Agricultural Education

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Classroom / Laboratory Instruction

One part of Agricultural Education is the classroom, greenhouse, agricultural mechanics shop, or other laboratory. Here you will learn from the agriculture instructor. Some of the time you spend in the agricultural class will be similar to other classes. At other times the class will be much more hands-on and tied to real world learning opportunities. You will find lots of exciting chances to have fun, get your hands dirty, and learn about agriculture. Remember agriculture is more than cows and plows. Agriculture is also about technology, science and business and real world applications and problems.

EDUCATION

More than 11,000 FFA advisors and agriculture teachers deliver an integrated model of agricultural education providing students with innovative and leading edge curriculum to learn, lead and succeed.

v      92% offer agriscience

v      71% offer advanced agriscience and biotechnology

v      59% offer agricultural mechanics

v      49% offer horticulture

v      43% offer animal science

v      24% offer environment-related

v      In 2001, 59% of qualified agricultural education graduates pursued teaching, 35 agriculture programs closed due to lack of qualified teachers and 365 agriculture teachers teach in more than one school

v      23% of teachers have five or fewer years of teaching experience

AVERAGE ANNUAL EMPLOYMENT NUMBERS OF COLLEGE GRADS

v      Marketing, Merchandising, and Sales Representatives - 14353

v      Scientists, Engineers, and Related Specialists – 13,922

v      Managers and Financial Specialists – 5,613

v      Communication and Education Specialists – 5,295

v      Social Service Professionals – 4,862

v      Agricultural Production Specialists – 3,873

FFA

FFA is the organization for students who are studying agriculture. There are numerous agricultural areas of interest and study, and they are all part of FFA. In FFA you will practice what you are learning in real-life situations. Through these experiences, you will learn leadership skills, prepare for career success and experience personal growth. FFA is about service, leadership, and opportunity. Students can approach many avenues of interest which may lead to many rewarding experiences and success. The FFA organization provides opportunities for students on a local, regional, state, national and global level.

MEMBERSHIP

v      Today, there are 506,000 FFA members, aged 12-21 in 7,210 chapters in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

v      38% of FFA members are female and women hold more than 50% of state leadership positions throughout the nation

v      89% of FFA members are in grades 9-12; 6% are in grades 7-8; 5% are high school graduates

v      27% of FFA members live in rural, farm areas; the remainder live in rural non-farm (39%, urban and suburban areas (34%)

INDUSTRY SUPPORT

Agriculture is the nation’s largest employer, with more than 24 million people working in some phase.

v      FFA prepares members for more than 300 careers in the science, business and technology of agriculture.

v      National FFA Foundation has raised more than $144 million for the National FFA Organization since 1944

v      2,000 sponsors provided more than $10.5 million for FFA and agriculture programs and activities in 2005

v      FFA scholarships have awarded more than $24 million to students pursuing higher education

v      More than 1,500 students of agricultural education benefited from FFA Scholarships in 2005

v      The FFA National Agricultural Career Show covers 300,000 square feet and attracts more than 300 exhibitors

Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE)

When students take part in their SAE projects it is their chance to work on real-life problems and experience real-life opportunities in a hand-on situation. Students may choose to work with an SAE in an entrepreneurial, placement, home improvement, research, service-based, or exploratory fashion. This is your chance to earn income which can build capital and equity for extended opportunities in the future. The SAE is an integral part of the Agricultural Education system and is essential in providing life long learning skills as well as problem-solving and motivational learning activities.

CAREER EXPLORATION

FFA classroom activities include math and science as well as hands-on work experience and the development of life skills helping students to discover their career path and realize success.

v      Collectively, FFA members earn more than $4 billion annually through their hands-on work experience

v      Members participate and learn advanced career skills in 51 national proficiency areas based on their hands-on work experience ranging from food science and technology to agricultural communications to wildlife management to production agriculture

v      According to the student magazine readership study, 87% of our students are interested in learning about career exploration, 81% about college preparation and 81% about technology

v      Through 23 national career development events and one activity, FFA members are challenged to real-life, hands on tests of skills used to prepare them for more than 300 agricultural careers

GENERAL AGRICULTURAL FACTS

v      Agriculture is the nation’s largest employer with 22 million people working in some phase – from growing food and fiber to selling it in the supermarket

v      There are 2.19 million farms in the US and 165,102 of those are operated by women

v      Individuals, family partnerships or family corporations of 10 or less stockholders own 99% of the US farms

v      Americans spend 10.9% of there income on food compared to India @ 51.3%, Mexico @ 24.5%, Japan @ 17.5% and Italy @ 17.2%

v      It takes the average American 40 days to earn enough money to pay for their annual food supply compared to 124 days to earn enough money to pay for their federal, state and local taxes for the year

v      The US is the world’s leading exporter of food to the world with $49.1 billion worth of agricultural products annually

v      Farm receipts total $208.2 billion each year

v      The American farmer gains 20¢ of every dollar in agricultural products sold

·         39¢ goes to labor

·         6¢ goes for taxes and interest

·         8.5¢ goes to packaging

·         26.5¢ goes to fuel, electricity, transportation, and advertising

All information gathered from the American Farm Bureau Federation, "Farm Facts" booklet, updated 2000.

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