FRANKFORT, Ky. — Kentucky FFA chapters and members won their chance to shine at the recent National FFA Conference – and shine they did, making it a conference of “firsts,” since many received top awards and recognition at the event.

Nicholas Hardesty of the Meade County FFA Chapter was named 2007 American Star Farmer. The award, which has been given each year since 1930, recognizes the student with the best production agriculture-based Supervised Agriculture Experience (SAE) program in the nation. Hardesty is the first Kentucky FFA member to receive this award.

Hardesty’s SAE began his freshman year of high school with one show hog. He invested his winnings into breeding hogs and currently has nine sows and approximately 115 piglets.

Ironically, Hardesty’s family was not actively engaged in farming and did not own land or machinery, so he built the rest of his operation, renting land, borrowing machinery and exchanging labor for supplies in order to raise his first one-acre crop of tobacco.

Today, his operation includes hogs, 29 acres of tobacco, 25 acres of hay, 57 beef cattle and two acres of vegetables. Kentucky FFA Advisor Curt Lucas said Hardesty is unique in that he began basically with little in the way of agriculture except desire.

“Nicholas Hardesty is truly remarkable in the sense that he built his SAE program from the ground up. We often hear that to be successful in farming, you must have family support in terms of land and equipment, but here is a student who began with nothing but a dream and built a highly successful farming operation,” he said.

Lucas also said SAE programs are meant to be a part of each agricultural education student’s total experience in the program. “We believe that SAE has value for all students. While not every student can have a production-based SAE like Hardesty, I maintain that every student can and should have the chance to apply what they have learned in class in a real world setting,” he said.

“There are many opportunities for students to be involved in SAE programs outside of traditional production agriculture. These include entrepreneurship programs in all areas of agriculture, placement in agriculture businesses, research-based projects and community development and volunteerism.”

Hardesty’s journey to the conference began after he was selected as a national finalist earlier this year. This first selection was based on his American Degree application. During the National FFA Convention (Oct. 24-27 in Indianapolis, Ind.), he competed in interviews alongside the three other national finalists.

These interviews were conducted by industry leaders, who then selected Hardesty as the national winner.

He received $4,000 in prize money from the National FFA Organization and plans to invest this money in his education and his farming program.

Another big Kentucky winner was the Spencer County FFA Chapter of Taylorsville, which was named as the National Model of Innovation in Chapter Development. Spencer County FFA is the first Kentucky chapter to be honored with this award.

The contest was developed to recognize chapters for outstanding work in their schools and communities.

Model of Innovation awards are presented in three areas – Student Development, Chapter Development and Community Development. Ten chapters were selected in each area based on their National Chapter Award applications.

Members of each chapter were interviewed by a panel of judges during the national convention.

The Spencer County group was honored for strengthening community ties by hosting a local commodity breakfast and working with community leaders on a fundraiser for a local charity. The chapter also hosted a recruitment program which led to more than 140 eighth-graders signing up for an “Introduction to Agriculture” class.

“Spencer County FFA has a long tradition of excellence. The chapter has excelled in Proficiencies, Career Development events and leadership development of students. This award is well deserved and is a testimony to the excellent work of the advisors, members and supporters of the chapter,” said Lucas.

In addition, this chapter had 11 National Proficiency finalists, three National Career Development Event teams and a national winner in the Agri-Entrepreneurship contest at this year’s convention. Spencer County FFA advisors are Darryl Matherly and Bland Baird.