FFA students never stop working, even during summer break. Many participate in supervised agricultural experience (SAE) projects, where they apply what they’ve learned in the classroom to real-life scenarios.

YourAgEdge asked local agriculture advisors to select two students for an SAE spotlight series. Today’s feature is on a standout student from Caldwell County FFA: Landry Dunbar.

Dunbar grew up surrounded by agriculture and outdoor work. He joined FFA as a freshman and quickly became a member of the Building Communities Committee.

“I’ll do anything. Any competition that they want me to do, I’m there for it. I’m a hard worker through FFA,” Dunbar said.

In 2023, Dunbar began working at the University of Kentucky Research and Education Center in Princeton, Kentucky, which became his SAE project. His first experience there allowed him to see research up close. He assisted with a bale grazing study in which cattle were given access to different hay bales each week to observe their grazing preferences. The study concluded that cattle primarily gravitated to the bales closest to a water source.

Now, Dunbar is conducting a project of his own. He is testing how weeds affect germination in silage. He seals a variety of forages—such as cowpea, sorghum-sudangrass, sunn hemp and buckwheat—into bags with Johnsongrass, a common weed in Kentucky. After 30 days, he cuts the seeds open to check germination. If the inside of the seed is white, germination was successful.

After graduation, Dunbar plans to attend Murray State University and major in agronomy.

Listen to the full interview: