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FFA State Officers share their experiences in the SpeakAg Pioneers Program

A group of state FFA officers were selected to spend the next year fine tuning their leadership and communication skills.

Missouri FFA State First Vice President Mikaela Rojas is one of this year’s twelve participants in the SpeakAg Pioneer Program.

“It’s a way for state officers to connect with each other, learn how to advocate for ourselves, FFA, and agriculture through different storytelling workshops and advocacy projects that we’re going to do throughout the year,” she says.

Iowa FFA State Secretary Chloe Zittergruen says there is an education gap between producers and consumers.

“When we were out in Indianapolis doing the Farm to Pizza event, some of the adults didn’t know where does the sausage or the pepperoni on the pizza came from,” she says. “Being able to be involved in this program is not only going to grow advocacy skills, but also help those in the agricultural field.”

Students selected to be SpeakAg Pioneers are leading the way among FFA’s more than one million members in promoting agricultural advocacy and literacy to FFA members and the general public by hosting workshops and creating content for social media. This year’s program is set to wrap up in 2025. 

Photo provided by the National FFA Organization.

AUDIO: Mikaela Rojas, Missouri FFA State First Vice President

AUDIO: Chloe Zittergruen, Iowa FFA State Secretary