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SAE's are designed to help students learn by doing. There are six different categories that SAE's can fit under. The six are Ownership/Entrepreneurship, Placement/Internship, Research, Exploratory, School-Based Enterprise, and Service Learning. Everyone's SAE must be related to agriculture in some way.

Ownership/Entrepreneurship: Students own the enterprise, equipment, and supplies, make the management decisions and assume the financial risks to produce a product or provide a service.

Placement/Internship: Involves the placement of students in agriculture, food, or natural resources-related businesses to provide a "learning by doing" environment. These experiences may be paid or unpaid.

Research: Students plan and conduct experiments using the scientific process and discover new knowledge. Research SAEs can be entrepreneurial or placement and can be conducted along or cooperatively with other students or mentors/employees.

Exploratory: Exploratory SAE's are appropriate for all agriculture students. This SAE activity is usually beginner level and short-term. Exploratory SAEs should help students create a larger, more focused SAE.

School-Based Enterprise: These enterprises are student-managed, can be entrepreneurial or placement taking place in a school setting outside of regularly scheduled class time. The project provides goods and/or services that meet the needs of an identified market and should replicate the workplace environment as closely as possible.

Service Learning: This is a student-managed service activity where students are involved in the development of a needs assessment, planning the goals, objectives, and budget, implementation of the activity, promotion, and evaluation of a chosen project. The student(s) are responsible for raising necessary funds for the project (if funds are needed). Projects must be stand-alone and not part of an ongoing chapter project or community fundraiser. Service-learning SAEs may be individual or a small group effort amongst students.