The Florida branch of Future Farmers of America will soon call Gainesville its home.
The organization geared toward teaching middle- and high-schoolers about agriculture announced plans to build a new 6,000-square-foot state headquarters on Florida Farm Bureau’s property at 5700 SW 34th St.
The project will cost about $1.5 million, said G.B. Crawford, a spokesman for the Florida Farm Bureau. Individual donors, businesses and private groups will contribute $150,000 toward the construction of the building, he said.
Ronnie Simmons, the executive director of Florida Future Farmers of America Association, said the organization has been leasing office space at the Farm Bureau office for the last two decades.
“Not only will the new facility give us quadruple the space, but it will allow us meeting space, conference facilities, dormitories for our student officers and an increased in-house production capacity to better serve the needs of our 17,000 Florida FFA members,” Simmons wrote in an email.
The current state headquarters is located about 130 miles south of Gainesville in Haines City.
Simmons said the new headquarters location can bring more opportunities for students.
Grady Roberts, an associate professor at UF, said Gainesville is a good choice for the headquarters because the university’s Department of Agriculture Education and Communication already works closely with Future Farmers of America.
“This will allow the Florida FFA Association to more effectively and more efficiently deliver their programs that may have an indirect impact on the university,” he said.
Kaitlyn Donaghy, a 20-year-old UF agricultural education and communication junior and an officer in the UF Collegiate Future Farmers of America chapter, agreed.
“I feel confident that the members will benefit directly,” she said. “I can only imagine the possibilities that will be opened up.”
The Florida Future Farmers of America recently announced plans to construct its new state headquarters on the property of the Florida Farm Bureau at 5700 SW 34th St.
