Rollins Calls FFA to Faith, Freedom, and Farming’s Future

The roar of blue corduroy filled Lucas Oil Stadium as thousands of FFA members rose to their feet to welcome U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins, an FFA alumna herself, to the stage at the National FFA Convention & Expo’s Session 2 on Thursday afternoon.

Rollins delivered a keynote that was equal parts patriotic address, call to service, and testimony of faith.

“The world consumes our food,” Rollins began. “They are not worried about who produced it or where it came from. They only want to know that we have the healthiest (which we do) the most abundant (which we do) the safest and the most efficient food supply in the world.”

America’s strength, she said, “has always rested on the shoulders of those who feed, fuel, and clothe our people.”

Speaking to thousands of FFA members, Rollins wove together themes of agriculture, faith, and civic duty. “We cannot continue to be the global leader in agriculture without all of you sitting in this room,” she said. “You are the future of agriculture.”

Rollins described leadership not as power but as purpose.

“Everything that you and I — all of us — do has a purpose that goes beyond what you can get out of it for yourself,” she said. “FFA is all about service leadership, which is rooted in self-sacrifice.”

Farming, she added, embodies that same ethic: “It’s about working for the good of your local community, acting for the good of your state and your nation, and serving the Kingdom of God. That’s what farming is about too.”

Quoting Thomas Jefferson, Rollins reminded members that agriculture “will in the end contribute most to the real wealth, the good morals, and the happiness of everyone in our new America.” More than two centuries later, she said, “those words could not be more true.”

While wearing her old blue corduroy, Rollins shared a story that resonated deeply with the crowd — her own FFA journey in Texas. As a student, she ran for state FFA president in 1990 but didn’t win. That loss, she told the crowd, became a defining moment.

“I said then in my speech, it’s not the position you hold or the title you possess — it’s the difference you make that counts,” she recalled. “Those words are just as true today.”

Her time in FFA, she said, taught her that resilience and faith outlast any election result. “For those of you who have run and maybe felt discouraged, please know there’s more to it than winning every time.”

Rollins connected that lesson to her work in Washington, D.C., saying her daily service at the U.S. Department of Agriculture is guided by the same principle: “to make agriculture great again, to make America great again, and to ensure that the great American experiment survives and thrives for another 250 years.”

Rollins spoke at length about faith’s role in shaping her view of leadership. She recounted a story she first told 35 years ago as an FFA student, about “one man who was born to a peasant woman in an obscure village … a carpenter and a preacher for the final three years of his life.”

“He didn’t live in a big city,” she said, “and he didn’t travel more than 200 miles from where he was born. He was humble, but always stood firm for what was right.” That man, she said, is “the perfect model of a servant leader and a witness to the difference that one person can make.”

Her message: faith and leadership are inseparable when grounded in truth and service. “By the grace of God and following in the way and the truth and the light,” she said, “that is where the real power resides.”

Rollins’s address also turned toward the moral foundation of America and the need to protect freedom of belief. “Some may accuse my faith-based comparisons as being out of touch,” she said, “but as George Washington … based everything he did on moral truth and a deep religious grounding, so must we.”

She warned that “the enemies of faith and freedom have tried their hardest to rip out the very soul of our country,” but said recent years have brought “a massive shift away from the dark and toward the light.”

“The American people aren’t stupid,” she said pointedly. “We are a country of opportunity, not a country of divisive action and categorization based on what last name you have or where you’re from.”

Rollins urged the FFA to “stand up for the values of rural America … to stand for common sense and merit and freedom and truth.” Those values, she said, “where family and faith and freedom are the center of everything we do,” will determine whether the nation “lasts another 250 years by God’s good grace.”

The future of FFA: A new USDA partnership

Rollins used the national stage to make a major announcement about the evolving partnership between the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the National FFA Organization.

“We are committed to helping inspire and engage the next generation of farmers and ranchers,” she said, “and all of those who are there to support that righteous work.”

For decades, she explained, the Department of Education has held FFA’s federal charter seat. “But starting just this week,” she announced, “I’ve signed a memorandum with our Secretary of Education, and we will be moving the FFA and our board seat over to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.”

Rollins said the change will strengthen collaboration between USDA and FFA’s leadership. “Our great leader, Dr. J. Hamey — a former state and national FFA officer whose heart is right here — will now play a major role in the leadership and future steps of the National FFA Organization,” she said. “I couldn’t be more proud of Jay, and I’m so excited that USDA is finally going to play a major role in the future of FFA.”

She described the move as “a sign of how seriously this administration takes its commitment to young people in agriculture,” adding that the partnership would “expand and enhance USDA’s engagement with FFA chapters across the country.”

Acknowledging the uncertainty many producers face, Rollins spoke candidly about the state of American farming. “The average age of the American farmer is 58 years old,” she said. “That is simply unsustainable.”

She said farmers “love what they have but are worried it will be stripped away from their children in years to come.” Even Americans outside rural areas, she added, “yearn to be warmed by the flame that rural America keeps alive.”

“When agriculture is under threat,” she warned, “all of America is under threat.” Yet she found hope in the next generation. “Participation in the FFA is a declaration that you are committed to leadership and to righteous values … to ensuring that the battle for what we know is right and true will continue.”

Rollins cited new USDA data showing a “more than 11 percent increase” in beginning farmers. “That’s more than 1 million producers identifying as new to the industry,” she said. “It’s proof that the flame of American agriculture is still burning strong.”

Rollins connected agriculture’s calling to America’s founding, saying that “so many of the fearless men and women who founded this nation and fought in the Revolution were farmers.” That heritage, she said, lives on through FFA members.

“This work isn’t just a job,” she said. “It’s a passion and a calling that’s joyful, righteous, and rooted in the biblical mandate to till the earth and exercise dominion over it.”

She called FFA students “the cornerstone of the American dream” and praised their generation’s potential to “fulfill the promise of better days through better ways.”

She emphasized that agriculture offers opportunity for all. “It doesn’t matter what small town you’re from, what color your skin is, what gender you are — none of that matters,” she said. “What matters is that this is the United States of America, and anyone can achieve anything with hard work and dreaming big.”

Her third point was deeply personal: “We are all called to meet our moment. God has His hand on all of us. We are urged and inspired every day to be part of something bigger than ourselves, to work hard for a righteous goal, and to fight for what we believe is right. There’s no youth organization in the world that does that better than the National FFA.”

Rollins closed her address by tying her message to the enduring imagery of the FFA emblem. “You are the guardians of a vast agricultural and American legacy,” she said. “Never forget what an honor it is to be a part of it — and never forget the duty that comes with that.”

As the crowd of students and advisors applauded, she offered one last reflection that echoed the FFA Creed’s optimism: “A new day is dawning on our farms and in our classrooms. And as we all know, the rising sun is the token of a new era in agriculture. Mark my words — the best is yet to come. God bless you, National FFA. God bless America.”

Heidi Crnkovic, is the Associate Editor for AGDAILY. She is a New Mexico native with deep-seated roots in the Southwest and a passion for all things agriculture.