This week, members of Iowa’s FFA chapters are celebrating the accomplishments of the 93-year-old organization which promotes the agriculture industry.
Despite the pandemic, students and alumni are marking FFA Week through Saturday. Iowa has more than 16,000 FFA members in 248 chapters statewide.
J.C. Crutcher is an FFA member in Webster City. “It’s a great way to get involved with things that we do in school,” Crutcher says. “They do a lot of activities throughout the year. I wanted to be an FFA officer and get that leadership opportunity and be able to help people like that. I’ve always thought the agricultural field was just something I wanted to be interested in.”
Charlie Stansfield, also a member from Webster City, got involved initially for the social aspects. “I joined because most of my friends and a lot of other people were in FFA,” Stansfield says. “I obviously continued because there’s a lot of different things you can do within the FFA organization, whether that be with the different classes with animal science or greenhouse production. All of those different classes are awesome.”
Many FFA events are suspended due to the pandemic. The clubs hold fundraisers, like fruit basket sales or t-shirt sales. It’s hoped many chapters will be able to resume activities at county fairs this summer and at the Iowa State Fair in August.
(By Pat Powers, KQWC, Webster City)