Agriculture Advocates

A love for agriculture can lead to broader horizons, and that has been the case for Minnesota’s state FFA officers, including Lauren Hunt, state sentinel, and Dessa Terning, state secretary. Through their positions, they have traveled throughout the state and beyond in their nearly one year of service, helping various FFA chapters and advocating for the ag industry.

“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Terning said. “Whatever we teach, whatever interaction we have, it’s benefiting somebody.”

Hunt did not grow up on a farm, but she did live in the country. While in the 10th grade at high school in Willmar, she joined the school’s FFA chapter, becoming more active in the organization during her junior year and serving as the secretary in her senior year. She competed in the floral Career Development Events; in her senior year, she got first at the regional level, and at state, she reached fifth place as an individual and second place as a team.

After high school, Hunt was not yet ready to be done with FFA. After going to Southwest Minnesota State University in Marshall for a year, she felt like something was missing, and when she learned about state-level FFA, she wanted to try that.

“When I decided to run, my main thing was getting FFA members to realize there’s no better you than yourself,” Hunt said. “Even if you don’t have the perfect resume or the perfect qualifications, just be yourself because, sometimes, that’s even better than having the most perfect, built-up way of life.”

Terning grew up near Darwin, where she and her five siblings helped on their family’s dairy and beef operations; they also raised horses, which were Terning’s passion. She and her siblings attended Dassel-Cokato Schools and joined the school’s FFA chapter.

“I knew it was something I was going to be put into because of my older siblings, but I also knew it was something I wanted to be put into,” Terning said. “Originally, when I started in FFA as a seventh grader,
it felt like I’d been there for forever since I was always there with my older siblings; I remember telling my ag teacher, ‘I want to be in this, but I don’t want to do anything talking-related. All I want to do is judge horses and help with events.’ … As we can see, that changed very quickly.”

Terning made it onto her regional FFA officer team in her sophomore year, later getting elected as the region president as a senior. From there, everyone encouraged her to run for state office. It took her a long time to decide to fill out that application, though.

“I had it opened and closed on my laptop for a couple of months,” Terning said.
“I knew I had the ability from the support of my peers and how I’d come up through FFA, but I knew I needed to want it myself. After a lot of thought and reflecting on my FFA journey so far, I thought, ‘You know what, it’s all God’s plan; I would almost be dumb not to try for it. If I get it, great, and if not, I know there are other plans for my life.’”

The state officer selection process was held April 25-28, 2024, at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities campus in Minneapolis. Rounds included a personal introduction; a facilitation round where candidates were partnered up to present a short lesson and demonstrate teamwork; round-robin conversations; a “stand and deliver” test where candidates were given random topics to give a brief speech on and answer questions about; one-on-one personal interviews with the nomination committee; a written test; and a knowledge test.

Candidate selections were announced April 29, 2025. Leading up to the ceremony, Hunt felt nervous seeing the members of the nomination committee and knowing they already knew who their choices were, but having put forth her best, she was confident in her decision to run.

“You never know if you can get it if you don’t try, and I promised I would leave everything I had out on the table,” Hunt said.

During the announcements, Terning was seated next to Cameron Addington, the soon-to-be Minnesota FFA state officer president.
She heard Hunt get called up for the sentinel office, Keeley Runge for reporter and Hailey Chambers for treasurer.

“It was exciting to see my peers get up there, even if I didn’t,” Terning said.

When Terning’s name was called for the secretary office, it was a surprise to her — mostly.

“I was guessing that, if I made this team, it would probably be as state secretary,” she said. “When I heard, ‘From the Dassel-Cokato FFA Chapter, your state secretary, Dessa Terning,’ I remember my heart fluttered.”

Onstage, Terning could not stop smiling as the remaining officers were announced — Addington for president and Paisley VonBerge for vice president.

After training and a couple of conferences in the summer, the team flew to Washington, D.C., for the state officer summit, talking to representatives and legislators and honing their skills with other state FFA officers.

During the school year, state officers mainly visit FFA chapters, host leadership workshops, and meet with sponsors and other supporters, all of which require a lot of travel. February’s itinerary includes a trip to St. Paul to meet with legislators about advocating for FFA and agriculture.

“It’s like they tell you at the beginning: ‘Be ready to travel about 250 days out of your year, if not more,’” Hunt said. “It’s a lot of traveling, but it’s also a lot of fun.”

Hunt is now a sophomore at SMSU, majoring in agricultural education and minoring in agricultural business, and Terning is a freshman at the University of Minnesota Crookston in Crookston, majoring in animal science. While they seek to help others as FFA state officers, they can see how the experience benefits them now as well as how it will positively impact their futures.

“One day, I’d like to own my own floral shop and do some designing,” Hunt said. “My goal is to go back and teach somewhere in the state of Minnesota, hopefully around home.”

Terning encourages other FFA members to run for state office in the future. Even if a candidate is not elected, it is a worthwhile journey of self-discovery.

“I know I can speak in front of people, and I know I love agriculture,” Terning said. “To be able to confidently go and do that has been a great thing for me.”