Florida FFA Helps Prepare Students for Bright Futures
In partnership with: Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
Agricultural education is a natural gateway to a career in Florida’s thriving agriculture industry, and thanks to FFA (formerly known as Future Farmers of America), agricultural education is more accessible than ever to students.
Representing FFA at the state level, the Florida FFA Association serves nearly 30,000 middle and high school students from more than 300 local FFA chapters. FFA’s three-pronged approach, which includes classroom instruction, supervised agricultural experience and life skills, helps prepare members to take on careers in business, communications, marketing, forestry, science, horticulture and natural resources.
See more: Big-City Students Receive Top-Level Agricultural Education in Florida Schools
Competitions Lead to Opportunity
The organization also gives members opportunities to compete in career and leadership development events that put their critical thinking and teamwork skills to the test with events like agricultural sales, livestock evaluation and parliamentary procedure.
For Riley Rowe, a former member of the Belleview High School Sr. FFA in Marion County, those kinds of events helped propel her into her most exciting role within FFA to date: 2020-21 Florida FFA state president.
“I grew up on a cattle ranch, so my background is in production agriculture, but I knew I wanted to explore additional parts of ag during my time in FFA,” says Rowe, who also served as the Florida FFA’s District V president in 2018-19. “Because of that, I made sure to compete in a variety of Career and Leadership Development Events, including Prepared Public Speaking, Extemporaneous Public Speaking, Food Science and Nursery Landscape Management. Those contests helped mold me and gave me the confidence to pursue leadership roles within my chapter and beyond.”
Rowe plans to earn an associate degree at Santa Fe College in Gainesville before transferring to the University of Florida to work toward a bachelor’s degree in agricultural education and communication with a specialization in communication and leadership development. After graduation, her goal is to work in public relations for an agriculture company.
“FFA is a very comprehensive program with so many opportunities that combine agriculture and leadership, and there’s just nothing else quite like it,” Rowe says. “It’s a student-led organization that can do so much for you, even if you don’t want to work in agriculture. You can improve your communication skills, grow as a leader and develop long-lasting relationships – just by joining FFA and participating in the events that appeal to you.”
Start a Chapter
Ready to begin your FFA journey but don’t have a chapter at your school? Head to flaffa.org/starting-a-ffa-chapter to find out how to start an agricultural education program and charter an FFA chapter.