The National FFA Organization Tuesday announced a record-high student membership number of 850,823, an increase of 15 percent from last year. In addition, chapter numbers increased by 178, resulting in 8,995 chapters in the United States, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Interest in FFA and agricultural education continues to grow as membership and the number of chapters increase. The top five student membership states are Texas, California, Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee.

This year, the organization has more than 132,700 Latino members, more than 47,000 Black members and more than 13,000 American Indian and Alaska Native members. Further, 43 percent of the membership is female, and 50 percent is male, with .5 percent reporting as nonbinary, 4.7 percent undisclosed, and 1.2 percent unreported.

National FFA CEO Scott Stump adds, “As we continue to grow, we see the enthusiasm for agricultural education and FFA reflected in our membership.”