Each year, 4-H and FFA youth prepare their projects for county, state, and national fairs. These projects range from indoor exhibits to livestock and ag mechanic entries. While competitions and projects vary, hard-working youth find support from adults who choose to give back to the programs that may have taught them a thing or two about the hard work and generosity those in agriculture are known for.
This year, one special Capitan, New Mexico, FFA member stepped up to support her fellow exhibitors at the Lincoln County Fair — and the community answered in spades.
While preparing a barn full of show pigs for county and state fairs, 16-year-old Joni Foster began working on a special agriculture mechanics project — a whiskey barrel table and chairs to exhibit at the county fair.
After two of her pigs made the sale at the county fair on Aug. 4, Foster approached the Lincoln County Fair Board to see if she could donate a third item to be split among every single exhibitor in the fair — her winning agriculture mechanics project.
When the gavel dropped, the whiskey barrel table and chairs had brought over $41,000. And, according to Foster, the donations have kept coming in even after the fair’s end.
“There were more than 15 buyers. It started off as one bidder, then the table got to about $12,000, and then the price just kept going up and up,” explains Foster. “It was amazing! I remember my mom was sitting in the back, and she started crying at about $10,000. Then, when it got to $40,000, we both started bawling our eyes out with ugly tears.”
Although the Lincoln County Fair had a record junior livestock sale this year, it’s always difficult for those who don’t make the sale. The table’s donation means that even without selling their livestock at the sale, those youth will go home with a little more money to keep livestock showing in their futures.
“We hope this inspires others to give back to the programs that have helped them,” says Jolie Foster, Joni’s mom.
While Foster loves to show pigs, ag mechanics has been a developing taste for this FFA member.
“Showing and raising market swine is a top priority and a joy for me,” expresses Foster. “Whereas ag mech started off as a chore.”
Foster first began helping her mom at their metal business before moving to Capitan in the seventh grade. In her mom’s shop, she would help grind metal, clean projects up, and help with the plasma cutter.
Her projects took light when her shop teacher reached out with the idea of building some projects to enter the county fair. Foster’s first year, she made a bench with a team roper roping a calf. In her second year, she cut out a pig grill with all the market cuts for hogs. Her whiskey barrel project, however, brought about a new challenge, combining woodworking with welding.
“I never thought a table could go for the amount it did, and the support that Lincoln County has for their kids really showed that night,” says Foster.
For Foster, the whiskey barrels won’t stop here.
“I have three more whisky barrels, and I plan on making more of those tables to give as thanks to people who’ve helped me out over the years,” Foster says. “They’ve supported me every time I’ve sold an animal in the junior livestock sale, and I want to be able to thank them for their hard work and support over the years.”
The pig shows will also continue to go on. Foster will be taking the rest of her hogs on to exhibit at the New Mexico State Fair and then the Eastern New Mexico State Fair later this summer and fall.
As an FFA member who takes leadership seriously, Foster admits that she’s grown a lot in the past five years. As the New Mexico FFA’s District III Vice-President, she says, “If you’d have asked me if I’d be where I’m at now five years ago, I’d have told you ‘no way!’ I was so shy, but that really isn’t the case anymore because of FFA and how much it has blessed me.”
Foster is a multi-passionate FFA member who also enjoys time outside of the show ring and has won the state contest in floriculture as an individual. Last year, she also convinced a team from her high school to compete at state.
“If I had ten more kids just like her, I could take over the world — she’s pretty special,” says her FFA advisor Jake Devine.
Although Foster considers FFA a priority, she’s also involved in multiple sports and school clubs.
“My basketball coach always says, ‘You miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take.’ I want to inspire other students to try everything and to be persistent in what they want to achieve,” says Foster.
»Related: Tips for inviting and thanking FFA and 4-H buyers at fair
Heidi Crnkovic, is the Associate Editor for AGDAILY. She is a New Mexico native with deep-seated roots in the Southwest and a passion for all things agriculture.
