AG Venture Returns at Imel’s Greenhouse

AG Venture Returns at Imel’s Greenhouse

Charles Romans

The Ashland Beacon

Students from around the area joined in to participate in the third annual AG Venture Day, hosted at Imel’s Greenhouse in Greenup, Kentucky, in partnership with Farm Credit Mid-America. The event took place on Thursday, Sept. 25, 2025. More than 275 students, representing 12 Eastern Kentucky FFA Chapters, participated to learn more about careers in agriculture and compete in five different agriculture-related challenges.

The event had multiple benefits for FFA students because it helped to make them aware of all the varied career paths agriculture has to offer and how they can take advantage of those paths to build their future in their chosen field. Students were also able to get firsthand insights by connecting with local agriculturists already working and operating businesses in numerous agricultural fields. They were also able to compete in five challenges with a chance to win a total of $10,000 in cash prizes for the top students and their FFA Chapters.

Students from 12 FFA Chapters in Ashland, Boyd, East Carter, Elliott, Floyd, Greenup, Johnson, Lawrence, Lewis, Magoffin, West Carter, and Wolfe Counties participated in the third annual event.

Ag Venture Day was created by local farmer and greenhouse owner Kenny Imel to help Eastern Kentucky students better understand agriculture’s importance in the region. Through hands-on experiences, he hopes to inspire more young people to return home and pursue agricultural careers. “If we aren’t pouring into that next generation, we can’t be mad when it’s not there,” Imel said during the event’s early planning. “Somebody’s gotta step up and do something.”

Ag Venture Day is sponsored by Farm Credit Mid-America, a financial services cooperative serving farmers and rural residents in Arkansas, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, Ohio, and Tennessee. Seth Patton of Farm Credit Mid-America, who works out of the Mount Sterling office but represents an area from Ashland, Kentucky, through Pikeville and the Whitesburg area, explained the benefits of the competition students took part in. “The FFA Chapters of the winners of the competition will receive $1,000,” Patton said. “They compete in two-person teams, and each of those students can win a $250 gift card. Essentially it’s $1,500 per competition,” he said.

“The school that has the highest point total at the end of the competition can receive an additional $2,500 Grand Prize,” Patton said.

Patton said there were also other things to engage students who weren’t interested in competing in the five challenges. “We have a Scavenger Hunt with different industry partners,” he said. Industry partners involved included Imel’s Greenhouse, Morehead State University, the University of Kentucky, Kentucky Welding Institute, Hinton Mills, Kees Farm Service, Rip’s Farm Center, Prichard Lawn Care and Sanitation, Paris Stockyard, Cintas, Kentucky Farm Bureau, Garrison Meat, Davis Equipment, and of course Farm Credit Mid-America, Patton said. “There are a lot of different folks represented here,” Patton said, highlighting the support the event receives from community business partners.

“Folks with an agriculture background are able to do a lot of different things,” Patton said of the value of study and a career in agriculture. “In the course of agriculture, you have to have some science,” he said. “You use different math skills, and different marketing skills as well. It takes a well-rounded individual to take things to the market.”

“One of the purposes of this event is to show these kids that almost every business represented at the event is within a hundred miles of here,” Patton said, touching on the ability of students of agriculture to work locally. “There are job opportunities in this field (agriculture) right here in Eastern Kentucky. And we want to raise their awareness that yes; it is possible to have a great career right here where they live.”

The winners of the event challenges were:

Forestry: Paul Blazer Ashland

Students: Riley Layman Bohannon and Brandon McGhee

Marketing: West Carter

Students: Roy Utley and Lily Gilbert

Business Plan: Paul Blazer Ashland

Students: Keaton Stevens and Marley Walter

Ag Sales: Paul Blazer Ashland

Students: Ryder Phillips and Kahlil Ealey

Agri Tank: Elliott County

Students: Brody Markwell and Jackson Kidd