While universities debate the “right” way to talk about agriculture, middle schools and high schools are hunting—often unsuccessfully—for someone who can actually teach it.
THE PROBLEM WITH FFA: TOO MUCH MERIT
Consider what is being elevated as cutting-edge work in agricultural education scholarship. One recent Journal of Agricultural Education article applies a Critical Whiteness Studies framework to the National FFA Organization, analyzing “traditions and rituals” to identify how “Whiteness” manifests in artifacts such as the FFA Creed, Opening Ceremonies, and award systems. The study’s stated purpose is to examine how school-based agricultural education is “shaped by Whiteness,” using critical theory to “uncover the ideologies which shape society.” It’s hard not to take offense when the paper claims that “Whiteness emerged through the concept of meritocracy” and that meritocracy “often functions to maintain White privilege.”
That may be an interesting conversation for academics. But it is hard to escape the growing sense that too many four-year university agriculture education preparation programs are rewarding theory-first coursework and publication incentives while middle schools and high schools are starving for teachers who can teach shop, advise an FFA chapter, coach a CDE team, supervise SAEs, and deliver rigorous ag science instruction—every day, in real classrooms.
THE NUMBERS DON’T LIE: THE AG TEACHER SHORTAGE
The shortage is not speculative. In a recent article “National ag teacher shortage threatens growth of FFA programs” in AGDAILY, the National FFA Organization calls it the greatest challenge facing FFA and agricultural education because programs rely on certified agriculture teachers to teach students, manage chapters, and guide leadership development. Growth is part of the pressure—about 150 new FFA chapters are chartered each year, with nearly 300 net new teaching positions added from 2023 to 2024. But the more alarming detail is the churn: even as hundreds of positions and programs were added nationwide, 107 teaching positions were lost and 58 programs closed, commonly because there simply were not teachers available (alongside enrollment and funding issues).
And here’s the indictment of the university pipeline. A veteran high school FFA advisor and state Teacher of the Year points to “the number of ag education graduates coming from our colleges and universities” as the biggest pinch point—and says the gap “often results in industry professionals filling positions” through alternative certification, learning on the job. That is a testament to the commitment of those professionals. It’s also an admission that our traditional preparation pathway is not keeping up.
UNIVERSITY AG ED PROGRAMS FALLING SHORT
Universities will respond that teacher shortages have multiple causes: retirements, salaries that lag industry, and the brutal workload of teaching plus paperwork plus after-hours travel and competitions. All true. But those realities make the university role more—not less—important. When the job is hard and the pay is not always competitive, the preparation has to be exceptionally practical, confidence-building, and field-tested.
So why are we spending scarce credit hours and faculty attention training future ag teachers to parse whether the FFA Opening Ceremonies position the treasurer beside George Washington (whose birthday we celebrate today!) as an emblem and what that symbol “implies,” instead of training them to keep a program alive when a shop budget gets cut, a principal questions the value of ag mechanics, or a student’s SAE falls apart?
None of this is an argument against inclusion or honest history. Middle school and high school ag programs must welcome every student, in every community. But inclusion is achieved through great teaching, culturally competent instruction, strong mentorship, and stable programs. If four-year preparation programs want to serve that mission, they should rebalance around what schools need most: deep content competence, classroom and lab management, FFA/SAE program administration, supervised clinical experience, and a clear on-ramp into certification.
Because right now, the system is sending a message: we can theorize endlessly about the meaning of the Creed—yet we cannot reliably staff the classroom where students are supposed to learn it.
About Friends of the Rising Sun. We are alumni, teachers, and current members who care deeply about the blue and gold and the future of American agriculture. Many of us credit our personal and professional success to the values and skills we learned in the FFA.