Meet Ben Klick, Windy Way Farms

The average day here on the farm for me is always different. I start my morning by making my rounds to all 4 farms where we house and feed cattle. I do my morning chores, check things over to see how the cattle are and determine what needs done for the day. Then depending upon the time of the year I either tend to more cattle related projects such as mixing feed, moving corn or hay from farm to farm or working/ moving cattle. After morning chores depending on the time of the year, I will be in a planter, combine, semi, discbine or mowing hay.

After I left ATI, I was blessed enough to be able to come back to the farm full time and work alongside my father and one of my good friends. However, while there I learned so much from a great group of teachers. Along with the teachers, came the connections I made through cultivating friendships. I became close with a group of guys who all went home to farm and we all stay in touch and call each other quite often to ask questions, compare what we’re doing on our own farms. I learned and continue to learn a lot from them. Without ATI, I would not have that knowledge or friendship. I always said ATI was just like going to high school again because of the size of the student body, but everyone was passionate about the same things you were and it was easy to connect and build friendships that way.

My advice to current and future students is to get involved and take chances. I wished I had taken the opportunity to move away from home a little farther during my internship the summer between my first and second year. I would have liked to see what it would be like on a different farm and be away from dad to see how other people run their operations. Additionally, I would have been able to learn some new things and not always worry about what was going on at home. Same goes for living on campus, I saved a lot of money commuting to and from school, but I wish I would have lived on campus and had the opportunity to get involved more with different things on campus. I truly believe that the more you get involved, the more connections you may make through people you meet. You never know where that could take you down the road.

Without ATI, I would not be where I am today. Aside from studying a major directly related to my career, I also made connections, which led me to join the Ohio Corn and Wheat Growers Association’s board. I have become involved with Ohio’s agriculture community and have been interviewed by the Ohio Ag Net to discuss different agricultural issues and the status of the industry. I was connected with them through people I met at ATI.

I look at where I’m at now in my agricultural career, I’m advocating politically on behalf of Ohio grain farmers locally and nationally at 22 years of age. I work alongside a great group of guys and gals in an awesome organization that have the mindset of getting things done that need done. None of that would have happened without ATI. I’ve learned so much in my short career outside of college and a lot of it is thanks to my connections made in Wooster.

Ben is a 2015 graduate of Ohio State ATI from Richville, OH. While at ATI, Ben studied Crop Management and Soil Conservation.  After graduation, Ben went back to his family’s farm to work alongside his dad.