Communication has been a key element of Jarret Moser’s success in his placement supervised agricultural experience (SAE). Jarret took many lessons to heart from his time in the Jefferson County FFA chapter in Jefferson City, Tenn., but building his business and communications skills have impacted his career.
“As I have gotten older, I realize now that if it wasn’t for FFA I probably would not be in the position, as far as the business aspect, as I am now,” Jarret said. “Just because I wouldn’t have had that exposure on how to communicate with people.”
His SAE consists of working on his family’s farm, Tennessee Valley Resources. Jarret got involved at an early age, driving tractors before he could drive cars. Now, he assists with planting and harvesting the farm’s principal crops, corn and soybeans. Tennessee Valley Resources also has a mining operation, for which Jarret acts as a salesman.
The farm mines gypsum, which is then sold to farmers. Jarret said after government regulations had factories clean their smokestacks, less sulfur has been emitted into the region’s air.
“Sulfur is a huge factor in plant growth,” Jarret said, “especially for those of us with soybean and cotton and even peanuts. Sulfur is a key nutrient and we lack that now because we don’t get any sulfur rain. So this gypsum is a sulfur sub. I’m going around trying to educate farmers on the importance of sulfur.”
A benefit from his FFA experience, Jarret said, was the communications skills he learned along the way. Now that he meets potential clients who have different educational backgrounds, he knows how to relay information to a person in a way that is accessible to them.
Jarret wants to continue farming in the future and sharing knowledge with other crop producers.
“We’ve been successful for years,” Jarret said, referencing the family farm. “Our corn yields are out of this world for our area. I would like to educate people and show them what we’re doing and why we’re doing it.”