I created “The Profitable SAE Student Workbook” to help FFA Advisors teach marketing methods to their students and to help FFA Students succeed in their entrepreneurship SAE’s. I hope you find this product as beneficial as all of the interviews I conducted to create it were to me!

OFI 108: Defend The FFA | Editorial Comment On Attack Of A Premier Group Of Incredible Students

A recent article by a PETA activist tried to paint FFA students in a bad light because of the author and organization’s views on animal rights.  This has caused a massive stir in the agricultural community, with many coming to the defense of the FFA.

I want to be another one of those voices defending the FFA.  Why do I want to be this voice?  Too often the loudest voice is the one that gets heard.  Activists are experts at being the loudest voice.  Those of us in agriculture are too busy being productive to concentrate on using tactics to push an agenda.

I have found myself in a position of being a voice for agriculture.  It is my responsibility to address this.  Those of you who are regular listeners know that I spent 15 years as a police officer.  This is a strong motivator for me for two reasons.

First I spent 15 years trying to be the person who defended the innocent.  Junior High and High School students who have chosen to be leaders by joining the FFA are definitely the innocents here.

Second, as a former police officer I am no stranger to having a group with an agenda use one “bad apple” to make the entire industry look bad.  This happens every time a police officer does something wrong.  Some of the pictures in the article and other pictures and videos used by PETA and their activists are used to further their agenda by doing this same thing.  One bad apple in a huge industry is mis-represented to try and paint the entire industry out as bad.

PETA and animal rights activists will never be appeased.  It really comes down to a fundamental belief – you either believe that humans are the top of the food chain and responsible use and management of animals is appropriate, necessary and moral or you don’t.  They use the worst video and photographs that they can obtain.  But it does not matter what lengths we go to please them, they will not be satisfied until animal agriculture is completely gone.

So, I want to be voice that tells our nation’s young, agricultural people that they are doing something good, great in fact.  I want to make sure to let you all know to keep your heads down, keep working and pursuing your dreams.

Groups like PETA have become a bigger obstacle than just the mere distraction that they once were.  But they are still just an obstacle.  Nobody understands overcoming obstacles better than those of us in agriculture

The rest of this episode is going to be devoted to the positive.  I want to illustrate just how fantastic FFA students and advisors are.

On March 25th of 2015 I started profiling the FFA and FFA students on this show.  This was by far the best decision I made for this program.  Since then there have been 45 episodes devoted to the FFA and 43 interviews with individual FFA students have been published.  Many more interviews have been conducted and are waiting to be published.

These are the most phenomenal and impressive students in our entire country.  As a group, nobody is accomplishing what the FFA does.  The FFA and its advisors in schools across our country are producing something tangible.  They are adding to our GDP.

I know this just based on the number of successful high school entrepreneurs I have interviewed.  They are developing leaders.  They are teaching students to be self-sufficient.  They are producing food.  They are helping communities.  They are driving innovation.

I have been so personally inspired by my interviews with these students that I have found myself reflecting upon what these high school students are accomplishing for days after an interview.  What you don’t hear as listeners is the conversation I have with these students when the interview has been completed.  These kids are so far ahead of where I was when I was their age.  It is so exciting to to engage with these young men and women and hear where their lives are taking them.  These are our best and brightest, and I catch myself talking about them all the time.

In episode #43 I was privileged enough to interview Megan Trantham.  She started her own feed business, servicing five states, renting her own warehouse and purchasing a forklift with her profits.  I tell her story all of the time.  I am proud to be part of her phenomenal journey.

I was able to speak with Xavier Morgan in episode #80.  This young man was born in Atlanta and later moved to Chicago.  He got exposed to the FFA through an agriculturally based high school in Chicago and is now one of the strongest advocates of agriculture in our country.  He developed “The FFA Scrapbook” which has almost 30,000 followers.  I have told his story to many people outside the parameters of my podcast.  Just wanting to brag about him and what he did.

The Pillars of the FFA were brought into question in this article.  I went through these in the perspective of the interviews that I have conducted.

Develop my potential for premier leadership, personal growth, and career success.

I have interviewed students who are so far ahead on this pillar.  They have not only developed their own businesses, but they are growing, processing and marketing their own products.  Just check out Andrew Swafford from episode #78 and Kaitlyn Elliot from episode #104.  Both of these students have completely vertically integrated businesses already!

Make a positive difference in the lives of others.

Oh my goodness, where do I begin?  The Kotarski brothers from episode #74, helping other people be able to farm and both of them looking forward to careers of public service.  Charles McDaniel, whose episode I have not even aired yet started a landscaping business when he was 14, and was hiring employees when he was 16.

