Jade Halliburton of Crossett, Ark., was recently recognized as one of five in the nation for the 2013 Young Agriculture Advocates of the Year list.

Halliburton is a junior Agriculture Education major at Southern Arkansas University. She earned Honorable Mention honors on this inaugural honor by I Love Farmers…They Feed My Soul (ILF), a non-profit agriculture advocacy group.  

Halliburton said she heard of ILF before attending SAU, and she knew that she wanted to host a “WTF Day,” which stands for “Where’s The Food Without The Farmer?”

“Upon her arrival, Jade began to introduce me to the I Love Farmers organization, and she suggested that SAU become affiliated. With Jade taking the lead, SAU jumped in and participated in “Where’s the Food Without the Farmer?” It was a big hit on campus. This past year, with Jade’s leadership, we participated again. Jade has been a big influence in the Agriculture Department and has instilled the idea that all of our students need to be agriculture advocates,” said Dr. Jeffry Miller, chair of the SAU Department of Agriculture.

Halliburton’s Ag advocacy work is extensive. She became in 2013 a National Collegiate Agriculture Ambassador through the National FFA Organization. She is only one of 20 such ambassadors in the U.S. She underwent two weeks of training with the National FFA in Greensboro, N.C., and in Jacksonville, Fla.

National Collegiate Agriculture Ambassadors are charged with increasing public understanding of the food, fiber and natural resource industry; promote awareness of resources needed to produce safe and reliable food sources; and increase awareness of Ag career opportunities.

“I have written workshops that have been delivered in Florida, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Iowa and I personally will complete at least 30 presentation hours with students and civic organizations by the end of my term this semester,” said Halliburton.

She is also a member of the SAU Agriculture Ambassador team, Sigma Alpha, Collegiate FFA and Collegiate Farm Bureau.

Halliburton said she did not grow up on a farm, but since her mother is a zoologist, she was surrounded by animal husbandry. Her early childhood was spent living at the Global Wildlife Center in Folsom, La. They moved to Arkansas before she started school, and she spent afternoons and summers at Kone Crossland Zoo in Crossett.

“I thought it was a normal part of a kid’s life to wake up every two hours and bottle feed orphan animals, sleep with live teddy bears, or go out in the middle of the night on animal rescue calls,” said Halliburton.

She began showing lambs through 4-H at age seven. She took off in FFA in eighth grade, competing in numerous Career Development Events and Leadership Development Events. Among these was Prepared Public Speaking, in which she became the Arkansas State Winner. She went on to take the silver medal at the 2010 National FFA Convention for her speech, “American Tradition,” which discussed the effects of animal rights activism on the Agri industry. She was also chosen to speak with the U.S. Secretary of Education, Arnie Duncan, about the importance of vocational/agriculture education in high schools.

In 2011, she served as Ashley County Cattlemen’s Princess speaking at local shows and field days. She also presented before the Senate Ag Committee concerning anti agriculture activism. She went on to serve as Miss Arkansas Beef in 2012, where she was a spokesperson for the industry on the state level.

She also helped establish Ashley County’s Agriculture Field Day, which has become an annual event that local schools and local producers have latched onto as a method of exposure, advertisement and education about the Ag industry.

Halliburton hopes to continue in a program development role after she earns her degree from SAU. She said she loves getting to work closely with young adults and the Ag industry.

In fact, she said that among all that she has done, the most impactful moment was during a presentation she was giving to a class of fourth-grade students.

“I asked, ‘Can anyone tell me where our food comes from?’ A child answered, ‘The grocery store!’ with the pride a student only wears on his or her face when he or she knows they are, without a doubt, correct. It’s a scary thought that, even in rural communities, people do not understand where there food comes from. This plants seeds for misconceptions about the agriculture industry. That moment was when I knew that I had chosen the correct field, and I felt it my job to educate others about the industry I hold so dear,” she said.

She recommends SAU to any prospective students because she said at SAU “you’re more than your student number.” She said the professors care about her, as well as her success.

“I feel at home here. I have no doubt that you will too,” Halliburton said to anyone considering SAU. 

Three of the busiest college freshmen in Arkansas have two things in common: they hold the three FFA at-large state officer positions and they all chose to become Southern Arkansas University Muleriders.

Arkansas FFA (Future Farmers of America) State President Taylor McNeel comes to SAU from Vilonia in the Northwestern FFA District. FFA State Reporter Caleigh Sue Moyer is from Prairie Grove in the Northwestern District. FFA State Secretary Sunni Wise represents the Southern District, and is from Bismark.

The three had only met at FFA conferences before they all came together in college. Now they room side-by-side in a residence hall at SAU as they plan a year of representing all the Arkansas high school FFA chapters through next June 2014.

“We are so excited to have three of the six state FFA officers at Southern Arkansas University this year,” said Shelly Whaley, SAU assistant dean of advising and transfer recruitment. “These young ladies are wonderful ambassadors that are well-respected among high school FFA members and members of the agriculture community. They will be true leaders within the SAU Agriculture Department.”

After a busy summer where they joked that they were home a mere six days between trips to the FFA State President’s Conference in D.C. and weeks of training in Arkansas and Michigan, the trio have settled in to balancing their classwork at SAU and their FFA responsibilities.

They are currently visiting county fairs and are getting ready for the upcoming Arkansas State Fair, which starts October 5 in Little Rock. They said they will visit with FFA members at the “Ag in Action” Ark. FFA booth and the Arkansas Farm Bureau booth.

From October 30 through November 2, they will head to Louisville to serve as delegates for the National FFA Convention and Expo, which is expecting to attract 55,000 FFA students. Taylor will also be competing in the Prepared Public Speaking competition, as she is the reigning Arkansas FFA champion in that category.

“I came to SAU because I knew I wanted an Agriculture Business degree. When I came here for my college day, I saw how big the Ag Department was and how much support the University gave the Ag Department,” said Taylor. “I felt I could really shine here. A lot of our state FFA staff and state agriculture education teachers also graduated from SAU.”

The three agreed that SAU has been understanding about how busy their schedules are and will be for the rest of the year.

“The faculty and staff at SAU know that we are doing worthwhile activities,” said Moyer. “We are dedicated to our education and to FFA, but we strive to let them know that our education does come first. They made it clear that they will support us.”

They are also excited about being on campus when SAU hosts the Southern District’s FFA leadership conference and career development events (CDE’s).

Wise spent her four years of FFA CDE’s at SAU as a high school student, so she is particularly looking forward to spring.

“This is home. I didn’t apply to any other schools because I knew this is where I wanted to be,” said Wise. “I’m excited to see the FFA members and be able to see it from a different perspective.”

Dr. Jeffry Miller, chair of the Department of Agriculture at SAU, is happy these three leaders chose SAU to be their home for college.

“When I visit with a prospective SAU agriculture student, I look for these intangibles: the desire to learn, the ability to communicate and a commitment to excellence. These three students understand their leadership role and they share the drive and determination to be successful and to become career ready. They also understand the level of commitment that the SAU agriculture faculty has for each individual student, as well as the commitment the University administration has for agriculture,” said Miller.

Moyer expressed the girls’ positive feelings about the atmosphere and faculty at SAU. She said that she has already felt welcome to go and talk to faculty members about anything and everything.  The girls agreed that the faculty member’s doors are always open on the second floor of the new Agriculture Center at SAU.

Miller is optimistic that his faculty and the facilities at SAU will continue to get the attention of up-and-coming leaders of agriculture.

“The addition of the new Agriculture Center, along with the horticulture complex, is just the beginning of many good things to come and students understand this.”