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EDDYVILLE, IOWA -- The Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont School District's FFA program won't see the budget cuts the school board had previously planned.

As KTVO reported, the board was looking at reducing the number of FFA classes offered in the district in order to cut the budget.

However, Monday night's board meeting proved that the community cares about agriculture education in Iowa, as parents and community members came out in force to support the program.

"Having over 80 people come out to the meeting last night was really a truly humbling experience for me," said Pat Powers, FFA teacher at EBF High School. "Plus listening to those kids talk about how well they've done after they've graduated from here due to the skills they learned in the program made me feel very, very good."

Powers said the school board had already decided to take the planned cuts to the FFA program off the table at the start of the meeting, but still agreed to listen to all the speakers who had turned up to voice their opinion. Although those cuts will have to be found elsewhere, the board did not discuss where they intended to look next.

Cargill and John Deere both submitted letters of recommendation expressing how important the FFA program is for training students who later become employees.