When entering Yutan High School, students are offered a countless amount of activities to be involved in, like sports, speech, student council, mentoring and more. One activity that isn’t offered at Yutan, however, is FFA, even though 209 Nebraska schools offer it. In today’s society, at least a basic understanding of agriculture should be taught, as fewer and fewer people are directly involved in producing agricultural products but all still need to know how products they consume every day are produced. I was lucky enough to be able to participate in FFA through a neighboring school, where I learned so much about agriculture, and because of all the positives I experienced, I believe that FFA should be offered in every single school.

Since my family has been raising livestock my whole life, taking agriculture classes in high school was something that I always looked forward to, but I was disappointed that Yutan didn’t offer them. Luckily, my mom was a big advocate to get me involved in an FFA program at Mead Public Schools, the nearest school that offered agriculture classes. She was constantly emailing back and forth between Mead and Yutan, but nothing ended up working into my freshman year schedule. When the opportunity arose my sophomore year to join FFA and fit it into my schedule, I was excited to finally be involved with agriculture at an academic level.

In order to be part of FFA, otherwise known as the National FFA Organization, my daily schedule had to change slightly, as I had to leave classes early or arrive late at Yutan so that I could drive to and from Mead every day. At Mead, I have been able to take a variety of classes that have taught me about a variety of agricultural subjects. My sophomore year, I took Introduction to Agriculture, where I learned a basic knowledge of many different aspects of agriculture, like livestock, plants, welding and woodworking. My junior year, I took Plant Science, where I was mainly in our greenhouse the whole year, and we got to learn how to nurture various plants. This year, I am a teacher’s assistant since no other classes worked in my schedule, but I have been able to help my advisor with grading assignments while still being able to compete in contests and apply for state awards. 

Throughout all of these years, I have gained so many benefits from FFA. Firstly, FFA has enabled both my classmates and me to gain knowledge through the classes that I’ve taken. While FFA may not be everyone’s top priority, it is very important to gain basic knowledge about agriculture, especially if a student isn’t born and raised on an agricultural operation like me. As the world continues to grow and change, fewer and fewer people actually know how food gets to their tables. This is because fewer people are directly involved in agriculture, as family farm production is decreasing about 4 percent each year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Agriculture is also the backbone in powering and providing for many other industries, like the healthcare industry, the drug and cosmetic industry and the manufacturing industry, which many people don’t know. So even if students don’t plan on an ag career, the knowledge gained can be applied to so many things in their everyday lives. 

FFA also enables me to take part in a variety of contests that aren’t offered through other organizations. Some of the contests I excelled at the most were land judging, livestock judging, agricultural communications and extemporaneous speaking. Some of these contests involve evaluating physical products, like livestock or land, but other competitions are based more on speaking and presenting. These contests have not only increased my confidence level, but they have also given me opportunities to network and socialize with people in the agriculture industry, which is something that can set me apart from competitors in my future career.

Another reason FFA is so important to me is that it allows me to hold high leadership positions. Through FFA, I have been both Secretary and Vice President of the chapter, allowing me to help lead meetings and decide on chapter business. In the future, I will be able to use the decision-making and communication skills I developed to lead a future group, and these leadership skills may be different from other organizations where leadership positions are held.

All of these are reasons I believe agriculture classes should be offered in every single school. This doesn’t mean that students need to go to every contest and convention that FFA offers, but it does mean that all students should have a basic understanding of the agriculture industry. The way this works at Mead, where I am involved in FFA, is that all freshmen are required to take an agriculture class, but then they are able to decide whether to stay in FFA after that. Even when presented with this decision, many students have decided to keep taking FFA classes even if they aren’t involved in agriculture at home because they have enjoyed the classes and competitions so much.

One thing that might hold schools like Yutan back is the cost and availability of a teacher, but there are many solutions to this problem that could be implemented. One way that this could be possible is to have an FFA teacher also teach woods and welding classes, which could decrease the amount of money the school needs to pay for salaries. Another way that this could be made possible is that the shop could be used as both an agricultural classroom and woods and welding workshop, so add-ons to the building wouldn’t be needed. If neither of these solutions would work, the school could also make a more formal agreement with Mead so that more Yutan students have the opportunity to be involved in an FFA program. 

All in all, I know how much I have benefitted from being part of FFA, and all students should be given that same opportunity. Implementing FFA in all schools will pay off in the future if all students are able to learn about agriculture. In a world where fewer families are directly involved in agriculture, everyone should be involved in learning and appreciating what agriculture brings to the table, where so many individual skills can be developed as well.