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MO FFA Foundation could get permanent state funding

Missouri lawmakers are considering adding permanent funding for the Missouri FFA Foundation in the state budget.

Agriculture is a top economic driver in Missouri and Governor Mike Kehoe tells Brownfield it’s valuable for the state to invest in the next generation.

“We need to encourage young people to get involved, because the demand for food is going to double in the next 20 to 30 years,” he says. “Young people need to understand there’s a real business case and opportunity to provide for their families financially, should they get into the farming business.”

Missouri FFA Foundation Executive Director Heather Dimmit-Fetcher says the proposed $800,000 would go to the Horizon and Rising Sun grant program.

“What that really focuses on is meeting the needs our ag programs have that can’t totally be met at the local level,” she says. “The foundation is only 4 years old and when the foundation started, we continuously heard about needs from FFA chapters like modern greenhouses, modern mechanics labs and food science labs.”

Dimmit-Fetcher says the program provides $10,000 to $50,000 grants for schools.

“There’s a matching component that must come to that. We don’t want this to be just at the teacher’s whim if they want to do something,” she says. “We want them to do the research and identify the needs in their own community, to meet the workforce needs in the ag workforce and then, when they’ve done that they go through a grant writing process. Those are the projects we’re funding.”

Fetcher says she’s optimistic state lawmakers will include the funding as the state budget is solidified in the next three weeks.

“I appreciate the state legislature having the conversation of ‘yes, we have funded career tech centers in the state, but 80 percent of our ag education programs don’t happen at a career tech center. They happen at a comprehensive high school. What can we do to help build those programs too?’ And I think when you consider ag is the state’s top industry, it’s important for the state to make a strong investment in the future of the ag industry.”

Brownfield interviewed Dimmit-Fetcher at the Missouri State FFA Convention last week.