FFA
Statistics
General Agricultural Statistics
Today, there are 490,017 FFA members, aged 12-21 in
7,210 chapters in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands
- 38% of FFA members are female; women hold more
than 50% of state leadership positions
- 77% of our membership is Caucasian; 17% is
Hispanic and 4% is African-American
- 89% of FFA members are in grades 9-12; 6% are
in grades 7-8; 5% are high school graduates
- 27% of FFA members live in rural, farm areas;
the remainder live in rural non-farm (39%), urban and suburban areas
(34%)
- FFA chapters are in 11 of the 20 largest
cities, including New York, Chicago and Philadelphia
- The top five membership states are California,
Texas, Georgia, Oklahoma and Ohio
- The 75th National FFA Convention was host to
51,338 members, advisors and supporters
Education
More than 11,000 teachers deliver an innovative, cutting-edge and integrated
curriculum to students
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92% offer agriscience; 71% offer advanced
agriscience and biotechnology; 59% offer agricultural mechanics; 49%
offer horticulture; 43% offer animal science; and, 24% offer
environment-related In 2001, 59% of qualified agricultural education
graduates pursued teaching as a career; over 35 agriculture programs
closed due to lack of a qualified teacher and 365 agriculture
teachers teach in more than one school 23% of teachers have five or
fewer years of teaching experience
- The shortage of qualified agriculture teachers
is the greatest challenge facing FFA and agricultural education
Career Exploration
Members participate in a hands-on work experience allowing them to apply
knowledge learned in class
- Collectively, FFA members earn $4 billion
annually through their hands-on work experience
- Members participate and learn advanced career
skills in
51 national proficiency areas based on their hands-on work
experience ranging from food science and technology to agricultural
communications to wildlife management to production agriculture
- According to the student magazine readership
study, 87% of our students are interested in learning about career
exploration, 81% about college preparation and 81% about technology
- Through 23 national
career development events, such as public speaking, environment and
natural resources and meats evaluation and technology, FFA members
extend and test their industry knowledge in a variety of career fields
Industry Support
Agriculture is the nation's largest employer, with more than 22 million
people working in some phase. FFA prepares members for more than 300 careers
in the science, business and technology of agriculture.
- National FFA Foundation has raised more
than$144 million for the National FFA Organization since 1944.
- 2,000 sponsors provided more than $10.5
million for FFA and agriculture programs and activities in 2005
- FFA scholarships have awarded more than $24
million
- 1,500 students of agricultural education
benefited from FFA Scholarships in 2005
- The FFA National Agricultural Career Show
covers 300,000 square feet and attracts more than 300 exhibitors
General
Agricultural Statistics
Average Annual Employment
Opportunities for College Graduates in the Food and Agricultural Sciences,
U.S., 1995-2000:
-
Marketing, Merchandising and Sales Representatives
14,353
-
Scientists, Engineers and Related Specialists
13,922
-
Managers and Financial Specialists 5,613
-
Communication and Education Specialists 5,295
-
Social Service Professionals 4,862
-
Agricultural Production Specialists 3,873
Today's Farm
-
Agriculture is the nation's largest employer with
more than 22 million people working in some phase-from growing food and
fiber to selling it at the supermarket.
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There are 2.19 million farms in the United States.
The average size of U.S. farms in 1999 was 432 acres.
-
There are 165,102 farms operated by women in the
United States.
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Individuals, family partnerships or family
corporations own 99% of U.S. farms with fewer than 10 stockholders.
Non-family corporations own only 0.4% of America's farms and ranches.
-
Americans spend 10.9% of their income on food, the
lowest percentage in the world. India spends 51.3%, Mexico spends 24.5%,
South Africa spends 27.5%, Japan spends 17.6%, Italy spends 17.2% and
the UK spends 11.2%.
-
It takes about 40 days for most Americans to earn
enough money to pay for their food supply for the entire year. It takes
that same American 124 days to earn enough money to pay federal, state
and local taxes for the year.
-
The annual per capita consumption of Americans is:
204.5 pounds of milk, 196.8 pounds of flour and cereal products, 186.5
pounds of fresh vegetables, 131.8 pounds of fresh fruits, 115.6 pounds
of red meat, 65 pounds of poultry, 65.3 pounds of fats and oils, 28
pounds of cheese, 18.9 pounds of rice and 244 eggs.
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The United States provides food at a lower cost,
as a percentage of income, than any other country in the world. We
produce sufficient surplus to be the nations leading exporter.
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The United States produces 46% of the world's
soybeans, 41% of the world's corn, 20.5% of the world's cotton and 13%
of the world's wheat.
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The United States exports $49.1 billion in
agricultural products annually and imports $37.5 billion. Asia (not
including Japan, China or East Asia) imports the most ($10.5 billion)
and Russia imports the least ($.46 billion).
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The American farmer regains 20¢ of every dollar in
agricultural products sold, 39¢ goes to labor, 6¢ goes to taxes and
interest, 8.5¢ goes to packaging and the remainder goes to fuel,
electricity, transportation, advertising, etc.
-
Farm receipts total $208.2 billion dollars each
year; most is meat animals ($46,917,000,000), least is tobacco
($2,308,000).
Technology and
Environment
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A growing number of farmers and ranchers are using
computers and modern technology; 90.7% use a computer, 87.4% own a
cellular telephone, 51.3% communicate by fax, 72.2% have access to the
Internet and 24.5% make online purchases using e-commerce.
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As of May 2000, farmers enrolled 31.4 million
acres of their land in the Conservation Reserve Program to protect the
environment and provide habitat for wildlife. Farmers and ranchers
provide food and habitat for 75% of the nation's wildlife.
-
Erosion rate by water on U.S. croplands has been
reduced by 24% in the last 18 years.
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Only 2 labor hours and one acre of land required
to produce 100 bushels of corn, with farmer using a tractor, 5-bottom
plow, 25-foot plow, 25-foot tandem disk, planter, 25-foot herbicide
applicator, 15-foot self-propelled combine and trucks.
*All information gathered from the American Farm
Bureau Federation, "Farm Facts" booklet, updated 2000.
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