'The Nation's Youngest Capitalists': Future Farmers of America and the Politics of Agriculture in the Twentieth Century

For much of the twentieth century, the Future Farmers of America was one of the most powerful youth organizations in the country and a leading voice of the American farmer. Its top members met regularly with U.S. Presidents, including Jimmy Carter who was an alumnus of the organization, and high-ranking executives from the nation's largest agribusinesses. As they developed social capital networks, Future Farmers and FFA alumni gained a reputation as the rising elite of American agriculture. Perceived to be exemplars of agricultural capitalism, active Future Farmers and alumni consumed agribusiness products, promoted technological advancement, influenced agricultural markets, and accumulated substantial amounts of agricultural capital which they reinvested into expanding their farming operations. FFA leadership supported these perceptions by ensuring that members became the most visible representatives of, and were most likely to describe themselves as, the future of capitalist agriculture in the United States. This visibility was communicated by putting corporate and political leaders into contact with those young men best exemplifying the traits of the FFA's core identity, one which was patriarchal, Protestant, wealthy, and white, reinforced materially by the FFA's blue corduroy jacket. This examination of the Future Farmers of America shows how the organization supported wealthy farmers as they sought to build financially stable farming operations for themselves, while protecting their rural communities as vibrant civic spaces. This examination is twofold, using the FFA as a lens to examine the economic and social transformations in American agriculture during the twentieth century, while simultaneously exploring the ways in which the FFA's staff, along with its members and alumni contributed to and supported these changes. By examining the Future Farmers of America, we can see reflected the capitalist transformations within American agriculture over the course of the twentieth century. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]