ST. MARTIN PARISH — Parks native Hannah Devall takes home a title at the 2024 Louisiana Farm Bureau Convention held in New Orleans.
What started out as Devall’s high school passion led her to win the Young Farmers and Ranchers Discussion Meet Contest which focuses on cooperation, teamwork and critical thinking.
“Telling the story of agriculture is so important and that’s why competitions just like this one that are held for young farmers really help sharpen those skillsets of those people," Devall said.
"Being able to communicate what’s going on in agriculture and get that to the consumer is why this is most important.”
Devall is the volunteer chairman of the St. Martin Parish Farm Bureau and a Louisiana 4-H Animal Science and Agricultural Literacy Specialist at LSU AgcCenter.
Devall oversees ages nine to 19. She said some of her favorite projects are meat science and understanding where the food we eat comes from.
“It’s extremely important for kids to understand where their food comes from because, with the growing urbanization that we’re seeing here in America and then decreased farmland, our farmer's job is even more critical now than its ever been,” Devall said.
This is something she even teaches at home to her young children.
“If you walk up and down the aisles of the store my kid might be asking about the different cuts of meat and what is this where'd this come from? And those kinds of things,” Devall said.
“So being able to see that gain and knowledge in them at only two and five years old you know they're still so young but there's no better way to raise them than with that knowledge and know-how.”
Devall will always represent her hometown, where her love for agriculture began.
“Sometimes it's really amazing to just sit back and think that me, just from a small town, not even a town, Parks Louisiana has had the opportunity to develop the skills that it takes to compete in a contest like the discussion meet," Devall said.
For the next round, Devall will compete in the Farm Bureau Convention held in San Antonio in January representing Louisiana.
