-Farm News photo by Lori Berglund
Floral Hall at the Hamilton County Fairgrounds will be coming down early this year to make room for the new Career Ag Academy at the fairgrounds. The building will be a classroom and lab for students, and will also be available for fair and public use. Younger students are also expected to enjoy field trips here.

WEBSTER CITY — In Iowa, there’s a good chance that whatever job a person has, that job has a strong connection to agriculture.

Bankers lend to farmers, and need to know the ins and outs of agriculture. Retailers sell everything from boots to combines to farmers. Folks behind the meat counter help us select the best pork loin from the case. High school teachers, university professors, and researchers also make a good living from agriculture.

The Coalition to Support Iowa Farmers estimates that nearly one in five Iowans has a job today because of agriculture. More than 385,000 Iowans work in agriculture, with approximately 44 percent of those working in some form of animal agriculture.

Those numbers, and the need to fill those jobs for the future are the driving reasons behind the new Career Ag Academy set to open in the 2025-2026 school year in Webster City.

“It’s extremely important” to prepare and draw more students into ag-related fields, said Gene Gourley, board president with the Career Ag Academy. He envisions a learning environment where students who have little connection to the farm can learn more about the role of agriculture in Iowa and the nation’s economy. Students will gain hands-on experience with animal agriculture and related fields throughout agriculture.

The project is a joint venture between the Hamilton County Fair Board and Webster City Community School District. Goal-setting and planning sessions began as early as 2004.

In the long run-up to construction, the plan has been revised along the way. It will now serve the vocational agriculture program at Webster City High School with both classrooms and live animal areas, as well as a meat lab, including a meat cooler.

It would also be available if other schools, colleges, or businesses wish to utilize both the classroom and animal areas.

Built on the present site of Floral Hall at the Hamilton County Fairgrounds, the 50-foot-by-90-foot metal building will feature two classrooms with walls that can be removed to create one, large multi-purpose room. That room may also be available for community use. There will also be modern restroom and shower facilities in both the classroom and livestock areas. The fact that the fairgrounds is already zoned for agriculture made the site ideal for a new livestock classroom.

“Ag teachers have told us that one of the biggest challenges they face is that urban kids are not exposed to farm animals,” Gourley said. “They don’t know how to work them, or how to handle them. I can show them pictures of animals, but with today’s biosecurity, you just can’t take kids out to the farm anymore.”

The task of creating a curriculum for the Career Ag Academy falls largely to Kurt Veldhuizen, long-time voc-ag teacher and FFA advisor at Webster City High School. The school has also bumped up its voc-ag staff considerably to help with the course-load.

“The current plan is that at the start of the school year, the fall of 2025, we will be having classes out there,” Veldhuizen.

Construction is set to begin this spring and the building is slated to be open and ready for use by the fair board in July. While that’s an ambitious construction schedule, Veldhuizen said confidence is high that it will be ready to go.

“Of course, like any building project you never know 100 percent, but we’re very optimistic,” Veldhuizen said.

Once open, the curriculum will span several academic levels, with even some dual college credit available in at least one course. While freshman classes will still be held at the high school, beginning at the sophomore level all classes will be at the new Career Ag Academy.

“We will have the ninth-graders out there about once a month doing labs and field work,” Veldhuizen said.

Even younger middle school and elementary students will occasionally be invited out for field trips. It’s easy to envision younger students enjoying a late spring day at the fairgrounds, seeing the animals at the Career Ag Academy, and using the horticulture and landscape of the fairgrounds as an all-day learning experience.

Beginning at the sophomore level, all animal science classes will be held at the Career Ag Academy.

“In Vet Science I, we focus on learning about the body systems of animals, reproductive systems, digestive systems,” Veldhuizen said. “In Vet Science II we learn about caring for animals, nutrition, disease, and how to treat animals.”

“Survey the Animal Industry” is a junior level course offered as dual credit with Iowa Central Community College.

“This course even transfers to Iowa State for an animal science credit,” Veldhuizen said.

The spring semester companion to this class is a course that focuses on meat science.

“We will have classroom capabilities to study more of the meat sciences,” he said. “We have several local employers in this area, and we want to help kids understand where the careers are at, and the work needed to provide protein products for an ever-growing world.”

It’s not just about putting a great cut of meat on the grill, it’s really about feeding people in Iowa and throughout the world.

“Food insecurity is already a growing issue,” Veldhuizen said.

At the senior level, students will explore Advanced Animal Production I and II, and the hands-on work picks up in intensity for the students who have progressed in their knowledge through the underclassmen courses.

“These kids will be in charge of the animals in the facility,” Veldhuizen said. “I envision working with Gene Gourley in having kids learn about the science of doing feed trials — how does feed intake relate to growth rate.”

Responsibility, both in the workplace, and in the care of another living creature is another important aspect of these upper level classes.

“The students will be in charge every day of making sure animals are fed, watered, and housed appropriately.”

While these may be animal science classes, students will have to use skills throughout the broader curriculum. They will be writing reports using language and communication skills. They will have plenty of experience with math and science as they conduct feed trials and learn about anatomy and biology.

“Honestly, I think this is going to hit any career, just from the standpoint they will have so much responsibility,” Veldhuizen said. “This is about learning responsibility, respect, problem-solving, and those are skills that anyone has to have out there in whatever career they follow … You’re a much more valuable lawyer or banker if you understand the industry that your clients are in.”

To Gourley, it’s about building good citizens, regardless of the career path they eventually follow.

“Our mission has always been, how can we give the best educational experience to kids,” he said. “We are trying to develop good citizens for the community. That’s the whole idea.”