INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — For a group of dedicated volunteers from the Indiana business community, next week’s debut of the National FFA Convention in Indianapolis is the culmination of four years of intense planning.

“This has been a labor of love,” said Ted McKinney, a member of the FFA convention’s management team and a former Indiana State FFA officer (1977-78). “All along our goal has been to showcase the youth but we also see it as an opportunity for two communities to come together - the agriculture community and the general business community.”

The 79th National FFA Convention, Oct. 25-28, moves to Indianapolis this year after seven years in Louisville, Ky. Indianapolis will play host to the nation’s largest annual youth convention for the next seven years.

McKinney, leader, U.S. Food Chain for Dow AgroSciences, said that registration for the convention is nearing 55,000 with 45,000 of those being students. According to the National FFA, students will fill 13,000 hotel rooms during the four-day event.

“We (the FFA) have literally taken over the city,” he said. “Hotels are full downtown and they are booking rooms as far out as Lebanon, Plainfield, Shelbyville and Greenfield.”

The Indiana Convention Center and Conseco Fieldhouse will serve as the centers of activity, but they are not the convention’s only venues. FFA programs will take students to the Indiana State Fairgrounds, most of the major downtown hotels, the RCA Dome, Fort Benjamin Harrison, and a few other areas around the city.

“When we bid (for the convention), we deliberately wanted to expose these FFA students to a safe, yet diverse, urban area,” McKinney said. “It is important that Indiana and the city leave a good impression on these visitors because for some it’s the first time they have been outside of their state or even to a larger city.”

The city of Indianapolis is making sure that FFA members feel welcome by closing Georgia Street - between Conseco Fieldhouse and the RCA Dome - and renaming it FFA Way during the convention, according to McKinney.

“This will be the signature walkway and we’ll see FFA jackets in rare form and in great numbers here,” he said.

A huge undertaking
Hosting an event of this size takes a great deal of planning and support from the community, according to McKinney.

“Both the agriculture and general business communities have stepped up in both human capital (volunteers) and fund raising,” he said. “It’s been a terrific partnership.”

The number of volunteers needed at this year’s convention exceeds that of any other because of the new National FFA Day of Service and the addition of several tours, McKinney said.

“Many of our volunteers have been working on this for years, and many others are coming in to help during the convention,” he said.

Hoosier-based organizations, including the Lilly Endowment, Elanco Animal Health and Dow AgroSciences, have also come in big with financial support for the convention, in addition to the many companies that are longtime supporters of FFA and the national convention.

Other Indiana agribusinesses making significant contributions include Indiana Farm Bureau, Beck’s Hybrids, National Starch and Chemical, Countrymark Co-op and the Agri Business Group (ABG).

“Purdue and its College of Agriculture, while not a financial supporter, came through with manpower, technical expertise and facilities,” added McKinney. “The general business community has stepped up as well with companies such as banks, law firms and insurance companies contributing.”

Many other Indiana companies are opening their businesses for tours during the National FFA Convention. There are several types of tours offered, including Career Success and Educational Site tours, according to McKinney.

“The breadth and depth of the tours offered this year is amazing,” he said. We have had to work to get several thousand students through each of these tours, not the normal hundreds.”

For more information about the FFA convention in Indianapolis, visit the FFA website at www.ffa.org

This farm news was published in the Oct. 18, 2006 issue of Farm World, serving Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan and Tennessee.