The Future Pelican Farmers (7/12/2024)

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Did the title of this Footnote get your attention? What is or was the Future Pelican Farmers? It was:

  1. An organization of vocational agriculture students in Louisiana who are dedicated to saving the endangered brown pelican by raising them in captivity.
  2. The name of the first state organization of vocational agriculture students in Louisiana.
  3. A club organized by Negro vocational agriculture students in the segregated schools in Louisiana to differentiate them from the Future Farmers group.
  4. A wildlife rehabilitation facility in southern Louisiana devoted to caring for injured wildlife, especially brown pelicans who had been snared in fishing lines and nets. Several agriculture students have SAE programs at this facility.

The Future Pelican Farmers (FPF) was organized at the state level in November of 1929. Some 150 students from 32 schools in Louisiana had exhibits at the state fair in Shreveport, Louisiana. They met and voted to establish a youth organization modeled after the Future Farmers of Virgina. However the name they decided on was the Future Pelican Farmers. The three degrees of the organization were Greenhand, Pelican Farmer, and Pelican Planter.

According to a newspaper article in The Gazette of Farmville (March 6, 1929) about the establishment of a FPF chapter at Marion High School we learn “The pins for the organization have the symbol of an owl perched on the handle of a spade, under the symbol are these words: WISDOM AND LABOR.”

See a newspaper article about the inaugural meeting in Figure 1. However, it should be noted that a number of schools had already established local Future Pelican Farmers chapters prior to the establishment of the state organization.

Figure 1. The Clarion News of Opelousas, Louisiana, November 7, 1929.

The officers of the newly created organization were President, Vice-President, Secretary-Treasurer, and Reporter. They are pictured in Figure 2.

Figure 2. The Shreveport Journal, November 5, 1929. Notice the snazzy head ware.

At the state level the organization had four objectives. They were (The Crowley Post-Signal, December 18, 1929):

  1. To create more interest in the various agricultural pursuits in the state.
  2. To promote thrift and land ownership among the vocational agriculture students.
  3. To encourage and participate in co-operative marketing and buying by supporting the Louisiana Farm Bureau.
  4. To promote scholarship and develop rural leadership.

It appears these objectives were more than just words on paper. The Benton FPF chapter described the following accomplishments (as reported in the Bosser Banner-Progress, February 20, 1930):

  • The Future Pelican Farmer boys have purchased pure seeds for their projects and bought over $400 worth of fertilizer co-operatively from the Louisiana Farm Bureau.
  • Each Boy expects to save 40 per cent of his income in the Future Pelican Farmer Thrift Savings Club.
  • We invite you to watch the Future Pelican Farmers bulletin board on the Post office front.
  • Three carloads of commercial fertilizer, purchased co-operatively from the Louisiana Farm Bureau, have been distributed to the farmers by the Future Pelican Farmer boys.

Local chapters of the Future Pelican Farmers often added additional objectives to the state objectives. For example the Church Point High School Future Pelican Farmers added the following objectives (The Crowley Post-Signal, December 24, 1929):

  1. To prune trees for the community.
  2. To spray trees in the community.
  3. To help vaccinate swine and cattle in the community. (It should be noted that two students Albert Venable and Rex Langley vaccinated 200 hogs and pigs in November of 1929)
  4. To police the school grounds and keep them clean.
  5. To hold meetings every month unless special business arises.
  6. To have a Father and Son banquet every year.
  7. To spend a week camping during vacation.
  8. To help the agriculture teacher secure exhibits during the vacation and school months.

Pelican Farmers to the Rescue

In the fall of 1929 the main building of the Mt. Herman, Louisiana High School burned to the ground. A variety of temporary facilities such as churches and private homes were tried but proved to be inadequate. It was decided to build a temporary structure. It was 20 feet wide and 110 feet long. Three partitions created four rooms.

Mr. Hopper, the high school principal/agriculture teacher, said “The building looks like an immense poultry house, but we have been warm and snug despite the snows and rather rigorous winter.”

So who built the structure? The vocational agriculture students. Mr. Hopper stated “These Future Pelican Farmers learned many valuable lessons not found in books. Lessons such as loyalty to a good cause, co-operation with neighbors and the promotion of cordiality. Our hope is that we may train these boys to support any such worthy community enterprise whether it be churches, cemeteries, roads or schools.”

The story about the Mt. Herman Future Pelican Farmers made the cover of the March 1930 issue of Better Farm Equipment and Methods. See Figure 3.

Figure 3. From Better Farm Equipment and Methods, March 1930.

The Future Pelican Farmers Affiliate with the Future Farmers of America

In 1930 an application to affiliate with the National Future Farmers of America was submitted. The application listed the name of the organization as “Future Farmers of America – Pelican Chapter.” In Article I, Section A of the proposed constitution we see “The name of the organization shall be the ‘FUTURE FARMERS OF AMERICA.’ The association of Louisiana Chapters shall be known as the ‘Pelican Chapters.’” Twenty-seven chapters were listed in the application with a paid membership of 400 members. The list of officers was the same as the Future Pelican Farmer officers elected at the organizational meeting in 1929 . Louisiana was the 44th state to receive a charter from the National FFA. A copy of the charter application can be viewed at https://archives.indianapolis.iu.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/06aeea9c-d36c-4b8c-bc82-f627eff59eb0/content.

From 1930 on, most of the newspaper articles about vocational agriculture students in Louisiana refer to them as Future Farmers of America. Occasionally the phrase Pelican Farmers would appear.

The website for the Louisiana FFA Association is https://la-ffa.org/welcome.html. Today there are 13,000+ members in some 200+ FFA chapters in Louisiana.

Concluding Remark

Don’t forget that 2028 will mark the 100th anniversary of the Future Farmers of America. We need to be documenting the history of the FFA at the local, state and national level. This Footnote is one such example.