Riverland Community College Farm Business Management (FBM) Instructor, Jack LaValla of St.Charles recently received top honors as this year’s Outstanding Agricultural Education Teacher at the annual conference for the Minnesota Association of Agricultural Educators (MAAE). Only one agricultural educator in the Minnesota is selected for this award each year.

The Outstanding Agricultural Education Teacher award is bestowed upon people who provided the highest quality in agricultural education programs. They are also leaders in both their profession and their community. Outstanding agricultural educators provide their students with the necessary tools for success.

A former agriculture teacher at St. Charles High School, LaValla has been involved with agriculture from an early age. Originally from Hastings, Minnesota, as a child, he worked on his family’s small beef farm and his neighbor’s large cattle operation. A member of the Hastings FFA, he attended state and national conventions and served as a state officer. After high school, he attended the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities campus, and received his degree in Agricultural Education.

LaValla’s first teaching position was at Howard Lake-Waverly High School, in Howard Lake, Minnesota. After teaching there for two years, he went to New London-Spicer High School, in New London, Minnesota, where he taught for eleven years. LaValla began teaching in St. Charles in 1995.

In 2002. LaValla accepted a FBM Instructor position at Riverland and has been on the FBM faculty ever since. LaValla now works directly with farm families across southeastern Minnesota. He assists farmers with their financial planning, record keeping, cash flow planning, marketing, and enterprise analysis. LaValla works with 60 different farm families, tailoring instruction to his students’ needs.

The Minnesota Association of Agricultural Educators (MAAE) has regional meetings throughout the year, as well as an annual state conference and an agriculture technology conference. As a collective, members of the MAAE build relationships with commodity groups, farmers unions, corn growers, soybean growers, and dairy associations. Although it has gone through a few name changes over the years, the MAAE has a long history that dates back to 1914.