MOULTRIE, Ga. — FFA (Future Farmers of America) has been a part of American tradition and heritage for more than 90 years. Today FFA is among the largest youth organization in the United States, with 669,989 members in 8,630 chapters throughout all 50 states.

When an organization has been around as long as FFA a few changes are bound to happen and this exactly what took place in 1969 when they allowed women to be a part of their organization. It has been 50 years since the inclusion of women and the agriculture business has changed so much as there are more women than ever in prominent roles such as ag teachers, talent recruitment, food safety and much more.

The Colquitt County High School branch of FFA took time to celebrate Friday with a get together with former female members of the group who went on to blaze their own paths in the agriculture business. Adrienne Smith, who was a student in the organization, currently teaches agriculture at CCHS, where she continues to mold the new generation as a program advisor for FFA. She set up the inspirational meeting, which featured stories from former members and a guest appearance from the first woman to be a part of the Butler High School FFA, Katrina McIntosh.

McIntosh, a retired teacher in the Colquitt County School System and wife of Moultrie Mayor Bill McIntosh, spoke fondly of memories of being   in the program, and she also spoke about the future of women in agriculture.

“It makes me happy that these young men and young women have the opportunity for leadership development, team development, and individual development,” McIntosh said. “I’m glad to see after 55 years when I was the Future Farmers of America Sweetheart in a little town called Butler, Georgia, in Taylor County, that those opportunities are still very important in the FFA.”

Women represented 38 percent of “about 300,000 persons … involved in making decisions for the farms that sold food directly in 2015,” according to statistics from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The future seems to be bright and in good hands, like those of Kaitlyn Hart, a senior from Colquitt County High School. Among an assortment of other FFA awards and activities, Hart was part of the Agricultural Sales Team that placed fourth in the nation at last fall’s National FFA Convention.

“Seeing my progress and what I have grown to do over these past three years, it taught how to preserve and it helped me start my own business through my supervised agricultural project,” Hart said. “When I first told Ms. Smith about it she said go for it and so to learn how to work out in the community and advertise, it really taught me how to preserve.”

Smith said people should no longer be surprised by women in the agriculture industry because time and time again women have proved themselves worthy and then some against there male counterparts.

“I’d like to see women taken seriously,” she said. “Some of the best students I’ve ever taught were women. I want to see them get the same opportunity as any man in the agriculture industry. I don’t want there to be any blink of an eye of somebody saying that females can’t do it or they aren’t capable.

“I hope those women are the ones I can sit back one day and look to watch them rise and become the CEOs and continue to become leaders.”