Dress neatly and appropriately for the occasion.

I include a “featured photograph” of every one of my guests on the podcast just to demonstrate this.  Each of them in their blue, FFA jackets showing the world that they are professional and know how represent their organization.

Respect the rights of others and their property.

I have interviewed numerous FFA students who have taken jobs working on other peoples farms, only to be come the #1 go to person that makes the farm successful.  These students are meeting and exceeding the expectations of the people that hired them.

Cole Guerrant in episode #39 is absolutely the most important cog in the wheel of the vineyard that he works on.  Claire Shane in episode #63 has become the go to person on the alpaca farm that she works at.  She cares for the animals there as if they were her own

Be courteous, honest, and fair with others.

These students epitomize this value.  Hunter Pinke talks about these values when discussing his family’s business in episode #29.  He sells lumber at his family’s lumber yard, and emphasizes honesty and courtesy in making sales.

Communicate in an appropriate, purposeful, and positive manner.

I have had so many students on this show who are incredibly confident and articulate speakers.  Students who give presentations as part of their businesses like Kaitlyn Elliot from episode #104.  Students who write media releases like Bailey Silveira from episode #102.  Students maintaining their own blogs like Ross Cady from episode #27, who has been recognized such a good communicator that adults are now seeking him out to create their websites.

Demonstrate good sportsmanship by being modest in winning and generous in defeat.

So many of the students that I have interviewed have won prestigious awards, either at the national FFA convention, from their state organizations or from national FFA.

Davis Fenster from episode #100 and Sydney Fowble from episode #106 both were awarded $1,000 grants from national FFA in 2015.  They were one of 143 winners out of thousands of applicants.  Never in their interviews are they braggadocios or arrogant.  They are focused on gratitude and positive forward movement.

Make myself aware of FFA programs and activities and be an active participant.

I was amazed in episode #49 when I interviewed Adam Drake by the amount of knowledge and passion that he had about FFA.  He is striving to be an FFA advisor in the future, and knows the programs and activities backwards and forwards.

Conduct and value a supervised agricultural experience program.

What can I say here.  This is what our FFA episodes are all about!  In 43 plus interviews I have been offered an inside look at what an SAE is, why students do them and what they get out of them.  Where else in high school, anywhere in the United States, do we see a combining of theory and practical application like this?

Strive to establish and enhance my skills through agricultural education in order to enter a successful career.

So many of these students are already translating what they are learning in FFA into skills that will make them successful as entrepreneurs or otherwise.  Public speaking, marketing, leadership, service, they have it all.

Appreciate and promote diversity in our organization.

I have had the privilege of interviewing students who come from the inner city, kids who found a way to raise animals while living in an apartment, kids who have always known they want to farm, kids who had their lives changed by being introduced to agriculture.  With over 600,000 members in almost 8,000 chapters nationwide there is no more diverse organization in the United States.

All of these chapters get together at the national convention every year, coming from the four corners of our nation, the Heartland, Alaska, Hawaii and United States Territories.  What incredible exposure to cultural, racial and economic differences!

There is absolutely no brighter spot for young people in America than the FFA.  These students are leaders, they stand out and they are what makes America work.  

I hope you will join me in standing behind them, propping them up and supporting their mission.  

What will you do to support these wonderful students and this great organization?

LINKS TO ARTICLES DEFENDING THE FFA FROM THIS LATEST ATTACK:

How “the article” got it all wrong – Brilliantly Bold

PETA activist blasts FFA members – Beef Magazine

Setting PETA Straight about FFA and Our Youth in Agriculture – NorthernAg.net

FFA LINKS:

National FFA Organization Supervised Agricultural Experiences (SAE’s) Support FFA  Donate to FFA – One way that FFA students are able to start small businesses is through an FFA grant of $1,000.  In 2014, 141 FFA students received these grants.  With your donations, more students can get this head start – pay it forward.

REASONS TO DONATE TO FFA:

• Only 2% of Americans grow and raise most of the food and livestock consumed by the other 98% as well as the rest of the world.  FFA is providing the needed education, training and resources to Americans that will carry that torch forward and insure that America continues to have inexpensive, quality food.
• Rural Communities will rely on entrepreneurship in the future for population growth and job creation.  The FFA is a major catalyst to that entrepreneurial growth.
• Farmers, ranchers and those working in agriculture give the rest of America incredible amounts of freedom because the search for food is as simple as going to the grocery store:

“Because American farmers are able to provide for so many of us, they give more and more of us the freedom to pursue goals and livelihoods beyond growing the food we need to survive.”

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack 

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