Competitive Teams
Competition is the spine of agricultural education. Teams practice through the fall and winter and advance from the chapter level to federation, district, state, and — for the strongest of them — national. Every one of these is open to a first-year student, and several are designed specifically for them.
Leadership Development Events
These are the events that transfer directly into scholarship interviews, college admissions, and the first job after graduation. If a student competes in nothing else, they should compete in one of these.
Recite and interpret the FFA Creed, then answer questions on it. Restricted to first-year members — the single best entry point into competition.
Write and deliver a researched speech on an agricultural issue, then defend it under questioning.
Draw a topic, get thirty minutes to prepare, deliver. Difficult, and formidable on a resume.
A full employment sequence — cover letter, resume, application, live interview, follow-up. Arguably the most immediately useful event in the organization.
A team event demonstrating the rules that govern how organizations legally make decisions. Rigorous and highly technical.
A team of six executes the official chapter meeting ceremony from memory. Strong first-year team event.
Journalism, design, and media production applied to agriculture. Team event.
Career Development Events
Each of these is a measured, industry-standard skill set. Teams below are matched to the courses this program offers; others can be added as student interest justifies the coaching time.
Anatomy, instruments, breed identification, handling, and clinical practicals. Pairs with Animal Science.
Judge classes of cattle, swine, sheep, and goats, then defend your placings in oral reasons.
Grading, processing, and production judging. Historically one of Florida's deepest fields.
Identification, design, and retail floral practice. Pairs with Agritechnology.
Plant identification, propagation, landscape design and estimation.
Crops, seeds, soils, and pest identification.
Water quality, soils, wildlife, and environmental problem-solving.
Sensory evaluation, food safety, and product development. Lab-heavy.
Original scientific research, presented and defended. Advances to state and national competition and is a genuine research credential for college applications.
Sign Up
Teams are formed based on this list. Interest here is not a commitment and it is not an audition — it tells me which teams to build, when to schedule practices, and how much coaching time each one needs. Check as many as you like.
Shows & Fairs
Two fairs anchor the year for students raising an animal. Both run in late winter, and both require entry, certification, and an animal in hand months beforehand — which is why this decision gets made in the fall, not in January.
Our home fair. A six-county district fair serving Orange, Seminole, Volusia, Lake, Osceola, and Brevard, with more than 2,500 FFA and 4-H youth livestock projects entered annually — swine, lamb, cattle, poultry, rabbits, cavies, and horses. One of the largest youth livestock shows in Florida, and it is fifteen minutes from campus.
Livestock program → · Market exhibitors → · Breeding exhibitors →
The state-level show. Larger classes, tougher competition, and a separate entry process with its own deadlines, educational seminar, and required ethics and animal-care certification — all of which happen in the fall, well before the February show.
Official Sources
Everything described on this page is written by us, in plain language, to help you choose. The binding rules, eligibility requirements, event formats, and deadlines are set by the organizations below and are revised every year. When the two disagree, they are right and we are out of date.
Our state association. Competitive event rules and formats, leadership conferences, state convention, degrees, awards, and scholarships.
The national organization. National competitive events, degrees, scholarships, conferences, and the Official FFA Manual and Student Handbook.
Entry deadlines, exhibitor rules, weigh-in and tagging dates, ethics certification, and premium schedules.