A Weyers Cave man has shared his love of the FFA, or Future Farmers of America, with his own children, and one day, hopes his grandchildren will take advantage of the opportunities the organization provides.
As a young man, Kern Houff discovered the FFA and served as vice president and competed in parliamentary procedure and public speaking for the Montevideo chapter in Rockingham County.
“Other than my parents, my two agriculture teachers probably had more to do with the successes I’ve had than any other individuals,” said Houff, who was chair of the Virginia FFA Foundation board for many years. “I had a lot of opportunities I might not have had otherwise.”
Houff grew up on a dairy farm in Rockingham County. Now, as an adult, he credits the FFA and for the personal and professional growth in his own family.
Houff encouraged his own children, Jeremy and Sonja, to join the FFA to learn communication, leadership and vocational skills, and they obliged.
Jeremy followed in his father’s footsteps and showed dairy cattle and focused on leadership development in the FFA. He served as the Spotswood High School chapter president in the ‘90s. He credits the organization for teaching him the fundamentals he uses today as a supervisor of the family’s agricultural and industrial services company.
Sonja also served as chapter president and was elected state FFA reporter. She took a year off from school to travel throughout Virginia working with different FFA chapters, as well as the public and media. Today, Sonja works as a dairy inspector and operates a farm with her husband in Prince William County. She said her own children have already expressed an interest in the FFA and will join once they are in high school.
“You understand the impact it has on your life,” she said. “It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”
FFA: Tracing its roots
The FFA’s roots date back to 1925 when four Virginia Tech agricultural educators created the Future Farmers of Virginia.
“Farm boys didn’t have as much confidence in themselves as their city cousins did,” said John Hillison, a retired Virginia Tech agriculture education professor and curator of the Agricultural, Leadership and Community Education Department’s FFA historical room.
The founders, Hillison said, wanted farmers to learn leadership skills and get awards for their hard work.
Several states followed Virginia and started their own organizations.
In 1928, the national Future Farmers of America was founded using the Virginia organization as its model.
In 1988, Future Farmers of America rebranded as the National FFA Organization to reflect diversity in agricultural interests and membership.
The Virginia FFA currently has 14,110 members across 227 chapters.
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Crystal Graham
