National FFA Organization mission and vision statements analysis
The National FFA Organization is an
intracurricular student organization founded in 1928 by a group of young
farmers that seeks to promote agricultural education in the US and attract more
people to that industry. The letters “FFA” stand for Future Farmers of America
and it is committed to the individual student.
Despite it is focused on agriculture, it seeks to
develop a leadership attitude in young people. For that reason, it also
welcomes members interested in other careers such as teaching, medicine,
sciences, entrepreneurship, and more.
The FFA offers a path to achieve premier leadership,
personal growth, and professional success by fostering agricultural education.
They work to prepare future generations “for the challenges of feeding a
growing population” in a context of increasing difficulty in sustain and
increase the workforce for this industry.
Table of Contents
Introduction
The agriculture industry supplied USD 1.05 trillion to the US GDP in 2017, which
represents 5.4%. If these figures represented a country, it would make it the
16th largest economy in the world.
However, in the last years, this activity has been
threatened by a changing workforce among other factors such as climate change
and trade wars. Farmers and ranchers make up barely 1.3% of the employed population in the
country, totaling 2.6 million and there are about 2 million operative farms.
These figures have not stopped falling since 1935 when
there were almost 7 million farms and the agriculture industry made up 70% of
the American workforce. The agricultural workforce’s shrink in the US responds
to different causes such as the decline in the interest in the industry.
Most traders average 59.4 years old and when they
retire, there are fewer young farmers to take their positions. Those under 35
only account for 9% of the total population because they have lost interest.
The lack of interest can be explained by high real
estate and land prices, the high initial investment cost that agrotechnology requires,
the volatility of the commodities’ prices, the unpredictable weather, the
unequal work-life balance, and the important physical demand.
Finding farmworkers has become increasingly difficult for primary
operators as corporate jobs are offering higher pay and home office options.
This situation is leading to the loss of the American farmer’s competitive
advantage to foreign countries and it has also resulted in wasted produce.
Core Values
The FFA holds a holistic view of the human being that
integrates professional life -encouraging agriculture as a smart career choice-
with personal, social, and intellectual life and, at the same time, seeking to
create value for the community.
They are committed to achieving this by developing
competent and assertive leadership for agriculture and increasing the global
relevance of this activity as well as its contribution to social well-being.
They have a strong focus on strengthening both the self and professional
confidence of students as well as promoting the agriculture career as a smart
choice.
The FFA fosters agricultural programs that help
students learn how to manage the community’s economic, environmental, and human
resources. At the same time, they encourage them to build character and develop
interpersonal and communicational skills in teamwork.
They
promote:
Citizenship
Volunteerism
Patriotism
Cooperation
Healthy lifestyles
Mission
Statement
The mission statement is: FFA makes a positive difference in the lives of students by developing
their potential for premier leadership, personal growth, and career success
through agricultural education.
Components of the mission:
Make a
positive difference: The organization aims at changing its
members’ lives for good.
In the lives
of students: It addresses young people who are about to decide
their professional future, the students.
Develop their
potential for premier leadership: FFA seeks to develop each
person’s potential and helps them discover their talent for leadership. Through
hands-on experiences, it gives members the tools to achieve success in the real
world.
Personal
growth: The organization believes in integrating all aspects
of the members: career, personal, social, and intellectual life.
Career
success through agricultural education: The FFA
fosters agricultural education to achieve professional success, relying on the
agricultural industry as a path to achieve growth and success.
Vision
Statement
The vision statement is: FFA provides the next generation of leaders who will change the world.
Components of the vision statement:
Provide the
next generation of leaders: It focuses on students to prepare
them for the future challenges of the world.
People that
will change the world: It promotes education and encourages
young people to be the best in what they do to become future leaders and help
improve the lives of their communities and the nation.
