Agriculture Education
FFA Organization Information
The FFA organization is an integral part of the high school agriculture education program. Its general purpose is to motivate students to develop special interests, skills and abilities in occupational-specific fields of endeavor to work for scholarships to provide activities for the development of leadership abilities and to encourage students to cooperate in community activities. Students will have the opportunity to compete in contests and participate in educational and leadership-oriented field trips. Membership is a requirement for all agriculture students. $20.00 dues are required for FFA membership to be paid directly to the BC FFA. All members are required to have proper dress attire, which includes an official FFA jacket.
Courses Offered
Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources
1.00 Credit Prerequisite: None
5 Periods/week Grades 9, 10, 11, 12
2 Semesters Fee: $15.00 lab
Additional Requirements: $20.00 FFA Membership Dues & FFA Jacket
The first course in the career field is an introduction to Agricultural and Environmental Systems. Students will be introduced to the scope of the Agricultural and Environmental Systems career field. They will examine principles of food science, natural resource management, animal science & management, plant & horticultural science, power technology and bioscience. Students will examine the FFA organization and Supervised Agricultural Experience programs. Throughout the course, students will develop communication, leadership and business skills essential to the agriculture industry.
Agriculture and Food Marketing
1.00 Credit Prerequisite: Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources AND Animal/Plant Science
5 Periods/week Grades 11, 12
2 Semesters Fee: $15.00
Additional Requirements: $20 FFA Membership Dues & FFA Jacket
Students will examine economic principles related to agriculture, food and natural resources along with the operation and use of commodity futures and option markets. Students will learn economic principles with emphasis on their application to the solution of agricultural industry problems. They will examine future exchanges and commodity futures contracts, hedging strategies, as well as put and call options. Throughout the course, students will become familiar with the causes and consequences of economic growth, globalization and development. Throughout the course, students will develop advanced communication, leadership and business skills essential to the agriculture industry.
Animal and Plant Science
1.00 Credit Prerequisite: Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources
5 periods/week Grades 10, 11, 12
2 Semesters Fee: $15.00
Additional Requirements: $20.00 FFA Membership Dues & FFA Jacket
Students will apply knowledge of animal and plant science to the agriculture industry. They will be introduced to the value of production animals relative to the agricultural marketplace. Students will engage in animal classification and selection, body systems, along with animal welfare and behavior in relation to the production of animals. Students will learn principles of plant anatomy and physiology, and the role of nutrition, deficiencies and growing environment on plant production. Throughout the course, business principles and professional skills will be examined.
Agricultural Career and Job Training
1.00 Credits for each 500 hours Prerequisite: TWO full years of Agriculture classes AND enrolled in a third-year ag class.
Minimum of 500 hours of work for the year
2 Semesters Fee: None
This course (taken as a senior in conjunction with another agricultural course) is related to work and career exploration. Release time from school can be utilized during the day. The student has the option to remain in school as long as they wish. Students are supervised and graded by their employer and instructor every nine weeks. For those seniors who do not meet the job requirement, they would be expected to be actively searching for a job and checking in with copies of work weekly, or attend class, where they would learn specific career skills and earn credit for the job portion until they obtain a proper job experience.