Lansing FFA Chapter crowned State Champion at Iowa FFA Milk Quality & Products Career Development Event

The 2024 Iowa FFA Milk Quality & Products Career Development Event (CDE) was held at Manchester Friday, September 13. Twenty-nine teams and 109 individuals participated in this year’s Career Development Event designed to provide students an opportunity to display their knowledge and skills in the area of milk quality and dairy foods.

The team from the Lansing FFA Chapter, under the guidance of FFA Advisor and Kee High School Agriculture Instructor Ray Rankin, was crowned the State Champion team in the Milk Quality & Products competition, edging out second-place Easton Valley FFA, Preston by just four points in the final overall scoring. Lansing FFA team members included Dustin Stendel, Kyle Mauss, Parker Leppert and Kaden Colsch. That championship team will now compete in the National FFA Milk Quality & Products Career Development Event to be held during the National FFA Convention & Expo in Indianapolis, IN later in this month of October.

“I am extremely proud of these young men and what they have accomplished for our FFA Chapter, our school, our community, and our state,” Lansing FFA Chapter Advisor Ray Rankin shared. “They are the best in our entire state in this area and are State Champions. It is a great accomplishment by these students for our small school.”

Rankin notes that this is the chapter’s second State Championship in the area of Milk Quality & Products. The chapter previously won the title back in 2018 with team members including Peter Boland, Brooke Stanley, Charles Stendel and Rachel Walleser.

Placing in the top 10 within the individual competition of that Career Development Event to help lead the Lansing FFA Chapter to its victory were Dustin Stendel, who finished in fourth place individually, and Parker Leppert, who finished in sixth place. Blair Scherf from Central Community FFA, Elkader was crowned the Champion Individual.

Within the overall final standings in the competition, the Lansing FFA Chapter finished as the top team in the Knowledge Exam (consisting of 40 questions regarding the dairy industry) and Problem Solving portion (dairy math problems) of the contest, compiling a perfect score in that team activity. All of the activities at the CDE involve time limits as well.

Central Community FFA, Elkader won both the Milk Products and Milk Quality aspects of the contest to help the Central chapter finish third in the overall final team standings to join the Lansing FFA Chapter in earning a Gold rating. Other area teams competing included Postville FFA, which earned a Silver rating, and Crestwood FFA, which finished with a Bronze rating.

The competition involved identifying 10 samples of cheese; 10 samples of dairy products - such as 2% milk, whole milk, sour cream, half and half, butter, plant-based butter, plant-based beverages, plant-based sour cream or heavy whipping cream; and samples of milk defects - such as salty, bitter, acid, oxidized, foreign, or watery, and explaining the intensity of them. Students also have to perform a California Mastitis Test (CMT) on four samples of milk.

The Iowa FFA Milk Quality & Products Career Development Event was made possible with support through the Iowa FFA Foundation. The Milk Quality & Products samples were prepared by faculty and staff with the Iowa State University Department of Food Science & Human Nutrition in Ames.