KENNY ENGLAND: AMERICA'S STAR FARMER.

You find it hard to realize that Kenneth England is only 19 years old.

It's not that he looks any older than 19, or any older, for that matter, than he looked before he went off to Kansas City last autumn to win the cherished title of Star Farmer of America at the Future Farmers of America convention.

Kenny impresses you as being just about what he is -a youngster still two years shy of voting age, a college sophomore, a lad who has a girl friend and wonders if he'll be able to get off this evening to take her to a movie.

But then you start thinking about the 19-year-old in your own family, or the one who lives next door. He's going to school, too, perhaps, and maybe doing odd jobs after hours to earn spending money. And that's about all, because nothing more is expected of a lad who's only 19.

But there's where the achievements of Kenny England strike you for what they are a remarkable example of youthful resourcefulness and a success story in the traditional American form.

It takes only a few dollars-and-cents statistics to summarize that story: Kenny nets approximately $4,000 a year from the dairy herd which he maintains on the England farm about six miles southeast of Chandler. That, you might remember, is an income which almost any college graduate would be happy to have by the time he's in his thirties.

When Kenny won the national F.F.A. competition, beating out 281,000 contenders in 48 states and two territories, he had an inventory of $27,000. He sold 17 head of cattle recently, but his herd-principally fine Jersey cows -still totals 36. In addition, he owns five horses, which, like his cattle, carry the England farm's 2 Lazy H brand (a figure "2" standing atop a horizontal "H").

Where the average 19-year-old would be content with a superannuated "jalop," acquired by putting the bite on the old man, Kenny has a brand new Chevrolet, bought with his own earnings. But here the boy in him takes precedence momentarily over the conservative fishtailtype taillights, Cadillac-style. "Just my idea of a little something extra," he says, with a grin.

Kenny started building his business when he was about 12 years old and age at which most kids are just joining the Boy Scouts and wondering how to talk Pops out of a bigger allowance.

He began by buying a bull, with money earned at milking for his dad. The bull died from an overdose of salts. Kenny earned some more money and bought four heifer calves. Then, slowly, with great care, he built his herd-selling a cow here, buying two or three head there, swapping straight-out now and then. They'll tell you around Chandler that, when it comes to judging livestock, Kenny England has a mighty sharp eye.

He was only 13 when he bought his first car. He wrote out his personal check for it.

Kenny's accomplishments would have been remarkable enough if he'd had his dairy herd to worry about and nothing more. Actually, however, that was only a sparetime undertaking. His main job was going to school. He's still at it-majoring in animal husbandry at Arizona State College at Tempe.

This makes a day in the life of Kenny England a pretty arduous one-up at 5 to do the milking, off to school, back in mid-afternoon to look after his herd, exercise his horses and do the milking again. He finishes about 7. That leaves the evening open for bringing his account books up to date, doing his homework or if the mood suits him-calling on his best girl.

And even with all this, he's had time for sports, winning his letters in football and track at Chandler High.

Kenny joined the F.F.A. when he was a freshman at Chandler. He worked his way up through the organization's various grades of proficiency like a Jersey cow going through a bale of feed from "green hand" (no income) to "chapter farmer" (minimum of $25 income a year) and finally "American farmer" ($500 minimum).

During his junior year he was chapter secretary. In his senior year he was chapter vice president and state vice president. Last year he was state secretary.

In 1947 he won the title of Star Farmer of Arizona. In 1949 he was Star Dairy Farmer of Arizona and Star Dairy Farmer of America. Then, this year, he went over the top at Kansas City.

The Future Farmers of America is a national organization of farm boys studying vocational agriculture in the high schools and colleges throughout the nation. Its national headquarters are in the Agricultural Education Service, U. S. Office of Education, Washington, D. C. The national organization is run on annual membership dues of 10 cents. Its officers are elected annually from its membership. The motto of the F.F.A. reflects the philosophy typical of American farm youth. The motto is as follows:

The organization is sponsored at the state level by the State Department of Vocational Education. The State Supervisor of Agricultural Education is the State Advisor. The local chapter is under the guidance of the teacher of vocational agriculture in the high school who is the chapter advisor for the local unit.

