurs, employees or volunteers while gaining hands-on career experience. Agricultural Processing Entrepreneur and Placement is one of 47 proficiencies awarded at the state level

The Missouri FFA Agricultural Processing Proficiency Award is sponsored by the Missouri Agribusiness Association sponsored this award.

The Missouri FFA has 24,410 members representing 317 chapters. The national organization has more than 507,000 members representing 7,439 local chapters in 50 states, Puerto Rico, Guam and the Virgin Islands .

The FFA Mission is to make a positive difference in the lives of students by developing their potential for premier leadership, personal growth and career success through agriculture education.