Fair Grove FFA Takes It All The Way

Every year Missouri has the FFA (Future Farmers of America) state convention in Columbia, Missouri, where FFA students can compete in many different agricultural events in order to win awards for themselves and their FFA chapter. 

Some of the categories that students can compete in are dairy foods, dairy cattle, FFA knowledge, livestock judging, meats, and different public speaking events. Some students even have agricultural experience projects that they have maintained throughout their FFA careers that can win them awards. 

Just like going to state in any other extra curricular activity, it takes a lot of time and effort for the FFA members to get this opportunity. One of the FFA advisors and agriculture teachers Cole Johnston explained, “With our Leadership Development events, students have to qualify at both the Area FFA and District FFA levels before going to state. With our Career Development events we have multiple contests hosted by different chapters in our area, and then we have to qualify at our district level to move on to state. We typically start preparing students in January when we come back from Christmas break.”

Once the students do qualify for state, the work doesn’t stop there. FFA member Hannah Morris (11) revealed, “We are preparing for state by not only going to several different contests, but also practicing during 5th hour everyday and practicing Wednesday nights from 6-8:30 pm. We have also traveled to several different livestock operations on Saturdays and judged there, which has also really made a difference!”

After state, students can continue to advance to nationals. Morris is confident that could happen for her and her livestock judging team this year. Morris shared, “I think our livestock judging team will do very well. We have been working at this for a long time now with going to the OSU livestock judging camp this summer and countless practices, so our goal is to win state and advance to nationals in November!”

Overall, FFA state is an experience that is not only beneficial to the students, but also something they enjoy. Morris expressed, “I am definitely just excited to see some high quality livestock, stay the night with my team, have fun, and hopefully win.” Johnston added, “From my own experiences as an FFA member in Oklahoma, I loved the State Convention. It was always a fun time where we could connect with fellow FFA members from across the state and learn about leadership, work ethic, and future career paths. It was also a great time to interact with adults within the agriculture industry and colleges across the state.”

The FFA students and advisors will be going to the state convention on April 22nd where they will compete and try to advance to nationals.