Two Kansas chapters of the Future Farmers of America (FFA) are proving the organization teaches high school students more than just farming and agriculture.  

This year’s FFA officers at Riverton High School, Riverton USD 404, met for a leadership retreat in late summer to begin planning their activities for the 2024-25 school year. That’s when the concept for the “Ag for All Ages” program took root. 

The program is a chance for the FFA students to host and teach activities in the evening, giving community members the chance to try something new, while learning more about FFA. The first event was a novice welding night. Their most recent event, “Succas for Agriculture,” had 27 people in the community attend. They painted and planted three pots of succulents and were taught the proper ways of transplanting and propagating the plants. 

For the past few years, a Riverton High School animal science class has received grant funds to purchase hogs. They’re kept at the home of Jacob Larison, an agriculture education instructor and FFA advisor at the school. Students are involved in learning to care for them and learning the financial side of caring for the hogs. 

“It’s a great hands-on activity for our students and allows them to see an aspect of agriculture that they wouldn’t have had any involvement in before,” he said. “It also makes a difference in our community.” 

Last year, the class was able to donate 700 pounds of meat to a local food pantry and 

community members and plan to do that again later this week when they take this year’s pigs to a local processor. 

These are just some of the ways the Riverton FFA chapter encourages opportunities for growth. 

“The leadership component of it is something I tell kids they’re going to be able to utilize no matter what they’re going to do for the rest of their life,” said Larison. “If they have the ability to plan, to communicate, to research…that’s going to carry on through your entire lifetime.” 

Larison said the specific content taught in school might help a student eventually get hired in an agriculture-related field, but the student’s ability to communicate will help them increase the potential for promotions as they advance in their careers.  

“That’s why I try and push that leadership side with kids,” he said. “The big thing we focus on, we do a lot of public speaking. Of course, not every kid is going to get involved in that on the competitive side of things, but everyone’s going to get to do some of that in their regular course work.” 

Joanna Farmer, a 2024 Kansas Teacher of the Year team member, grew up participating in FFA and 4-H.  

“It was a huge part of my life,” she said. “I really believe in the program, so I thought it would be great for our kids here in Wichita.” 

Farmer is now an agriculture and science teacher, and an FFA advisor at Wichita Southeast High School, Wichita USD 259. The school’s FFA chapter has close to 450 members. 

“Our school is 99% urban students, so we don’t get the typical kids that come in from farms and rural areas,” she said. “I think they enjoy it because it’s different and it’s something they’re not accustomed to. It’s pretty neat to get them involved.” 

Farmer said FFA is a lot more than agriculture: It helps students develop leadership skills. 

“My kids aren’t always sure what they want to do, so being able to have an avenue for them to show what they can do and shine and find things they like, and then be able to lead other skills,” she said. “They love community service, and it helps them with communication skills and drags them out of their comfort zones sometimes.”  

The students get hands-on experiences such as operating a community garden, planting city trees, and caring for animals on the school’s campus. 

FFA also gives high school students the opportunity to learn outside of the classroom, such as setting up internships and job shadowing. Last year, Wichita Southeast FFA members partnered with Cargill for a booth at a Juneteenth celebration in Wichita. In return, the students were able to visit and build relationships with employees from the agricultural corporation. 

Wichita Southeast and Riverton high schools attend between 20-30 competitions per school year, where they can compete in multiple categories in one day, such as public speaking. 

“Ag is so much more, and that’s what we try and build, hopefully a well-rounded complete program to where we have students who are incredibly capable and talented and find their niche,” Larison said. “Hopefully we’re giving them the skills and the abilities to establish a livelihood for themselves down the line, whether that’s in agriculture or otherwise, they’re still going to be able to make use of what they’re learning and doing.” 

Farmer said FFA organizations are growing their membership numbers every year. She encourages teachers to reach out to their local FFA program and see how they can volunteer at events, read to students or help with other activities or projects.  

Click here for more information about the Kansas FFA program.  

Learn more here about National FFA Week, Feb. 15-22.