When the buses started rolling in at a Paxton school district facility and 14 acres of land along Highway 30 on the west edge of Paxton one morning late last October, it really started to sink in: This was a big day.

Paxton FFA chapter sentinel and high school sophomore Landon Drews had been working on this particular event since early in 2024. It was finally here.

It was harvest day — a community event planned by Drews to show community members and students what it takes to get a dryland corn crop from planting to harvest.

When the busloads of students unloaded on a windy, chilly morning, they gathered, surrounding Drews and his FFA chapter advisor, Corey Turner. The crowd was silent to hear Drews talk about his project, why he coordinated these test plots, who was involved in helping and supporting the project, and why it was important for them to see it up close.

Learning experience

With a Claas combine on loan from the Nebraska Harvest Center in Ogallala, Neb., in the background, Drews and Turner explained all these things into the microphone. After that, students broke up into groups, walking between educational stations set up on the grounds to learn more about the crop, grain, machinery and agronomics behind the standing corn rows.

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The idea of a test plot and community field day started months earlier. “Mr. Turner, our ag teacher, offered the school land to make a project with it,” Drews says. “I thought about it with my older brother, Dalton, and we thought it would make an excellent dryland corn test plot. I visited with six area seed corn dealers, and everyone was excited to help. The school board and administrators were on board and excited for me, as well as my parents, Doug and Linda.”

In May, the plot was planted in about five hours with help from those seed dealers and Drews’ dad, who ran the planter. Paxton FFA members helped vacuum out the planter boxes between seed varieties. The entire project took a lot of local support from community businesses and individuals to make it happen, Drews says.

Pitching in

In addition to the Nebraska Harvest Center, several other local businesses pitched in:

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So, the field day was truly a “community” event.

Organizing the event

The test plots consisted of four different variety dates per seed dealer, with 12 rows each, running north to south. Seed corn signs were displayed along the highway. “It was dry this summer,” Drews says, “but I received rain when it mattered — just not enough.

“Earlier in September, we had an agronomist visit the plot with our FFA team and plant science team. I was responsible for keeping the plot mowed during the summer.” He says community members complimented the highly visible plot throughout the growing season.

Planning the test plot was challenging, but pulling together the community harvest day also was a big job. “I had to propose my idea to the school board because the school owns the 14-acre field,” he says, “and then I had to propose my idea in front of them about the harvest day and give them an update on the summer and the growing season.”

At one station, for instance, two seed corn representatives gave students a basic overview of how corn plants grow in the field, from planting to harvest, and the importance of scouting for pests and treating diseases. Another station demonstrated weighing corn samples, and another stop focused on how a combine works.

The harvest

The community harvest day involved hosting a large hamburger feed and field day for K-12 students at Paxton, along with administrators, teachers and staff, community members, surrounding FFA chapters, and sponsors of the project. Along with his parents, Drews also solicited help and donations from community members for this event.

“I always wanted this to be a farm, to show the kids in our school about farming,” Drews says. “Even though we have farms surrounding Paxton, many have never been up close to a combine and understand what goes behind the scenes to grow corn.”

As the day progressed, with Drews’ father operating the combine and one of the seed dealers operating a weigh wagon, Drews could see his vision coming to fruition. But what’s next for him?

“I contacted Kirk Olson from Olson Farms/Feedlot in Hershey, Neb., about buying the corn (from the plots),” he says. “I will continue this project until my senior year.” With career goals to be a beef nutritionist, Drews is learning valuable lessons from this project that will help him down the road.

“I have raised four to eight feeder calves each year,” he says. “I really like the livestock end of things, but this project has taught me lessons like how to contact people and proceed forward with a plan.”

6 lessons learned

FFA isn’t the only thing Drews has going. He also runs cross country and track and is involved in Science Olympiad and One Act Play. But this special FFA project has taught him lessons that will not only carry him through his high school career, but also in life. Here are a few things Drews learned from this experience: