New Mexico applied for a national FFA charter in 1929 and was the 25th state chartered. There are 90 FFA chapters in New Mexico with 5,300 members. The state is divided into six districts. To learn more about the New Mexico FFA go to https://www.nmffa.org/.
At the 2nd national FFA Convention in 1929, H.O. Sampson, the state agricultural education supervisor in New Jersey, addressed the convention. The title of his presentation was “How to Succeed in Future Farmer Work”. His advice was to study the aims and purposes of the FFA and then work them. He gave numerous examples of how to work them.
If you teach in a school that has been around for a while, there is a possibility that there is a poster on the wall about the Purposes of the FFA. The poster was first printed in the 1930s and distributed to FFA chapters. Here is what it looked like.
In the nearly 100 years since the FFA was established the aims and purposes of the FFA have been modified and tweaked at times. To learn more about these changes refer to the 2020 Friday Footnote authored by Dr. Connors.
In this Footnote we are going to take a journey through time and look at how FFA chapters in New Mexico have addressed the purposes first listed in the 1930s.
The Purposes of FFA – New Mexico Style
1. To develop competent, aggressive, rural and agricultural leadership – It was difficult to find just one example of leadership development for FFA members in New Mexico, because there are literally thousands of examples. A search of Newspapers.com using the terms “FFA” + “leadership” limited just to New Mexico resulted in 3,941 hits.
The articles ranged from district and state level FFA leadership conferences over the decades to New Mexico FFA members attending the week-long National FFA Leadership and Citizenship Conference in the 1970s to the Peace Corp recruiting former FFA members because of the leadership skills.
An example of how leadership in the FFA is driven by and resides in the members is illustrated in the Las Cruces Sun-News in 1937 (June 11, page 1):
The Future Farmers of America is a local, and national organization of boys who are studying vocational agriculture. Membership begins in high school, remains available to these boys for three years after leaving high school. This means that strong, interested members maintain their membership after leaving school and help with leadership training activities of high school boys. The F.F.A. while strictly a boys’ organization whose leadership is developed among the boys themselves, is sponsored by departments of vocational agriculture in local high schools, by the State Board for Vocational Education and by the United States Office of Education. There is no “youth movement” in America more significant and worthwhile than the Future Farmers.
Now let’s fast forward to 1961. There was a four state FFA officer leadership training held in New Mexico with state officers from Wyoming, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico attending.
Figure 2. Albuquerque Journal, July 18, 1971
As recently as June of this year (2026) the leadership of FFA members was recognized by the New Mexico Cattle Growers Association who awarded college scholarships to three individuals. All three individuals (Kristie Gallacher, Wyatt Curry, and Isaac Smith) had been active in the FFA and the article in the Albuquerque Journal (June 29) specifically mentioned their leadership activities.
Whether the year was 1937, 1961 or 2026 (or all the years in between) there was one common thread in these newspaper articles – and that common thread was FFA develops competent, aggressive, rural and agricultural leadership. We can check off FFA Purpose #1 as being met.
2. To create and nurture a love of country life. Times have changed and the FFA is no longer focused only on country life. However, the FFA does encourage a love of agricultural life regardless of whether it is found in the city or in the country.
One indicator of a person’s love of agricultural life is the desire to share that love and knowledge with others. In 1976 the FFA members at Zuni High School went to Dowa Yallane Elementary School to share their love and knowledge of agricultural life. (Note: Dowa Yallane is Corn Mountain which is a sacred mesa for the Zuni people.)
Carl Tsikewa, FFA Chapter president said (The Gallup NM Independent, February 24, 1976) “We are concerned that so few young people understand where their food comes from. Our members are well qualified to help elementary school children learn about agriculture because of the knowledge and experience we’ve gained in the vocational agricultural classes and by actual experience on the farm and local agricultural businesses.” The FFA members brought farm animals and farm crops to the school to share with the children. The instruction was in both the Zuni language and in English.
In 1966 the National FFA week theme was “Agriculture is More Than Farming.” The Carlsbad FFA members undertook a campaign to inform the general public about the importance of the agricultural industry to America, the growing need for farming, and of numerous and wide variety of opportunities that exist in the broad field of agriculture for young men who have a background of farm experience and training (Carlsbad Current-Argus, February 27, 1966). This illustrates “the love of country life.”
Figure 3. Carlsbad Current-Argus, February 27, 1966
- To strengthen the confidence of farm boys and young men in themselves and their work.
Today we need to include the words females or girls in the call to “strengthen the confidence … in themselves.” An example of “strengthen the confidence” was illustrated in 2024 when Bailey Trujillo of the Artesia High School FFA was the national winner of the FFA Creed competition. According to an article in the Artesia Daily Press (November 28, 2024, page 1) the Creed Leadership Development Event is designed so that participants “learn to communicate in a powerful, organized and professional manner and build self-confidence.”
In describing this accomplishment Bailey said “The biggest lesson I’ve learned …and I have shared this with many people…you can do anything you set your mind to do.” Talk about building confidence, Bailey’s comments say it all.
Figure 4. Artesia Daily Press, November 28, 2024, page 1.
If we were to go back in time to 1940, we would learn of another example of agricultural students gaining confidence in their own abilities. An article in The Deming Headlight (May 3, 1940) described a visit to the local agriculture department by the New Mexico state supervisor, Frank Wimberly. The article states:
The Future Farmers were making plans for a practical application job of things such as plumbing, farm electrical work and concrete form laying…The practical experiences such as these are improving not only the knowledge and ability of the boy, but are teaching him confidence in himself, efficiency and speed.
So whether it was creed speaking in 2024 or learning mechanical skills in 1940, the FFA members were gaining confidence in their own abilities.
Interim Conclusion
It is interesting to compare the first three purposes of the 1930 era FFA with what is found in the 2025-2027 Official FFA Manual. On page 8 of the current FFA manual we find the FFA Mission statement followed by a list of eleven declarations as to how the mission can be accomplished.
To accomplish this mission, FFA:
- Develops competent and assertive agricultural leadership.
- Increases awareness of the global and technological importance of agriculture and its contribution to our well-being.
- Strengthens agriculture students’ confidence in themselves and their work
It looks like the 1930 era purposes of the FFA are alive and well today.
This week we learned that in the early days of the FFA, and even now, FFA develops leadership skills, nurtures a love of agricultural life, and builds confidence in the FFA members. So stay tuned to see what else FFA has done and continues to do.
Next week we will continue our examination of how FFA members in New Mexico were “working” the aims and purposes of the FFA. We can’t adequately do justice to all 12 purposes in one Footnote.