Tri-State Neighbor: South Dakota Farm Newspaper

Production agriculture is 18-year-old Brian Gottlob's passion and pastime. He says it is a part of who he is.

“It is what I've grown up doing,” said Gottlob, a senior at McCook Central High School in Salem, S.D. “I go on trips, like to the National FFA Convention in Indianapolis, and I get depressed not seeing a corn field. Agriculture is my livelihood. I'll have to have a corn plant in a pot in my dorm room when I go to college.”

Growing up on his family's commercial livestock and grain farm near Salem, Gottlob enjoys the rewards that production agriculture brings and understands the challenges that producers' face.

“Each year poses new challenges and problems, but it is never monotonous. I have always been productive and like to do something and see the result - like watching calves grow up and having a bin full of corn at the end of the season,” said Gottlob, who raised his first bottle calf in the first grade and has built his herd to 10 cows. “The hardest part of living on the farm for me is we are too small for me to be able to come home.”

Gottlob's older brother, Mike, currently farms with his dad, Jerry. They have 180 cow/calf pairs and farm about 1,200 acres.

Looking ahead to what he'll do after high school, Gottlob plans on attending South Dakota State University and major in agriculture business.

He has been investing the money he earns from his cattle herd and plans to use that money to help finance his education. Gottlob was recently recognized by the South Dakota Pork Producers Council with a $500 scholarship that will also contribute to his college fund.

Living in the heart of corn country, he is excited about the opportunities that the ethanol industry has to offer and would like to pursue a career where he can be involved in the industry.

“I got excited about ethanol by seeing how tight money can get around the farm and understanding that ethanol was keeping my family farm productive and seeing the positive influence it had in my community and on other local farms,” Gottlob said.

Gottlob isn't afraid to share his excitement. In 2006, he won the state FFA public speaking career development event when he presented his speech, “An Agricultural Revolution.” The speech focused on the positive influence ethanol has on the rural economy.

“America is basically in shackles to oil - it's the producer in me that wants to produce what we need and not rely on others so much. Ethanol allows us to do that,” he said.

Terry Rieckman, Gottlob's agriculture teacher and FFA adviser, said that his passion for ethanol and agriculture is obvious.

“He's the kind of guy that I would hire to be my public relations guy,” said Rieckman, who has been an agriculture instructor and FFA advisor for 23 years. “He has a lot of passion, common sense and devotion. Brian really cares about agriculture, so no matter what field he goes into, he's going to have a compassion and understanding for the product that will carry over.”

Gottlob serves as the treasurer of the McCook Central FFA Chapter and served as the 2006-07 District 3 FFA vice president. He says before he joined the FFA he had not done any public speaking.

That all changed when Rieckman encouraged him as a freshman to compete in the FFA Creed speaking career development event.

“When I am speaking I feel free,” Gottlob said. “I'm not nervous because I won't see the people again - it's an opportunity to be an adult and express your views.

Along with public speaking, the FFA has also given me the opportunity to learn about teamwork as a member of the officer team.”

Although Gottlob is a good speaker, Rieckman says that he is a better speaker when he has a topic he is passionate about - like his state-winning speech on ethanol.

“The first year he did not like his topic and was not passionate about it. The next year when he spoke on ethanol you could feel the passion, it made the speech much better,” Rieckman said.

Along with his involvement in the FFA and working at home on the farm, Gottlob is also involved in the high school marching, concert and jazz bands and choir.

“I have had quite a few ‘once in a lifetime students' and Brian is one of them,” said Rieckman. “He's really self-motivated and positive about agriculture.”