Record Membership In FFA

Last Friday the National FFA Organization announced that they have a record student membership of 649,355, up from 629,367 in 2015 an increase of 3 percent. The number of FFA chapters grew from 7,757 to 7,859. The top six student membership states are Texas, California, Georgia, Oklahoma, Ohio and Missouri. Interest in FFA and agricultural education continues to grow, as membership continues to increase and more students fill job openings in the field of agriculture.

The Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute predicts net farm income will be flat next year despite increased government payments. The group projects net farm income will fall by more than $10 billion this year, and only rise $700,000 next year. Meanwhile,Net farm income is expected to rise almost five percent in 2018 and increase fractionally in 2019. Reuters reports: The Agricultural Development Bank of China one of the country's main policy lenders, agreed to loan at least 3 trillion yuan ($450 billion) by 2020 for the modernization of China's agriculture industry.