Marion Agriculture Program

05/09/2026

It's springtime at Marion JSHS, and we all know that means... GOAT KIDS! Our goats have been busy brightening people's day, providing FFA members with valuable SAE experiences, and yelling until they get what they want! A huge thank you to H.Saltsman's Dairy Goats & Poultry for letting us raise WarCry and Flash, and to our FFA president Emery for bringing in Mousse to grace everyone with itty bitty kid cuddles.

05/06/2026

College Environmental Science students Ashley, Maddy, Dominic, and George competed in the Wayne and Cayuga County Envirothon and took home 3rd place! The Environthon contest consists of 5 topics; Aquatics, Soils, Wildlife, Forestry, and Current Issue.
In addition to their excellent performance in Envirothon, these students have been busy planting native red oak trees to increase biodiversity and food sources for wildlife in the school's natural areas and arboretum. We also have saplings available for free for community members who would like to help plant native species!
Great work En Sci students!

04/24/2026

We love our visits to Cracker Box Palace! In the fall we got a full tour and spent lots of time getting to know the horses. This spring we got to visit all the animals and help out the farm by cleaning stalls, giving the horses hay and water, and walking the ponies. Also, our foster bunny, Sally, from CBP is getting adopted! Her brother Barrel is being held by Ainsley in the 3rd photo.

04/14/2026

Plant Science & Design students have been diving into floral more than ever this year, thanks to the support of ! For months our students have been practicing bouquets, centerpieces, boutonnieres, corsages, and more! Our Floral team is in the final stretch of preparing for the NYS FFA Floriculture CDE and for the first time, we will have two teams competing!

02/10/2026

02/02/2026

We've wrapped up our welding class for the year, and here are some highlights featuring students' creative final projects (scroll to the end for close ups) and a field trip to Hadley's Fab-Weld where we got to see Marion FFA Alumni, Nick, tell us about what it's like to work in a welding shop. Students also got to see welding technology used in the industry, and how what they learn in class can be be applied in a career.

01/27/2026

Marion FFA is part of District 8's effort to fight hunger! Please donate towards this project if you are able. If Marion gets sponsors to help, we can bring back meal boxes for our local food bank!

District VIII FFA is teaming up with Meals of Hope to fight hunger in our communities! We have set a goal of packaging 10,000 meals which requires us to raise $4500. All meals packaged will be…

01/13/2026

A look into our Animal Science class and Animal Unit in CTE 8. Animal Science students created Animal enrichment sets for our class critters including our quail, ferret, degus, geckos, and bunnies. The critters loved their toys and treats! Hallie P.'s enrichment box was rated the highest overall and was enjoyed by multiple species.

We had foster kittens visit and students learned about proper handling, nail trims, and health checks. Interacting with students helped the kittens become socialized and adaptable to new environments - making them better candidates for adoption.

Also, our sweet long term foster guinea pig, Carmella, went to her new home with Lowville FFA!

01/11/2026

As we all just made it through the first week back from break (whew!), here is a recap of some of our pre-break holiday activities in the ag room!
Plant Science students learned how to make wreaths, swags, and centerpieces to bring home.
CTE 8 students learned basic wood working skills to design, cut, and decorate holiday ornaments.
FFA students made ornaments and holiday cards to donate to the Wayne County Nursing Home. They delivered the gifts and sang carols to brighten spirits.

12/18/2025

Every fall, Marion Ag students tour Cornell Agritech Station in Geneva, NY to learn about current agricultural research and challenges as well as potential college and career fields.

This year's trip featured the berry breeding program, grow chambers, greenhouses, Food Venture Lab, High Pressure Processing (HPP) and more. Students sampled products from both the processing and growing labs. In the food science areas, we learned about how new food products are developed, tested, and packaged for safety. On the plant side of things, students learned about breeding plants for certain traits, how different growing practices influence plant growth, and about challenges such as plant diseases and pests.

Cornell is one of many great Agricultural Universities with diverse areas of study, and there are tons of FFA and Ag scholarships accepting applications NOW. If you would like to learn more about applying for these scholarships, please see Mrs. Lachnor.

12/15/2025

Please take a moment to help one of our FFA members by completing this opinion survey on livestock showing. No experience with livestock or showing animals required.