Local FFA Gets National Attention

By GABRIELLE SHIOZAWA

Moapa Valley Progress

The Moapa Valley FFA achieved national recognition this month as it was featured in a special story published in the national FFA New Horizons magazine.

The story highlighted how the local FFA students, under the direction of local chapter advisor Denise O’Toole, manages 40 acres of land as the MVHS Ag Farm. The students grow a variety of fruits and vegetables in their gardens, take care of two head of cattle, manage a hydroponic greenhouse, and sell produce in a farmers market.

The farm also produces lots and lots of pomegranates, and it was this aspect of the program that caused the FFA New Horizons magazine to take special notice of them.

New Horizons is a quarterly magazine reaching more than 649,000 FFA members and agricultural educators every year. In the fall of 2016, the magazine, intrigued by the unique success of the MVHS agricultural program, reached out to O’Toole.
“They were especially interested in our pomegranates,” commented O’Toole, who has managed the Ag program for the past six years. “That’s a crop you don’t see in many places, so they wanted to feature that.”

O’Toole points out that the Moapa Valley is one of the best places in the world for pomegranates to grow. “There is agriculture in a lot of places in the United States, but not too many places where pomegranates are as prevalent as they are here,” she said.
Last fall, O’Toole was contacted again. This time, she was asked if the magazine could send a photographer to capture the inner workings of the MVHS ag farm.

Photographer Jeff Noble spent two days with the local FFA members, photographing them as they harvested pomegranates and sold them at the local Pomegranate Art Festival held annually on the first weekend in November.

In April 2018, O’Toole was interviewed by writer Jodi Helmer about the growth of pomegranates and the impact of the Ag program.

Now, the fall 2018 edition of New Horizons is finally available on shelves and online. It features a grinning Denise O’Toole on the front cover holding a beautiful basket of freshly picked pomegranates. The headline reads, “Sweet Success: Students in Nevada Flourish with Pomegranates and More.”
“Most of the article featured what we do with the pomegranates,” O’Toole said. “But it also looks at the diversity of what we do on the ag farm.”

O’Toole explained that the MVHS ag farm, which was started in 1958, gives students a chance to learn like no other program in the state. “It’s a unique opportunity for students to gain hands-on experience in agriculture,” she said.
“This is the first time that I’m aware of that Nevada has been featured as the cover article in the FFA New Horizons magazine,” O’Toole added. “So, it was not only cool for my students, but for Nevada FFA in general to be able to highlight these programs.”

The story can be viewed at www.ffanewhorizons.org/digital-edition/.