Rooted in tradition, FFA is focused on growing future

The blue jacket isn’t just something I talk about. It’s something I’ve lived.

Long before I ever held a microphone, I zipped up that blue corduroy jacket as a high school FFA member — just as my sister, my dad and my grandpa had before me. I stayed involved as a collegiate FFA member at Western Illinois University while studying agriculture education.

Although I chose another career path, I student taught alongside one of the best ag teachers in the country, learning from Mr. Craft as he educated his students through classroom and shop instruction and advised them through FFA.

Early in my career in farm broadcasting I served on the Illinois FFA Alumni board. Today I have the privilege of serving on the Missouri FFA Foundation.

Along the way, through years of covering agriculture as an ag journalist, working on our farm and working alongside some of the best people you’ll ever meet, I’ve been humbled to receive Honorary State FFA Degrees in both Illinois and Missouri.

My Honorary American FFA Degree hangs on the wall in my office — not as decoration, but as a reminder.

FFA has never just been an organization to me. It has been part of my story.

When the National FFA Organization started back in 1928 as Future Farmers of America, the mission was simple: prepare young men for production agriculture.

At the time, that made perfect sense. Most members came from farms and most planned to return to them.

But FFA didn’t stay frozen in 1928. It grew, because agriculture didn’t stay there either.

Back when I wore that jacket under the guidance of my adviser, Mr. Goetze, agriculture already meant more than crops and cattle. But today? It’s an entire world of opportunity.

Today’s FFA members still raise livestock and grow crops — but they also study biotechnology, explore soil health, design precision ag technology, pursue careers in communications and advocate for the future of food and natural resources.

The jacket still represents agriculture. But agriculture looks different now. And so do the students wearing it.

Evolution has not weakened FFA. It has strengthened it. Agriculture today needs more than producers.

It needs innovators. Storytellers. Scientists. Leaders. People who can connect the dots between tradition and tomorrow.

FFA has become a place where students don’t just learn where food comes from — they learn where they fit in the future of the industry that feeds, fuels and clothes the world.

And yet some things haven’t changed at all. The blue jacket still builds confidence. The creed still challenges young people to believe in something bigger than themselves.

The experience still shapes lives long after the competitions, meetings and conventions are over. I know that firsthand.

From my days as a student member with Mr. Goetze as my adviser to my involvement today, FFA has been a constant thread, reminding me that leadership, service and community matter.

FFA has come a long way since its beginnings as Future Farmers of America. And I am so deeply grateful that it continues to grow while staying rooted in the values that made it matter in the first place.