Ashley Keaton, age 14, of Billings, Mont., for her question:
WHEN DID FUTURE FARMERS OF AMERICA START?
Future Farmers of America, an organization for high school students who study vocational agriculture, came along as a result of the Smith Hughes Act passed by Congress in 1917 to establish a national program of vocational education.
The Smith Hughes Act permitted the government to pay half the cost of the vocational agriculture program in each state. The government now pays about a sixth of the cost and states and local communities pay the rest.
In the early 1920s, vocational agriculture students formed clubs in many communities throughout the country. Some local clubs then joined in statewide associations. One of these state associations, the Future Farmers of Virginia, formed in 1926, became the model for the Future Farmers of America.
In November 1928, representatives from the state associations met at Kansas City, Mo., to establish a national farm organization for high school boys. Girls were invited to join later. They adopted a constitution and founded the Future Farmers of America. Congress, after some study, granted it a charter in 1950.
The official motto of the Future Farmers of America expresses its entire program: "Learning to do, doing to learn; earning to live, living to serve."
Slogan for the group is: "The Successful Farmer of Tomorrow is the Future Farmer of Today."
About 500,000 students now belong to the organization in about 7,800 high school chapters in the United States and Puerto Rico.
Today, only boys and girls who are studying vocational agriculture may join. They may continue their membership for three years after they leave high school, or until they reach the age of 21, whichever is longer.
Members of the organization usually start with small projects when they are freshmen in high school.
Members are awarded various degrees for their achievements in projects, community service, cooperation, leadership and scholarship. When a student joins the organization, he or she becomes a Greenhand and may buy and wear a small bronze pin bearing the group's emblem. After one year, Greenhands receive the Chapter
Farmer degree if their participation in the organization has been satisfactory. They may now wear a silver pin.
A third degree, the State Farmer, is much harder to attain. This degree is awarded for outstanding achievement in agricultural career development, leadership and scholarship. A State Farmer must have worked at least 600 hours or earned at least $500 and deposited it in a bank or invested it.
Each state association awards the State Farmer degree to no more than three of every 100 members a year. A State Farmer wears a gold emblem pin.
The American Farmer degree is the highest rank. Only members who have been out of high school for one year may be nominated for this high award.