Frascht raises crops and livestock and has a drone sales, service and application business in addition to helping on his family’s farm.

Brady Frascht, a student from Charles City, is a finalist for the National FFA American Star Farmer award. He joins students from Kentucky, Oklahoma and North Dakota as a finalist. 

Sixteen finalists across four categories have been recognized for the 2025 FFA Star awards. 

Along with the American Star Farmer, students are being honored for American Star in Agribusiness, American Star in Agricultural Placement and American Star in Agriscience.

A panel of judges will interview the finalists and select one winner from each award category at the 98th National FFA Convention and Expo in Indianapolis Oct. 29-Nov. 1.

The American Star awards represent the best of the best among thousands of American FFA de­­gree recipients. The award recognizes FFA members who have developed outstanding agricultural skills and competencies by completing a supervised agricultural experience (SAE) program. 

A required activity in FFA, the SAE program allows members to learn by doing. Members can own and operate an agricultural business, intern at an agricultural business or conduct an agriculture-based scientific experiment and report the results.

Other requirements for the Star Award include demonstrating top management skills; completing key agricultural education, scholastic and leadership requirements; and earning an American FFA degree, the organization’s highest level of student accomplishment. The American Star awards are sponsored by Bayer, Cargill, Case IH, John Deere and Syngenta.

Pictured above: Charles City High School student Brady Frascht started a drone sales, service and application business in 2023 in addition to his crop and livestock enterprises. Frascht is one of four national finalists for the FFA American Star Farmer award. PHOTO CONTRIBUTED

Diverse farm experience

Frascht’s SAE consists of 310 acres — 293 acres of corn and soybean rotation and 17 acres of forage (180 acres he owns and 130 acres of rented ground) — while helping his older brother and parents with their 2,000-acre corn, soybean, forage and cattle operation.

Frascht has 43 head of breeding stock, including two bulls, with a goal to sell show calves, mainly steers, and keep high-quality heifers back to breed and grow his herd. The remaining calves are transferred to the family’s market beef operation, of which he now owns 10%. He is in charge of feeding the cattle, bedding and scraping the pens every other day, and walking the pens to check the condition of the cattle waterers.

In 2023, he opened Frascht Drone Sales, Service and Application to diversify his income and be able to come back to the farm. He has four seasonal employees, who have sprayed more than 27,000 acres-plus of corn fungicide and insecticide this year. He started selling and servicing drones as well as building drone trailers to sell in February 2025 and has sold 16 drones and four trailers so far.

Being named a finalist for the FFA Star Award is an honor, Frascht said. 

“I love farming; I enjoy being outdoors and spending time with my livestock and my family,” he said. 

“Being part of a family farming operation is very important to me. I get to wake each day and work side-by-side with my dad, mom and brother. 

“There will always be hardships when farming, whether it is helping a cow calve in the freezing cold, fixing fence on a 100-degree day or repairing a broken piece of equipment as we are trying to finish harvest. 

“Still, those hardships are nothing compared to the joy of being able to work for myself, while working alongside my family.”