02/22/21

by Jeff Ishee

photo provided by Janet Downs

All this week is a special week with those involved in agricultural education. It was in the tiny Shenandoah Valley community of Weyers Cave in the year 1925 that an organization was founded called the Future Farmers of Virginia – the FFV.

Charter members unless otherwise stated, of the Future Farmers of America, founded at Weyers Cave, Virginia,
Front Row: Alvin Eddins, John Carl Harshbarger, Nelson Bibb, Edgar Menefee ( who was not a charter member but President of FFA chapter for the year of the photo -1950) Joy Glover, Harold Flora, Charles Shreckhise
Back Row: Fillmore “Fill” Crawford, L. R. “Buck” Saufley, E. B. Craun SR, (Agricultural teacher) Casper “Cass: Bosserman, Basil Long, Granett Bibb

Little did the founders know that this new organization would eventually become the Future Farmers of America – the FFA. The agricultural education organization which started with just a handful of high school students in Augusta County now has 760,000 members. The motto of FFA? Learning to Do, Doing to Learn, Earning to Live, Living to Serve. All this week – Virginia FFA Week.