The national organization was founded in November, 1928, and has grown to a present membership in excess of 281,000. The primary purpose of the organization is to help boys become established in the business of farming. This includes participating experience in activities that develop a love for country life, leadership, confidence in the future of farming, thrift, cooperation, scholarship and good farm practices.

An annual convention is held each year in Kansas City, where representatives from each state conduct the business of the national organization under the direction of its boy officers and sets up a program of work which will serve as the guide posts of state and local chapters in planning their own programs. Emphasis is placed at all times on broad participation by F.F.A. in the chapter programs. Individual as well as cooperative effort toward home and community improvement is usually emphasized in local programs.

The significance of the award is implied in the title, Star Farmer of America. Arizona is justly proud of this honor because, with the exception of Oregon, no other state in the western region has received it.

J. R. Cullison of the State Department of Vocational Education, says of America's Star Farmer: "While Kenneth has been singled out as tops in the nation, it does not mean that he is the only boy of top caliber in the Future Farmer organization or even in Arizona. We have many other boys within the state who very closely approach Kenneth in all phases of Future Farmer work. Future Farmer chapters in the vocational agriculture departments of 22 high schools throughout the state are year after year developing superior farmers. "A significant factor is that Arizona, with a state membership of 765 last year and eligible to have only one American Farmer, had the boy who received this honor. Arizona Future Farmers have over a quarter of a million dollars invested in their farming programs. That Kenneth won the award surprises no one who will consider the four years of systematic classroom study of agricul ture, the constant supervision by his vo-ag teacher of his farming program on his home farm, and the training, inspiration, guidance, and interchange of ideas that Kenneth has received from contacts in the local and state F.F.A. organization."

The 40-acre England farm, with raw desert on two sides of it and the Suntan Mountains bulging up from the horizon to the southeast, isn't a prepossessing place. The farmhouse is simple and there's no over-abundance of equipment. You can see that life hasn't been a pushover for Kenny's father, Willis B. England, a small, wiry man of 62 with snow-white hair and moustache, who came out from Arkansas in 1913.

But what they have it all theirs, and the Englands are their own masters, which, after all, is the essence of any farmer's ambition. Here, perhaps, you find a key to the strong drive which earned Kenny England one of the top honors in American rural life a deep urge to achieve independence for himself and his family and make a better life than they have had before.

"Shorty" England, as his father likes to be called, gives a generous share of the credit for their achievement to Kenny-more of the credit, in fact, than he reserves and keeps a close watch on calves.

for himself. Hard work has been the mode at their ranch. "When Kenny and I first started, we didn't have anything no home, no farm," he says. "I was working for wages. He wanted to get into the dairy business-he was just a little tot. So we bought a few cows. I paid him a salary for helping me. Every time I'd give him $10. he'd either beat me or someone else out of a calf. "From then on it's been 50-50. If I had a dollar, it belonged to both of us. If he had $100, it belonged to both of us." "Shorty" England's most treasured possession is a railroad watch which Kenny bought for him at Kansas City. He had a bronc buster carve his father's initials on the back with a pocket knife. Gather two or three people together and, like as not, you'll hear "Shorty" inquire innocently, "Anybody got the time?" a good excuse, of course, to haul out that fine new watch. You get the idea pretty quick that there isn't a prouder father north of the Gila. "Kenny's been the backbone of the whole place," he admits without the slightest reluctance. "I wanted to sell it once, but he didn't. Lots of times he was figurin' and I wasn't." Kenny is still "figurin'." With the $1,000 he won at Kansas City and the earnings from his dairy herd, he plans to buy some more land. Eventually he wants to own a ranch in the crisp, pine-clad northern section of Arizona and another down in the desert region. Thus he could graze his cattle in the north during the summer, then bring them south and put them on feed in the winter. That's ranching-Arizona style! And Kenny England looks to be the lad who can do it. Some day, not far off, you can bet the 2 Lazy H will be a brand to reckon with in the land of the tall saguaros.