The Role of Technology in the Futures of the FFA

The Future Farmers of America, or FFA, Convention is being held this year, 2019, in Anaheim California, where students from all over the country gather to learn about leadership, agriculture, and more.

These students were asked about technology it would eventually change their farming and agriculture-related professions.

Some said it is slowly making jobs obsolete, and some said that it gave them much more opportunities to improve the world.

“I own my own business, I run a forty head of show goats. Technology plays a big role in my business, I’m on the phone a lot, I make about 50 phone calls a day buying and selling goats across the country and without my phone, I wouldn’t have the technology to communicate with people, not just in our state, but throughout and even outside of our country,”said Garrett Bowe, a student from O’Neals Minarets.

Technology creates two broad types of agriculture, modern, and traditional.

Modern agriculture includes the usage of technology, such as tractors and drones, while traditional agriculture is the old form of farming.

“I would say I prefer modern agriculture more, just because you can get more stuff done faster and easier. Back in the day, people had to go and work with their hands, and nowadays we have [machines] to do it for us,” said Hunter Derrick, a student from the Hamilton City FFA.

I also took a poll on instagram, and asked every Future Farmer I could find to vote on whether they preferred modern or traditional agriculture.  

33 percent said they liked traditional and 67 percent said they preferred modern, but many said they also wanted a mix.

“I think they both go hand in hand, I believe we need to stay with our roots and keep some of those traditions, but I think it’s important to progress into the future as well,” said Benjamin Varozza, a student with the Union Mine FFA.

Some students thought that while technology being integrated into agriculture caused some setbacks, such as job loss, it improved it in the long run.

“I think it’s changed agriculture for the better, technology has made it so that we can farm better and get better crop yields, and pretty much produce a better product that will feed a growing population,” said Aidan Snyder, the treasurer from Union Mine FFA.

The Future Farmers of America all had different opinions, but it seems the majority agreed that technology bettered the agriculture industry and thee opportunities it holds.