The Wessington Springs Ag, Food, and Natural Resources (AFNR) program has been a strong program since its inception in 1916 and has constantly stood at the top of innovation in the Ag world. This program has seen many changes in technology, strategy, personnel, and facility in that time and is known state-wide as an outstanding program over the last 112 years.
In 1970, this program took a major leap forward by building a large shop facility to expand and improve on welding, wood working, basic engine repair, construction, machining and fabricating, and so much more.
Today, the AFNR program has an incredible opportunity to expand in a meaningful way with the construction of a new Ag Lab addition. This addition would be connected to the current facility and be located directly South of the Ag Shop. This addition is part of an Ag Shop update project that will result in a safer and more organized shop. The Ag Lab will give us the ability to offer even more hands-on experiences and real-world certifications and skills for students.
The goal for this facility is to provide a bio-secure, safe, and sanitizable space to perform further Ag processing, animal science, food science, soil and water science, and Ag business experience in ways that are not possible with the current facility.
The number of opportunities for this building are near endless, but as a sampling of what we have currently proposed, here are some of the ways that this facility will be used: We plan to harvest tree sap and process sap into syrup. We will teach students about food safety principles and how to safely and properly prepare items like summer sausage, sticks, salami, hamburger, and much more. We will provide internship experiences by allowing students to manage this facility and keep us up to date on our inspection paperwork, just as they would have to in any licensed facility. We will form partnerships with area businesses such as Springs Food Market where we could form hamburger patties for various events. We will be able to provide a proper facility to show students veterinary work and simple procedures in an interactive way. We will also be able to continue the Vet Camp started by senior Bailey Yost. We will have a facility where students perform soil and water tests as well as analysis to make good agricultural decisions. We will be able to give back to the community by assisting hungry people through participating in the SD Sportsmen Against Hunger program.
We know this facility will give new opportunities to students that allow them to build skills in ways not possible in the current space.
We hope you have ideas about how this facility can be used and encourage you to share them with us as we begin a new phase of the Wessington Springs AFNR program.
We cannot wait for the next 112 years of educating youth right here in innovative Wessington Springs!