SAEP Guidelines
The information present in this guide should assist the student and parent in
understanding the Supervised Agricultural Experience Program phase of agricultural
education. An SAEP consists of all practical agriculturally related activities
conducted by the student outside of school time for which systematic instruction
and supervision is provided by the instructor, parents/guardian, and employer.
Let’s break down SAEP into its four main concerns.
Supervised: The program should be supervised and planned with the advice and counseling of the instructor, parents, and in some cases an employer.
Agricultural: The program should be related to one of the eight
recognized areas of agriculture.
• Ag. Production
• Ag. Sales and/or service
• Ag. Processing
• Ag. Mechanics
• Forestry
• Ag. Resources/Conservation
• Horticulture
• Other Ag. (Veterinary services, Ag. Education, Ag. Science, Etc.)
Experience: The program should provide educational experiences that might lead to an occupation. The program should have the potential to produce income either in the form of profits or wages earned for services provided.
Program: The SAEP should be planned and developed over a period of time. The experiences gained from an SAEP should become progressively more challenging and the program should have the opportunity to expand.
Agriculture education is funded in part by the federal government
on the basis of a state plan submitted by the Missouri Department of Education.
This plan states that in school operating agricultural education departments,
students in these programs are required to have SAEPs. Many SAEP opportunities
are available to students in our area. Four basic categories are used to identify
SAEP opportunities:
• OWNERSHIP: PRODUCTION
• OWNERSHIP: AGRIBUSINESS
• PLACEMENT: PRODUCTION
• PLACEMENT: AGRIBUSINESS
Ownership SAEPs include that the student assumes some of the financial risk involved in the SAE Program.
Placement SAEPs are wage earning type programs where students assume no financial risk for the business and simply receive wages in return for labor or services provided.
OWNERSHIP: PRODUCTION
The student owns all or part interest in the project and assumes some of the
financial risk involved in ownership of all enterprise.
OWNERSHIP IN ANIMAL PRODUCTION
• Beef Cows/calves
• Feeder steers/heifers
• Bottle calves
• Dairy
• Sow/pigs
• Feeder pigs raised to market
• Ewes/lambs
• Feeder lambs raised to market
• Horses (rodeo, trail riding, team penning/cutting horse, gated, horse
shows)
• Poultry – hens/eggs
• Poultry – Ducks, geese, etc.
• Bees (honey/wax production)
• Exotic animals (llamas, emu, etc.)
• Rabbits (should have income potential)
• Dogs (for breeding and selling purpose only) Hunting dogs and/or registered
companion animals
OWNERSHIP IN CROP PRODUCTION
• Feed Grain production (corn, milo, oats, etc.)
• Cereal Grain (Wheat, rye, etc.)
• Oil crops (soybeans, peanuts, sunflower, etc.)
• Forage production (alfalfa, clover, orchard grass, fescue, and other
hay)
• Forage production (pasture production)
• Specialty crops (popcorn, Christmas trees, seedlings, mushrooms, ornamental
crops, maple syrup, sorghum molasses, etc.)
• Fruit /Vegetable (truck patch garden developed for sale of produce,
orchard, vineyard, or family garden raised for home use.)
• Flowers
• Wildlife management (food plots, wildlife planting, development of fish
and wildlife habitat)
OWNERSHIP: AGRIBUSINESS
The student owns all or part of the business and provides the
equipment and/or services.
• Lawn care business
• Tools sharpening business
• Small engine repair business
• Horse training business
• Animal grooming business (dogs, cats, cattle, horses, etc.)
• Small animal care
• Landscaping
• Tree pruning
• Floral arranging
• Seed sales
• Forest product sales (cedar fence posts, tomato stakes, surveying stakes,
mulch service, ties, etc.)
• Firewood sales
• Produce stand
• Plant care
• Other
The student works in return for wages in an area of agricultural
production.
• Cattle farm
• Swine farm
• Diversified livestock farm
• Horse farm
• Sheep farm
• Poultry farm
• Crop farm
• Forage crop farm
• Tree farm
• Orchard farm
• Vineyard
• Produce farm
• Specialty animal farm
• Exotic animal farm
PLACEMENT: AGRIBUSINESS
The student works in return for wages for an agribusiness. Many local businesses
have direct or indirect ties to production agriculture and the rural community.
• Parts clerk, sales, secretarial (in any agribusiness)
• Newspaper
• Machinery dealership
• Machine and tool shop
• Construction crew (farm structures)
• Livestock hauling
• Small engine ship
• Stable
• Auction barn
• Auctioneering service
• Feed store
• Fertilizer polant
• Farm and home supply store
• Landscape service, greenhouse, florist, plant and/or shrub nursery
• Meat shop
• Radio station
• Farm management co.
• Farm service center (service station that service farm vehicles)
• Veterinary service
• Hardware and/or lumber company
• Sawmill, logging company, firewood yard
• Grocery store
• Rural electric co-op
• Excavating company
• Lawn care business, park employees
• Youth camp (maintenance)
• Wildlife taxidermy
• Government agencies (ASCS, SCS, Dept. of conservation, extension, forest
service.)
Agriculture Education Research
SAEP through which a student researches an agriculture related topic using a
variety of resources, documents their hours, and prepares a written report on
the topic. Issues to be researched should be discussed with the instructors.
As you can see, there are a number of activities that students
can become involved with that allow them to create a quality SAEP.