Building Tomorrow’s Agricultural Workforce with NASA Acres at the National FFA Convention & Expo
This fall, NASA Acres reinforced its commitment to agricultural workforce development at the 2025 National Future Farmers of America (FFA) Convention & Expo, the nation’s leading event for agricultural education and leadership. With more than 70,000 students, educators, sponsors, and industry leaders in attendance, the convention represents an important pipeline for the next generation of farmers, scientists, engineers, and innovators.
NASA Acres’ Michael Humber, Allison Bredder, and Jacob Orser maintained a strong presence through meetings and on-site engagement with FFA leadership, teachers, sponsors, and classroom innovators. The team was able to help highlight NASA Acres’ role as a bridge between space-based science and real-world agricultural workforce needs, and to build relationships that offer opportunities for future farmers to gain early experience with NASA.
In conversations, educators consistently expressed interest in integrating NASA Acres-supported satellite remote sensing materials into agricultural curricula and FFA Challenges, giving students hands-on exposure to real-world data and emerging technologies. Teachers emphasized the growing importance to students of hands-on learning, field experiences, and opportunities to engage directly with scientists and industry professionals as they explore careers.
The team also engaged with sponsors and industry partners at the Sponsors Board Luncheon, Chair’s Reception, and across the expo floor. Conversations with programs such as FarmBeats, the Microsoft-supported in-classroom precision agriculture curriculum led by Ranveer Chandra, highlighted the strong alignment between industry-led ag-tech education and NASA Acres’ work bringing satellite data into classrooms and onto farms. This includes our work with students in Maui and at Garden City Community College, as well as field applications through FIAT.
Looking ahead, NASA Acres will continue building on these relationships with educators, farmers, and research partners to strengthen its role in equipping our nation’s agricultural workforce with competence in agriculture technology in order to effectively address the challenges and opportunities U.S. agriculture faces. Through real-world data, classroom-ready tools, and collaborative partnerships, the program remains focused on helping prepare the next generation of agricultural leaders.
Read more about NASA Acres’ Workforce Development initiatives here: Workforce Development — NASA Acres
