FFA: a key component of ag education

Feb. 23—NEZPERCE — Small, rural school districts often have trouble offering the broad range of educational options students might need to go beyond high school. But at Nezperce High School, Future Farmers of America — widely known as FFA — provides opportunities that reach far past the Camas Prairie.

"A lot of people think it's a club — it's really not," said Kyle Stapleton, the agriculture, science and technology teacher who heads the FFA program at Nezperce.

"It's intracurricular; that integral component to agriculture education," he said. "The opportunity that kids get through FFA is just, I mean, the sky's the limit. Students that go through FFA seem to do very well in the post-secondary education (world) because of the things they learn."

At Nezperce High School getting students to join FFA is not a hard sell. Of the 46 students enrolled at the school, 38 are in FFA. Of that, Stapleton said, 20 to 24 are active in the program that includes classroom activities, group meetings and supervised agricultural experiences, such as raising an animal for the county fair or helping out at an agriculture-related business in the community.

FFA is a youth leadership organization for students studying agriculture, food and natural resources. Through the program students have opportunities for leadership training, personal growth and career success in fields from production agriculture to education, business, science, medicine and other fields.

"Honestly, I think every school should have an ag program," Stapleton said. "The biggest thing is, people hear 'ag' and they think, 'Oh, it's cows and plows.' We aren't cows and plows anymore. There's so much leadership development involved in it; it's student development, not just the dirty soils and cows and plows and pigs."

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According to the Idaho FFA website, the state organization was chartered in September 1929. The first chapter was founded in Malad, Idaho, and 10 FFA members received their Idaho State FFA degree the first year it was issued in 1930.

Today Idaho has 100 FFA chapters and 6,150 members. In 2023, 276 members received their state FFA degree.

In northern Idaho there are FFA chapters from Grangeville to the Canadian border, including chapters in Craigmont, Kooskia, Lapwai, Culdesac, Genesee, Kendrick, Troy, Deary, Moscow and Potlatch.

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Erica Zenner, 18, has been an FFA member since she was in seventh grade. Her projects mainly involve raising swine, studying meats and soils.

"FFA has helped me get over my fears of being around a lot of people," Zenner said of the main benefits she finds in belonging to the organization.

"And I've made a lot of friends and there've been a lot of good experiences," she said.

Zenner said she plans to attend Lewis-Clark State College after graduating from Nezperce this spring and study business administration. Her experiences in FFA, she said, have "shown me a lot of different options and how ag is in a lot of different things. Just being able to look at different types of careers and see what I'm interested in and what I definitely don't want to do."

Nicholas Kirkland, 18, recently won first place in the regional FFA Farm Bureau discussion and third place at the state competition. He has been an FFA member for five years.

The topic to discuss was how to protect Idaho's prime agriculture land in light of the fast-growing population.

"I decided that our best opportunity would be to try and put our lands in 5- to 10-year trusts for that," Kirkland said. "So that the future generations can still pull out if they want to, or they can keep it in the trust, along with keeping direct farm laws active and keep reinforcing those laws as the new generations come up."

Competitions such as the FFA Farm Bureau discussion, Kirkland said, have been a drawing aspect for him as an FFA member.

"It definitely broadens your experience," he said. "It gives you access to people you might not meet otherwise."

Kirkland said he plans to study mechanical engineering after graduation.

Seventeen-year-old Aidan McLeod is the FFA chapter president at Nezperce. This is his third year in the organization and he, also, placed third at the regional FFA Farm Bureau discussion contest, arguing that the best way to preserve Idaho's agricultural land was to "lower taxes. Because it's real expensive right now, with property tax."

As president of the chapter, McLeod leads meetings and helps organize events, such as next week's Spirit Week celebrating FFA. Students will have dress-up days, games and competitions and serve an appreciation breakfast for the community next Friday.

"Everyone's really involved and we do other things that, maybe, other chapters don't get to do," McLeod said. Although his future plans aren't set yet, he's thinking of taking over the family farm once he's out of school.

Stapleton said one of the advantages of having an FFA chapter in Lewis County is that the community is highly supportive of the program, including buying project animals at the annual county fair and attending other FFA-sponsored events, such as the plant sale at the end of the school year. Those projects help raise money to fund the chapter's activities, such as attending the national convention, which several members went to in Indianapolis last fall.

"That gave them a good opportunity to be around 72,000 FFA members from across the country," Stapleton said. "It's an incredible sight to see 72,000 FFA members and the workshops that they receive. The additional education that they're going to get going to conventions, it just provides them a great opportunity to learn about every aspect that school teaches them as well."

Hedberg may be contacted at khedberg@lmtribune.com.