Unionville, Missouri is a small town (population 1,735) in northeast Missouri. It is five miles south of the Iowa state line and is located in Putnam County (See Figure 1). It is noted for quality livestock (primarily beef cattle and hogs) and the crops include hay, soybeans and corn.
Figure 1. Location of Unionville
Not a Fairy Tale
Fairy tales often begin with the phrase “Once Upon a Time.” However, the Footnote is not a fairy tale but does use the phrase “Once Upon a Time.”
Once upon a time numerous FFA chapters had student exchange programs with FFA chapters in other states. In 1964 three of us in the Lampasas, Texas FFA chapter traveled to Unionville, Missouri to spend a week learning about agriculture, agricultural education and FFA in Missouri. A few weeks later three FFA members from Unionville came to Texas to do the same thing.
I was one of the three Lampasas students selected for the trip in 1964 along with Milton Kenan and Paul Herrmann. Paul is deceased but you will hear from Milton and me about what we experienced on our trip to Unionville.
Figure 2. From the Lampasas (TX) Record, April 16, 1964
Going on an exchange trip to another FFA chapter for the Lampasas FFA was not new. In 1961 an exchange with Plattsmouth, Nebraska occurred. Two exchange trips with Unionville occurred in 1962 and 1963. A year after the 1964 trip to Unionville, the Lampasas FFA exchanged members with Ashley, South Dakota.
What We Experienced
I stayed with Richard (Rickie) Clark on his farm. I had never seen silage, so the sight and smell of silage was a new experience for me. During the week I attended school with Rickie. The classes were similar to what I was taking in Lampasas. An article in the local Unionville newspaper provided details about our trip. See Figure 3.
Figure 3 The Unionville Republican and Putnam County Journal, April 22, 1964.
We did visit several farms. Most of the cattle around Unionville were black Angus. Since the majority of our cattle back home were Herefords or Hereford/Brahman crosses this was interesting. We also visited a dairy farm of Jersey cattle. There were very few dairy farms around Lampasas and I had never been on a dairy farm so this was another new learning experience.
One afternoon we crossed the Iowa border to see the town square in Centerville. We were told this was the largest town square in America since the courthouse was bordered by two blocks on each side (however Iola, Kansas and Graham, Texas make similar claims). Another new experience was going to the town dump one evening and shooting rats with .22 rifles.
One member of our delegation was Milton Kenan. Here is what he says about the trip:
The number one thing that I found interesting was the use of silage. I had heard of silage but had never seen it or known of anyone using it. The Scott farm had corn silage in a trench. They fed it to their dairy cows. As you may remember, it snowed a lot in northern Missouri and the snow melted and filtered down through the silage. The cows drank the melt water becoming staggering drunk. They didn’t tell me if they did a proof test on the milk.
My overall impression was that what one can do in agriculture is take advantage of the geography, climate, geology, and culture of the area where you farm. While working for my MS in Environmental Engineering, I did some research on silaging range grass. Tests showed that it increased the palatability and food value but not enough to be economically viable.
One of my non-agricultural memorable experiences of the trip was riding the train to and from Missouri. I had never ridden on a train.
The night before we left Missouri we spent the night in a fraternity house on the campus of the University of Missouri. As we walked around campus that evening the sight of male and female students in passionate embraces outside the dorms before the girls went in was indeed a learning experience for us naïve boys from central Texas.
What Did the Missouri Exchange Students Do in Texas?
Perhaps the most memorable experience for the Unionville FFA members was a trip to the LBJ Ranch. Lyndon Johnson was the president at that point in time. Jack Lacy, my agriculture teacher, was a close friend of the LBJ Ranch foreman. The trip to the LBJ ranch was news in Unionville (see Figure 4).
Figure 4. From the Unionville Republican and Putnam County Journal, May 20, 1964.
The identification of people in the picture should be reversed. Jack Lacy is on the right and I am on the left.
On the LBJ Ranch we were warned by the Secret Service not to take any photos of the house. We enjoyed the visit but was surprised that President Johnson had a pen of hogs at the back of the property. These were used to mix with venison from the numerous whitetail deer on the ranch for making sausage. We also saw a lonely Devon bull in a pen by himself. Senator Wayne Morse of Oregon gave the bull to LBJ but Johnson only raised registered Herefords.
On this trip we also visited the state capitol and met with the executive director of the Texas ag teacher’s association.
Concluding Remarks
In 1946 an international exchange program was launched by the National FFA with the Young Farmers Club of Great Britain. It was very successful and highly educational. This was later followed by the Work Experience Abroad program. But those programs will be described in a future Footnote.
Domestically, student exchange programs with FFA members have been conducted since at least 1952, possibly earlier. In 1953 Ronnie Ennis of Center Grove High School in Bargersville, Indiana spent two weeks with the Lafayette-Bryan Station FFA Chapter in Lexington, Kentucky. Then Alvin Lowery of Kentucky went to Indiana for two weeks (Lexington Herald-Leader, July 24, 1953). This was the second year for the exchange program.
During the 1950s and 1960s FFA student exchange programs in the United States were very popular. There are still chapter exchange programs today. The Hope FFA chapter in Indiana and the Enterprise, Oregon FFA Chapter have an active exchange program. As recently as August of this year (2025) the National FFA website featured an exchange program between Latta, Oklahoma and the Inocencio Montero FFA in Puerto Rico. And I am sure there are many more exchange programs.
While establishing physical FFA Student Exchange programs involve some work, they can be very beneficial. It would be possible to write a book about what past and current FFA student exchange program members experienced and learned. It is something to be considered.
With the technology and social media of today it would be possible to arrange virtual exchange programs, but then nothing beats “learning by doing.”