What is FFA?
FFA: The Future of Agriculture
The official name of the organization is the National FFA Organization.
The letters “FFA” once stood for Future Farmers of America, but FFA is not just for students who want to be production farmers. FFA members are future teachers, doctors, scientists, business owners, and more. Today, the National FFA Organization remains committed to the individual student, providing a path to achievement in premier leadership, personal growth and career success through agricultural education.
FFA continues to help the next generation rise up to meet those challenges by helping its members develop their own unique talents and explore their interests in a broad range of agricultural career pathways. So today, we are still the Future Farmers of America, but, we are the Future Biologists, Future Chemists, Future Veterinarians, Future Engineers and Future Entrepreneurs of America, too.
FFA is a dynamic youth organization that changes lives and prepares members for premier leadership, personal growth and career success through agricultural education.
FFA develops members’ potential and helps them discover their talent through hands-on experiences, which give members the tools to achieve real-world success.
Members are future chemists, veterinarians, government officials, entrepreneurs, bankers, international business leaders, teachers and premier professionals in many career fields.
FFA History
The original inspiration for the organization began after the Smith-Hughes National Vocational Education Act of 1917 established vocational agriculture courses. Virginia’s Future Farmers clubs for boys in agriculture led to the establishment of a national organization, The Future Farmers of America, at the Hotel Baltimore in Kansas City, Missouri in 1928. The FFA was granted a federal charter in 1950 when Congress passed Public Law 740. In 1965 the organization consolidated with the New Farmers of America, the organization for black agricultural students. Girls were permitted to join as members in 1969. In 1988, the official name of the organization was changed from the Future Farmers of America to the National FFA Organization.
The FFA is structured on the local, state and national levels. The National FFA Organization is led by a board of directors and six student national officers. Delegates representing the state associations vote on recommendations and policy issues at the national convention. National FFA staff members carry through the policies and provide programs and services while the national officers represent the members and guide the organization.
In 1928, 33 students from 18 states gathered in Kansas City, MO to form the Future Farmers of America.
