Future Farmers of America sign, Abbott, TX
For more info: www.ffa.org
http://content.usatoday.com
by Doug Stanglin
What do former President Jimmy Carter, Willie Nelson, singer Taylor Swift, Garfield-creator Jim Davis and multi-platform athlete Bo Jackson have in common?
They were all members of the Future Farmers of America, the youth agricultural organization now called simply the National FFA Organization.
For that matter, so were the Eagles’ Don Henley, Morris Dees, founder of the South Poverty Law Center, Jeremy Shockey of the New Orleans Saints and Jared Hess, writer and director of the film Napoleon Dynamite.
But the FFA is largely unknown on the East and West Coasts, especially in big cities as New York and a growing presence among big cityurban areas, even though it has chapters in such big cities as New York City and a growing presence in big city charter schools.
The organization is trying to change all that. This year, the FFA, for the first time is mounting a Tournament of Roses Parade float, sponsored by RFD-TV, the rural-oriented cable station that Don Imus jumped to after being dumped by MSNBC.
Farm and Dairy quote RFD’s founder, Patrick Gottsch, as saying the goal of the Rose Bowl float is “to connect and educate the urban world about the positive aspects of rural America.”