Lake Geneva Country Meats is proud to support students interested in the food chain, and we enjoy teaming up with both agricultural and culinary departments to provide opportunities for these students to have new learning experiences. National FFA Week 2021 is February 20th – 27th, and we’re excited to partner with the Badger High School Agricultural Education to support the Badger FFA Chapter through our Badger Pork Chop fundraiser.
ABOUT THE BADGER HS AGRICULTURE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT
LGCM: Mr. Plapp, can you tell us a little bit about the Agriculture Education Department at Badger High School?
Mr. Plapp: Of course. Our curriculum focuses on the science of agriculture with six courses recognized for science equivalency credit and transferable lab science credit toward admission to a
UW school and fifteen credits transcripted to Gateway Technical College. In November 2020, our department received the Region 3 Outstanding Secondary/Middle School Program Award from the National Association of Agriculture Instructors (NAAE) for our program in-class instruction, FFA involvement, and community service.
We traditionally have about 200 – 225 students enrolled in our classes each semester. We offer 14 different classes ranging from Animal Science & Aquaculture to Food Science to Science and Sustainability. We also offer internships for students to gain career skills without having to leave high school. In addition to traditional classroom space, we have a greenhouse for a Farm to School Program, a greenhouse for producing bedding plants, over 1000 gallons of aquaculture tanks, and a food science lab where we have experiences such as making bacon and bratwurst.
LGCM: That’s awesome. Can you tell us about some of the accomplishments the program has achieved this past year?
- We hatched over 300 eggs this year.
- We raised 500 poinsettias for the Holidays.
- We are in the process of raising over 30,000 plants for the spring semester sale.
- In addition to providing tomatoes and lettuce for the school cafeteria, our Farm to School greenhouse provided over 175 pounds of lettuce and 200 pounds of tomatoes for local food pantries between March and June 2020.
- Badger has been a three-star gold chapter for the last nine years, the highest award given to chapters at the national level!
- FFA membership has grown 531% since 1992. We have routinely had membership of over 100 students.
- We have had state-winning and national competing Career Development Event (competition teams) for the past 7 years in the areas of Veterinary Science, Floriculture, and Landscaping.
- The FFA has partnered with the Walworth County Master Gardeners and Fontana Garden Club in the planting and the sale of over 35,000 plants from our greenhouses.
- The chapter provides an Agriscience Day for our district 3rd graders in which students rotate through 6 different experiences about agriculture.
LGCM: Thanks so much, we appreciate your time!
About our Badger Pork Chop Fundraiser
The University of Wisconsin has one of the finest Meat Science programs in the country. This program has provided tremendous benefits to the meat processing and sausage industry in Wisconsin, including Lake Geneva Country Meats. A brand new, state-of-the-art building was recently completed to house this program and LGCM was a proud donor to support the completion of this building.
As part of meat science education, students take part in all aspects of the meat production process, including harvesting. After a hiatus of many months caused by COVID and the move into the new building, Lake Geneva Country Meats had the opportunity to purchase some of the first pigs processed at the new building. We were happy to take advantage of this opportunity, and will be selling special “Badger Chops” that come from these UW-Madison pigs!
These 1.25″ thick pork chops are from Wisconsin raised pigs that have been harvested under USDA inspection. We will have a limited supply of these yummy pork chops available starting Friday, February 26th for $4.99 per pound and will be donating 20% of the proceeds to the Badger High School FFA Chapter.
Stop by this weekend, and take home some of these pork chops. You’ll be supporting Wisconsin agricultural education both at the High School and College levels. We’re proud to continue to our support of these great programs, and appreciate your help in keeping our state’s agricultural future bright!
