William Zell Woodworth of the Mineral County FFA Chapter in West Virginia was named one of the four finalists of the 2015 American Star in Agricultural Placement Awards last month at the 2015 National FFA Convention in Louisville, Kentucky.
Will works at his family’s operation, Flying W Farms, a diverse operation that raises over 200 head of Angus from calves through the finishing process, and also owns a USDA-inspected slaughter house; the family processes their own animals and direct markets them to consumers.
“The cows behind our product are started on pasture, and then grain fed to achieve a carcass that is choice,” he said in an interview with AgWired at this year’s convention, “We market that as natural Angus beef to the consumers through various types of advertising, including newspapers, radio ads, and most importantly the word of mouth.”
The finalists for the American Star in Agricultural Placement Award are FFA members who have shown proven leadership skills in the year’s most successful Placement Supervised Agricultural Experience(SAE) programs, which involve the placement of students in agriculture, food or natural resources-related businesses, on farms and ranches, in school laboratories, at community facilities, or in a verified non-profit organization to provide a “learning by doing” environment.
The program helps students to learn how to be successful in the challenging world of production agriculture.
“There’s always a challenge when you’re living on a farm, whether its weather or the price of commodities, the price of beef,” he said, “The biggest challenge for us is just getting the product out there, and telling the consumer why our product is different from the average grocery store product, and getting the consumer to come back time and time again.”
Listen to Jamie’s interview with Will here:
Interview with Will Woodworth, American Star in Ag Placement Finalist
Find photos from the event here: 2015 National FFA Convention Photo Album
