National FFA starts with Virginia group

Implement & Tractor, November, 2003 by Evelyn Brown

The National FFA Organization has wrapped up its 75th year, and is working on creating the next successful 75 years. Its roots are in the Future Farmers of Virginia (FFV), a group that started shortly before the national organization and set the example for others to follow. FFV was the collective work of four founding men in agriculture: Henry Groseclose, Walter Newman, Harry Sanders and Edmund Magill. Each of the men was integral to the founding of FFA through their commitment to agriculture education.

The organization officially formed in 1928 at the 3rd National Livestock Judging Contest in Kansas City. Thirty-three students from 18 states joined together to establish Future Farmers of America and elected Leslie Applegate of Freehold, N.J., president. Before that...