In celebrating National FFA Week, AEM recognizes the importance of FFA and the impact the organization has on agriculture. This week serves as a valuable opportunity to not only celebrate FFA and its members, but also for AEM to reaffirm its commitment to its support of farmers and ag equipment end users alike.
By Julie Davis, AEM Senior Director of Workforce and Industry Initiatives
Like many other people in the agriculture community, I’m a superfan of the National FFA Organization (FFA). While never a member myself, I want to propose the idea that you don’t have to be an FFA alumnus to support the organization and its activities in support of ag.
I grew up on a family dairy farm until I was 11. I fed cows, bailed hay, shoveled saw dust and bottle-fed calves throughout many of my earliest years. It’s where I acquired my work ethic, learned problem solving, developed an appreciation for good food and learned several valuable life lessons.
We didn’t have a lot of time for extracurricular activities in those days. There was no FFA, no Girl Scouts and no 4-H for me, despite my repeated inquiries about those types of opportunities. However, my family and I did manage to attend the county fair every year.
While there, we regularly found ourselves walking through the exhibits where talents and animals were showcased. The ribbons on display added bursts of color to everything – from the tallest cornstalks to chickens with feathers that looked like hats. I looked with wonder at what other kids my age had accomplished, and it often made we wish to be a greater part of the ag community myself.
Eventually, we said goodbye to the farm when a back injury put an end to my father’s days of heavy lifting. But I took a lot from the experiences of my formative years, and I carried many of the lessons I learned on the farm with me into adulthood. It wasn’t until years later, though, that mind came back around to FFA again.
There aren’t as many family farms around these days compared to when I was a child, but I still see the same work ethic, problem-solving skills and important values being instilled in youth today through their involvement in FFA. Never was that fact more evident than when I had the privilege of attending the National FFA Conference in 2019. To see the streams of blue jackets as thousands of youth flooded the corridors of the convention center was an awe-inspiring experience. And to hear the casual conversations in the hallways taking place between FFAers reminded me that the future is undeniably bright for agriculture.
Looking back on all those experiences, it’s evident the child who yearned to participate in FFA and other ag organizations must still be inside of me. Because when I found out the organization was in need in judges to review its project grants last year, I quickly raised my hand. And although finding the time to review all 10 applications proved to be a challenge, I’m grateful for the opportunity (and glad I decided to take it on).
Reading and rating the FFA applications took me right back to my childhood experiences at the fair. I was reminded of the wide-eyed enthusiasm and determination all of us possessed in our younger years. I was reminded of why passion and big ideas matter. More than anything else, though, it caused to be to realize the following: I, as an adult, am afforded the uniquely valuable opportunity to either support inspiration or contribute to the mundane.
Well, I choose to support inspiration. More than that, though, I choose to do what I can to provide a child somewhere the experience I wish I could have had as a youth. And I choose to be a superfan of FFA, even though I can’t call myself an alumnus.
Are you willing to help me? If any of this has stuck a chord with you, then AEM would like to invite you to support inspiration and become an FFA superfan as well. Reach out to me at jdavis@aem.org to learn more or to get involved.
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