My son, Nathan, sat at our kitchen counter, pecking away at his Chromebook. Printouts and machinery rates and notes were spread all around him. Every once in a while, he’d go find his dad and ask questions.

“What does the Stalwart 3W chemical do?”

“What’s ATS stand for?”

“What does phosphorus do for the crop and the soil exactly?”

“What insects did we have the most pressure from?”

“Hey, this interest rate doesn’t look right — what did I do wrong here?”

“How do I figure how profitable insecticide and fungicide were this year?”

They’d pull out planting records and Excel spreadsheets. Nathan, 17, consulted the John Deere CommandCenter app; nothing like a satellite record to confirm planting and harvest dates.

‘Tis the season for FFA record books. Nathan’s like a lot of FFA members right now: updating records, adding tedious numbers, preparing for interviews, occasionally cursing AET (the Agricultural Experience Tracker). Texting and calling ag teachers with great frequency.

God bless every ag teacher everywhere for answering every question.

One evening, Nathan was working at the counter when I went to bed. I told him good night and good luck. When I got up in the morning, he was in the same spot.

“Bud! You’re in the same place you were last night!”

He looked up sleepily and grinned. “I just got up early. Haven’t been here all night.”

We laughed because he could’ve been. Nathan was working on one record book for corn, one for soybeans. He’ll interview in diversified crops, and in fiber and oil (soybeans). And with three snow days in a row last week, he doubled down and got it done, in a haze of numbers, questions and Illinois Farm Business Farm Management fact sheets.

But really, he was learning with every figure he input.

That’s what I heard, as I listened to him ask his dad these questions. They talked about interest rates relative to marketing grain, and why one decision was made over another. Why they might have done something else a little differently next time. They talked about their visit to a lady landowner last month, and how Nathan was in charge of explaining her crop. She was delighted. So was he.

But what I really heard was a boy becoming a farmer.

So here’s to you, young FFA members out there working your fingers to the bone on record books. We see you! We see what you’re learning. We’re cheering big for the future farmers and entrepreneurs and livestock folks you’re becoming!

And we’re real grateful to FFA for helping get you there.

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