Ag Mechanics has always been a big deal in the world of ag education with a lot of students enjoying welding and building projects, and perhaps the most prestigious venue to showcase these creations is at the Oklahoma Youth Expo Ag Mechanics Contest. Senior Farm and Ranch Director Ron Hays caught up with the contest superintendent, Jerry Renshaw, to discuss the growing success of the event.
This year marked the sixth anniversary since the contest’s inception, and it was the biggest yet with 270 projects entered, a 35-project increase from last year. “We were almost full,” Renshaw said, anticipating a move to another building soon.
The projects represent the creativity and skill of participants ranging from nine years old to high school seniors. The contest was created to allow more students to participate at OYE.
“In this ag mechanics show, probably 82% are students that do not show livestock,” Renshaw revealed. “This is another avenue for these kids to build projects that exemplify their skills and compete with the lifelong skill that comes out of it.”
Renshaw detailed the common skills students exemplify are welding, measuring, squaring, painting, metal cutting and grinding, but projects have evolved to encompass cell phone operating components on chutes, trailers, hydraulic systems, and suspension systems.
The contest relies heavily on sponsorships and Renshaw is proud that more and more companies continue to step up to pour their resources into tomorrow’s tradesmen and women.
Renshaw himself taught ag for 28 years and focused on Ag Mechanics during his career. “It is worthwhile to me,” he said. “I walk away smiling because John Doe over here could build this project, we are accomplishing goals. He is accomplishing an opportunity for himself.”
It is common for the projects created by the students to be sold and others are mere protypes to begin selling more just like them. Additionally, the students gain exposure to potential employers who can use their skills leading to future career opportunities.
Renshaw looks forward to seeing the growth of the contest over the coming years. “The trajectory that we are on now, is about seventy percent,” he said. “We are on track to keep growing ten percent each year over the year before. Next year, we could say that we could break the 300-mark. One day, that is going to lead to an over-crowding problem and get us into the next building.”
Ag teachers are excited about the growing interest in ag mechanics among students as well, because it provides opportunities to reach more students in their classrooms. “They are getting excited about it and getting on board, and what is neat about the evolution of this is that our counties are starting to get more involved to have a county ag mechanics show.”
He added that the Southwest and Northwest districts already have district shows that continue to grow. There are also jackpot ag mechanic shows popping up across the state as more and more people see the value in the skills students gain.
“Dr. Nathan Smith, who is my co-superintendent, takes care of getting what we call the ‘U.S.A. guys’ and that means University Student Assistants to help the judges, and they are now getting class credit at OSU for helping at this contest being proctors to the judges,” he said with excitement.
The 2025 event employed 34 judges broken up into 17 pairs to cover 8 divisions. “Some judges did two divisions or helped in another division here or there, but divisions are so big that we have three pairs of judges in there. That means they will have to collaborate together at the end of all of those classes to see who their champion, reserve, and bronzes are,” Renshaw explained. “Then, we’ll have a top-set of five judges or so for the Grand Champion Drive that is derived from all of the divisions.”
