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Illinois FFA names 2023 Stars Over Illinois

Illinois Association FFA has announced their 2023 Stars over Illinois.

The 2023 Illinois FFA Star Farmer is Cole Paulek of the Taylorville FFA Chapter. He tells Brownfield his diversified supervised agriculture experience has prepared him for a future career.

“I plan on studying animal nutrition. Working around both the grain side and the livestock side I can see what goes into the feed and how it impacts the livestock. So, I think that’s going to help me with my future.”

Star in Agriscience Megan Baker of the Neoga FFA Chapter enjoys doing research to help farmers become more profitable.

“If we had buffer strips, maybe these farmers wouldn’t need to spend so much money on fertilizer applications or they wouldn’t have to stress about seeing deficiencies or not even seeing their seed come out of the ground because it washed away or anything. I just want to see an increased yield for farmers.”

Sidney Stiers of the Williamsfield FFA Chapter is the Star in Agribusiness recognizing her baked goods and sunflower businesses and Nevin Erbsen of the Eastland FFA Chapter was named the Star in Ag Placement for his work with dairy cattle and robotic milking.

Other 2023 Star recipients include:

Discovery Star Winners:

• Discovery Star Agribusiness – Ava Franzen – Blue Ridge
• Discovery Star Agricultural Placement – Carson Ford – Franklin
• Discovery Star Agriscience – Henry Waters – Pleasant Plains
• Discovery Star Farmer – AJ Harris – Franklin

American Star Finalists who will be representing Illinois at the National FFA Convention this fall are:

• Star Farmer – Tanner Mickey – Taylorville
• Star Agribusiness – Skye Schumaker – Heyworth
• Star Agricultural Placement – Lance Moritz – Streator
• Star Agriscience – Matthew Grab – Freeburg

Photo Caption: Illinois Director of Agriculture Jerry Costello, Cole Paulek, Nevin Erbsen, Sidney Stiers, Megan Baker and Lt. Governor Juliana Stratton.