Young leaders share insight on Farm Bill with USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack
Indianapolis (PRWEB) January 19, 2012
It was a challenge that the national FFA officer team for 2010-11 took seriously. The students immediately began work- framing key questions, consulting FFA members, engaging leaders in agriculture, compiling input and formulating recommendations.
“Never before had we been invited to submit direct input to the Secretary of Agriculture that could enhance the ability of agricultural education and FFA to help students succeed and strengthen American agriculture,” said Riley Pagett, national FFA President, 2010-11. “We were honored to be invited to be a part of this process.”
In December 2011, the 2010-11 national officer team met with Sec. Vilsack to share their recommendations which fell under four main categories. Those are: Getting started in production agriculture; creating vibrant rural communities; who should care about agriculture and why; planning for the future.
Items that were recommended were as follows: USDA and other agencies should encourage and assist beginning farmers to start or continue in production agriculture; USDA should help transition farms from older related and non-related farmers to younger of beginner farmers who may not come from a farm; USDA should help keep young people in rural communities and make rural communities an even more important part of our nation’s economy and society; USDA should support efforts to increase the public’s knowledge of agricultural literacy; USDA should strengthen the capacity of agricultural education o produce more students that pursue production agriculture and other agriculturally related careers and the USDA should provide authority, responsibility and support for school-based agricultural education and FFA.
“We believe it is in the best interest of the nation for the department of agriculture to affirm its commitment to develop strong, experience leadership for agricultural education,” Kent Schescke, director of strategic partnerships, said. “FFA is prepared to assist in every way possible to this end. We believe with the significant challenges facing American and global systems of agriculture an investment must be made and we believe the farm bill provides the department an opportunity to demonstrate it believes in the future of agriculture.”
The full response to the secretary’s challenge can be found by visiting https://www.ffa.org/documents/learn/120112_secretary_challenge.pdf
Formerly known as Future Farmers of America, the National FFA Organization provides agricultural education to 540,379 student members in grades seven through 12 who belong to one of 7,489 local FFA chapters throughout the U.S., Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.
About National FFA Organization
The National FFA Organization, formerly known as Future Farmers of America, is a national youth organization of 540,379 student members as part of 7,489 local FFA chapters in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. The FFA mission is to make a positive difference in the lives of students by developing their potential for premier leadership, personal growth and career success through agricultural education. The National FFA Organization operates under a federal charter granted by the 81st United States Congress and it is an integral part of public instruction in agriculture. The U.S. Department of Education provides leadership and helps set direction for FFA as a service to state and local agricultural education programs. For more, visit the National FFA Organization online (http://www.FFA.org), on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/nationalFFA), on Twitter (http://twitter.com/nationalFFA) and FFA Nation (http://FFAnation.FFA.org).
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Kristy Meyer
National FFA Organization
(317) 802-4205
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