National FFA breaks record, reaches over 1 million members

JACKSON, Tenn. — A record has been broken for a well known organization, impacting students and the future of the nation.

“FFA was formerly known as the Future Farmers of America. We’re a national organization, but we’re school based. So unlike 4-H, 4-H is a club, FFA is intercurricular. So we are in the classrooms. We have teachers across the country that teach agricultural education and natural resources across the country,” said Molly Ball, president of the National FFA Foundation.

FFA has been around for almost a century and has continued to grow, impacting the lives of young people and their community.

Now, a new generation is rising up and learning what it means to be a leader among so many other skills. In fact, FFA has now broken a record with over 1 million members, and included in that growth is 1,000 students that were new additions in Tennessee.

So what does it look like for students who participates? Ball shares some examples.

“A student would pick an opportunity within agriculture, small animal husbandry, working in the tractor supply company store down the street, and utilize that as their work based learning programs so that they can, you know, keep an accurate record of their of their work, and then they would, you know, apply for different opportunities to be rewarded for that. So state degrees, American degrees, that sort of thing,” said Ball.

For those that may not want to go directly into farming, there additional avenues you can take.

“If you want to go into, you know, medicine, or if you want to go into the sciences or technology or engineering, we need those students in all of these industries,” said Ball.

Ball also shared they are looking forward to their annual FFA convention coming up at the end of October, where they will bring in about 70-thousand young people, sponsors and teachers to Indianapolis, Indiana.

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