Membership
Today, there are 610,240 FFA members, aged 12?21, in 7,665 chapters in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
47% of FFA members are female; women hold approximately 50% of state leadership positions.
67% of our membership is White; 22% is Hispanic/Latino; 8% is Black/African-American or American Indian; and 3% Asian, Pacific Islander or two or more races.
5% of FFA members are currently enrolled in grades 7-8; 91% of FFA members are currently enrolled in grades 9-12; 4% have already graduated from high school and may be engaged in postsecondary studies.
FFA chapters are in 18 of the 20 largest U.S. cities, including New York, Chicago and Philadelphia.
The top five membership states are Texas, California, Georgia, Missouri and Oklahoma.
The 2014 National FFA Convention was host to 64,409 members, FFA advisors and FFA supporters.
Education
More than 11,000 FFA advisors and agriculture teachers deliver an integrated model of agricultural education providing students with innovative and leading-edge education, enabling them to grow into competent leaders.
92% offer agriscience; 71% offer advanced agriscience and biotechnology; 59% offer agricultural mechanics; 49% offer horticulture; 43% offer animal science; and 24% offer environment-related
23% of teachers have five or fewer years of teaching experience
The shortage of qualified agriculture teachers is the greatest challenge facing FFA and agricultural education
Career Exploration
FFA classroom activities include math and science as well as hands-on work experience and the development of life skills, helping members discover their career path and realize success.
Collectively, FFA members earn more than $4 billion annually through their hands-on work experience.
Members participate and learn advanced career skills in 49 national proficiency areas based on their hands-on work experiences ranging from agricultural communications and food science and technology to turf grass management and wildlife production and management.
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.
Through 24 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 careers in the agriculture industry.
Industry Support
Agriculture is the nation’s largest employer, with more than 23 million jobs (17 percent of the civilian workforce) involved in some facet of American agriculture.
The National FFA Foundation has raised more than $249 million for the National FFA Organization since 1944.
Over 3,000 sponsors provided more than $17 million for FFA and agricultural programs and activities in 2012.
In 2013, 127 sponsors provided 1,726 individual scholarships worth over $2.1 million through the National FFA Organization.
To date, more than $36 million in FFA collegiate scholarships have been awarded to students pursuing higher education.
In 2012, American FFA Degree recipients earned and productively invested a total of $103 million through their supervised agricultural experience programs.
At the National FFA Convention and Expo, the exhibit halls utilize more than 225,000 net square feet, attracting more than 400 exhibitors and vendors.