FFA makes a positive difference in the lives of students by developing their potential for premier leadership, personal growth and career success through agricultural education. FFA membership today is comprised of 850,823 student members in grades five through twelve who belong to one of 8,995 local FFA chapters throughout the United States, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
FFA operates on local, state and national levels. Student members belong to chapters organized at the local school level. Agriculture educators serve as chapter advisors. Chapters are organized under state associations headed by an advisor and executive secretary, often employees of the state department of education. States conduct programs and host annual conventions.
FFA members embrace concepts taught in agricultural education classrooms nationwide, build valuable skills through hands-on experiential learning and each year demonstrate their proficiency in competitions based on real-world agricultural skills.
North Carolina FFA has additional rules and requirements for membership, including incentive affiliates and early camp registration. To learn more about North Carolina's specific requirements, click here.
There are several types of membership options available. Browse the options below to find the option that works best for your chapter:
In the regular membership model, dues are collected from students and submitted to the state and national organization. Currently, North Carolina FFA member dues are $12 for high school students ($7 national + $5 state); and $8 for middle school students ($7 national + $1 state).
The membership year runs August 1 - July 31, so you may submit membership anytime after August 1 for the 2023-2024 year. Upon submission of a roster to State, an invoice will be generated by ffa.org. Once your payment for that batch has been received at the state office (for both national + state dues), those students will be submitted for national approval. If you need to add more members, simply follow the same steps to submit a second batch. A new invoice will be generated for each unpaid batch. If you have not paid for the previous batch, a consolidated invoice will be generated for both batches.
The state membership deadline is March 1, 2024.
Under program affiliation, all students enrolled in an agricultural education course are FFA members. Instead of collecting dues from each member, chapters fundraise or receive sponsorships to pay an affiliation fee for all students enrolled in their agricultural education program. Chapters that choose to participate in the affiliate program must request affiliation via ffa.org under the chapter profile > program/chapter data page > dues/fees tab. Requests to begin or cancel participation in the affiliate program must be made by November 1 of each year.
Affiliate membership resources from National FFA
Invoicing for affiliate membership is processed through ffa.org, and is based on the previous year's membership. This allows advisors one year to plan accordingly for fundraising, business contributions, etc.
The membership year runs August 1 - July 31, so you may submit affiliate membership anytime after August 1 for the 2023-2024 year. You may find it helpful to submit a fall roster, and another roster in the spring.
The state membership deadline is March 1, 2024.
For $350 ($300 national + $50 state), every agriculture student in your middle school program can be an FFA member.
Middle school flat fee option resources from National FFA
Chapters that choose to participate in the middle school flat fee option must make the request via ffa.org under the chapter profile > program/chapter data page > dues/fees tab. Requests to begin or cancel participation in the middle school flat fee option must be made by November 1 of each year.
The membership year runs August 1 - July 31, so you may submit affiliate membership anytime after August 1 for the 2023-2024 year. You may find it helpful to submit a fall roster, and another roster in the spring.
The state membership deadline is March 1, 2024.
FFA membership is available to home school students in North Carolina who are enrolled in an agriculture course and have a supervised agricultural experience (SAE) project. Students may join the NCSU Agriscience Academy, which is our homeschool chapter of students from across the state. NCSU Agriscience Academy students may compete in regional and state level events as individuals. A home school may also establish their own FFA home school chapter, and student members may compete in regional and state level events as individuals or a team.
If you would like to start an agricultural education program and FFA chapter at your school, please click here for step by step instructions. A sample constitution is also available for you to use as a guide to creating your FFA chapter constitution.
Once your agricultural education program is established and an agriculture teacher is in place, reach out to your regional coordinator to begin the process of starting an agricultural education program and chartering an FFA chapter. A chartering ceremony can also be requested by contacting the State FFA Coordinator.
