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UF student elected to FFA's national office

As a regional vice president, Erica Der will travel extensively to boost agricultural leadership and training. Here are her thoughts.

By JAY CRIDLIN
Published November 18, 2005

If you're driving down County Road 39 in Plant City, it's not hard to spot the Der family business, Southside Farm Supply.

"It has a really big horse on the roof," said Erica Der, the 20-year-old daughter of owners Dennis and Lori Der. "That's how people identify us."

The horse may want to watch out, because Erica Der's stock is rising. Last month, Der, a University of Florida junior, was elected to the national office of FFA, an organization with 490,000 members in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

As FFA's Southern Region vice president, Der will log more than 100,000 miles in 2006, traveling throughout North America and Japan to promote agricultural training and leadership. She recently chatted with the Times about life on and off the farm. Here are excerpts:

I have to ask: Are you familiar with the film Napoleon Dynamite?

Yes. (Laughs.)

How crazy is it to see this enormous pop culture icon who's also a member of FFA?

It's crazy. FFA loved it, because it was good publicity. We actually did some videos and creative skits at our convention that was related to Napoleon Dynamite. The representation of how FFA is doesn't really match up. But it was a funny movie.

What didn't quite synch up?

It's a much more professional organization. Dairy judging is one of our contests, but not really how they portrayed it. I actually did dairy evaluation, a little, but not exactly the way Napoleon Dynamite did it.

When you meet people who aren't familiar with FFA, what are their perceptions of the organization?

Their perception is that it's mainly for students who are going into farming or production agriculture. That is certainly not the case. We are preparing students for careers in agriculture, but even if students aren't planning on going into the industry as a profession, we provide leadership training that will be beneficial in any career field.

Describe the people in FFA once they get off the farm.

They're basically just like any other students. The ironic thing is that many of our students come from urban areas, and also from areas that are not farming-based communities.

What's the bigger threat to the future of Florida's agricultural industry: not enough young farmers or not enough farmable land?

FFA is working hard to keep people in production agriculture, and have students that we are training to go back to the farm. That's not for everyone, but we are trying to create those young farmers. Agricultural land is going to be an issue, but through new technologies that we've been creating, we've been able to produce more food on less land.

That's going to have to continue in the future, obviously, as urbanization continues. I think the biggest threat to the industry is just education. A lot of people aren't informed (about) how the industry works, and it's important, really, even for people who aren't directly involved in agriculture.

If you eat, agriculture affects you. If people don't have food and clothing and shelter, then they can't survive. It really is the backbone of our country.

[Last modified November 17, 2005, 08:14:05]