Taking the lead as an agricultural ambassador, sophomore Seth Pratt of Blackfoot, Idaho, is the first National FFA Organization (formerly the Future Farmers of America) national officer from the University of Idaho in more than 20 years.
As Western Region Vice President, Pratt will tour farms and visit FFA chapters across the nation encouraging FFA agricultural members to pursue leadership.
“I think this is great recognition for Seth, and for the state of Idaho, and for the Idaho FFA program,” said John Folz, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences associate dean and director of academic programs. “I think it’s a bit of a testament to Seth’s preparation and hard work, and his willingness to try again, because he interviewed last semester and was not selected.”
Pratt — an agricultural science, communication and leadership major — comes from a cattle ranching background. His great-great-grandfather established Pratt Ranch in 1904. In high school he bought five cattle as part of his Supervised Agriculture Experience.
“Right now I have 19 head I believe, not counting some first-calf heifers that don’t have calves yet,” Pratt said. “You grow them over time, and then you keep track of the skills that you develop as you learn about agriculture in your SAE, which is outside of the classroom.”
Pratt joined his high school FFA chapter in 2005 as a freshman. It had five members when he joined, but he doubled the membership by bringing friends with him. When he left high school, the chapter had more than 40 members.
“I graduated from high school and had the opportunity to spend the whole year as a state officer,” Pratt said. “There’s (86) chapters all over the state of Idaho … my team visited 84 of them.”
Pratt said this position allowed him to interact with national officers, who encouraged him to run for national office. He ran in 2010 but didn’t make the cut. Undeterred, he came to UI for a year then tried again.
“Being one of the six national officers opens up tons of career opportunities for you to work in the agricultural industry,” said James Connors, department chair of Agriculture and Extension Education. “He’ll meet people in every state he visits.”
The National FFA Organization is open to members 21 and younger. Connors said most members are in high school, but UI has an active on-campus chapter. Although the organization was founded primarily for farmers, Folz said in recent years the emphasis has expanded to focus on leadership and life skills.
“It’s a great youth organization that teaches young people to be self-reliant and good leaders,” Folz said. “I mean, they have contests on parliamentary procedure, how to run meetings, then they’ve got all the (agriculture) stuff.”
Pratt said he doesn’t want to forget the roots of traditional agriculture production.
“Production agriculture is only 2 percent of the American people … but 15 percent of all the jobs in America are agricultural,” Pratt said. “I think that FFA needs to stay really agriculturally-focused.”
The last time Idaho had a national officer was in 1988-89 and 1989-90, when brothers Jeff and Casey Isom held office. Connors said Idaho has about 4,000 FFA members, so it is harder to compete with heavily populated states such as Ohio and California.
Pratt’s career goal is to work for an agriculture company for several years before returning to ranch life.
“After (business), I’d like to go home and raise cows and raise a family,” Pratt said. “I’m so grateful for my childhood, so I want to give the same to my kids.”