Gov. Mike Kehoe welcomed hundreds of Missouri students to Jefferson City today to commemorate National FFA Week. The special week is February 15-22.
Kehoe and FFA members drove tractors to the state capitol in a show of support for Missouri agriculture.
The FFA students started early this morning for “Drive Your Tractor to Work Day!”
Mike and I are excited to carry on this tradition with the FFA students in honor of FFA Week.
We love supporting the youth in this industry. pic.twitter.com/6ZcCcENqEP
— Claudia Kehoe (@firstladykehoe) February 10, 2025
Emily Kassebaum is the FFA advisor for Orchard Farm School District in St. Charles. She said a career in agriculture is much more than just being a farmer.
“Anything from nursery landscaping to horticulture, a florist are also considered a career in the agriculture industry,” Kassebaum said. “You can do something traditional like row crop farming, raising pigs, cows, dairy farming, chickens. You could also do something with mechanical.”
High Schooler Tess Bauer is a first generation FFA member that grew up on a family poultry farm.
“Agriculture is really my passion,” Bauer told Missourinet. “It started from a young age with helping my dad on the farm. I want to be an agriculture education teacher. So, I want to be able to grow the new generation of ag advocates.”
Matt Lambeck joined FFA because he likes tractors.
“I’m going to Mizzou to study ag systems tech,” he said. “So, my plan is to go there and do that and then hopefully find some job in like precision ag or ag mechanics somewhere.”
Gannon Dody said he joined the FFA because of his love for the TV show, Smallville, a coming-of-age story of Superman growing up on a farm in Kansas.
“It’s about Superman when he was in high school. He grew up and he lived on a farm,” Dody said. “So, I always kind of thought farming was cool because I really like Superman, you know. Superman is pretty cool. He’s better than Spiderman. A lot of people disagree with me on that, but he lives on a farm, the Kent Farm.”
@MOAgriculture Director Chris Chinn joined @GovernorMikeKehoe this morning to proclaim Feb. 15-22 as National FFA Week in Missouri. @MissouriFFAAssociation
Who doesn’t love the chance to drive a tractor to work?#connectMORE pic.twitter.com/SlHt7b4xem
— Missouri Dept. of Ag (@MoAgriculture) February 10, 2025
The Show-Me State is home to 362 FFA chapters and more than 26,000 members, ranking eighth nationally for membership.
Copyright © 2025 Missourinet