Whew. Turns Out the FFA is Still Very Much Into Farming

Posted byVirtual FarmgirlPosted inUncategorized

Good news 4-H Champ and anyone who was surprised by the FFAers who told my future farming kin in Indy last week that the FFA wasn’t about farming anymore and instead was about business (not even agri-business).

Why would an FFA member deny farming and not even talk about agriculture to a group of would-be FFAers?

Julie Adams, FFA’s national spokeswoman, has a few answers (though none of them really addressed why FFA members wouldn’t more clearly be able to articulate the ag-connection).

First, she notes in a message to VFG that FFA isn’t an extra-curricular activity or club. Indeed, FFA is intra-curricular, which means that as a core requirement, members need to be enrolled in agriculture courses to be involved.

I had asked if one of the reasons for the answer might be that FFA was more focused on youth development, than agricultural education.

Julie says: “[T]he short answer to your question is that no, FFA is not shifting its focus toward general business and youth development.”

Like many farmers and folks in the ag industry, the FFA is faced with a common misperception of the word agriculture.

“We believe Agriculture in its largest sense encompasses production farming, biotechnology, food and commodity processing, marketing, and multiple other careers in the science, business and technology of agriculture,” she says. “We all realize that we stand on the shoulders of those men and women who work the land, enabling Americans to enjoy the safest, most abundant and most affordable food supply in the world.”

And here’s something that Julie said that I believe too, that “by educating young people and adults alike – by opening their eyes to all the ways agriculture touches their lives – we help instill in them respect for those who produce the food, fiber and natural resources that fuel our nation.”

Sound familiar? I think I may have said something like that a few times here.

So anyway. The long and the short of it is this.

Is the FFA still into farming?

“Yes,” says Julie. “FFA will continue to recognize an American Star Farmer every year, along with American Stars in Agriscience, Agribusiness and Agricultural Placement. We will continue to confer more than 3,000 American FFA Degrees to the best and brightest of our members each year.”

Published by Virtual Farmgirl

Virtual Farmgirl is a communications professional with a dream of one day becoming a real farmgirl.

6 thoughts on “Whew. Turns Out the FFA is Still Very Much Into Farming”

  1. What a wonderful response from Julie.Perhaps I asked the FFAers that came to Indy just for the shopping and flirting.All ready for fun just forget the farming!I wish I could go back again and ask some others…But I just could not risk another rotten response.Thanks VFG.i farmer twin found another FARM Bloomington connection. She has called once and written twice and is having trouble making connections.Max Lemely was a mentor to the Chef at Farm Bloomington.. and sells his BBQ sauce.

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  3. 4H Champ:It is unfortunate that you received this response. Please don’t let one wrong answer sour you on a great organization and event. The National FFA Convention is a great highlight of my year each and every year, thanks mostly to the wonderful students I get to meet and speak with each time around. I always leave feeling refreshed and revitalized, and with the feeling that the future of American Agriculture is in good hands.

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  4. What a wonderful response from Julie.Perhaps I asked the FFAers that came to Indy just for the shopping and flirting.All ready for fun just forget the farming!I wish I could go back again and ask some others…But I just could not risk another rotten response.Thanks VFG.i farmer twin found another FARM Bloomington connection. She has called once and written twice and is having trouble making connections.Max Lemely was a mentor to the Chef at Farm Bloomington.. and sells his BBQ sauce.

    Like

    Reply

  6. 4H Champ:It is unfortunate that you received this response. Please don’t let one wrong answer sour you on a great organization and event. The National FFA Convention is a great highlight of my year each and every year, thanks mostly to the wonderful students I get to meet and speak with each time around. I always leave feeling refreshed and revitalized, and with the feeling that the future of American Agriculture is in good hands.

    Like

    Reply

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