Trey Denny of Detroit recently cemented his name in the history books as a National Champion with the Future Farmers of America organization while representing Detroit FFA in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Denny was crowned the 2019 National Champion Beef Production Entrepreneurship Proficiency Award winner at the 92nd National FFA Convention in Indianapolis, Indiana.
“This honor came after Trey and his Ag Class record books won District in April, Area in May, State in June, and became a National Finalist in July from 5 years of records,” said Detroit FFA teacher Tracy Denny.
Denny will be awarded a $5,000 scholarship to continue his education next year at Texas A&M University in College Station where he will be an Animal Science major with a minor in Ag Economics.
Agricultural Proficiency Awards honor FFA members who, through supervised agricultural experiences, have developed specialized skills that they can apply toward their future careers. Denny who has been building his own herd of commercial cattle since he was a young boy, has taken the opportunities of what FFA can offer and has turned it into a business that continues to flourish.
Nationally, students can compete for awards in nearly 50 areas ranging from agricultural communications to wildlife management. Proficiency awards are also recognized at local and state levels and provide recognition to members that are exploring and becoming established in agricultural career pathways.
What is a beef production entrepreneurship proficiency award from National FFA?
A Beef Production- Entrepreneurship – Member owns the enterprise or business that uses the best management practices available to efficiently produce and market beef. This award area is for any animals raised mainly to produce beef and all-beef breeding animals.
Denny not only built a successful business from a young age, but the business alongside his FFA career has also enabled him to secure scholarships and funding to cover his college tuition.
Denny, a third-generation rancher utilizes breeding cattle and market steers to produce high-quality beef using sound management practices efficiently.
His grandfather gave him three commercial cows when he was 2-years old and today, he is the proud owner of 67 commercial females, two commercial herd bulls, 33 registered Red Angus cows as well as 88 commercial and 24 registered replacement females.
Denny is continually supported by his parents, Tracy and Todd and he is also sponsored by Merck Animal Health and Rabo AgriFinance.
As a National winner, Denny is one of only 47 members in the United States to receive a National Championship in a Proficiency Area.
Of the 700,050 members in the National FFA, this puts Denny in the top .00006 percent of their membership. He is a current Agriculture student at Paris Jr. College, and will be attending Texas A&M University in College Station in the Fall of 2020 to pursue a Bachelors Degree in Animal Science and a minor in Ag Economics.
In order to obtain the win Denny had to keep five years of records from all financial expenses and income on all of his beef cattle and market show steers, plus he logged every hour of FFA leadership, FFA contest, FFA activities, school activities, community service, and all the hours spent working or training his animals.
There were 155 pages of financial and FFA data that he could be interviewed over, and he could be asked anything from the past 5 years of records.
He won Paris District out of 21 schools in April, he won Area VI FFA out of 96 schools in May, then he won the Texas FFA State Contest in June out of over 1,032 schools, and then in July, his books and application went to National FFA in Indiana for judging where he was selected as one of the top 4 finalists in the United States from all State Winners.
Once he was selected as a top 4 National Finalist, he had to go to the 92nd National FFA Convention for a 15-minute interview over his application, his record books, and his FFA experiences where he was interviewed by a panel of judges.
