This year’s International Leadership Seminar for State Officers (ILSSO) conference took 75 past and current state FFA officers to Australia. During their 10-day adventure, attendees networked with one another while seeing what agriculture — and life — is like Down Under. The trip included a stop in Canberra, the national capital of Australia, to learn about the Future Farmers Network of Australia. Attendees also visited with farmers, producers and agritourism leaders in the cities of Griffith, Echuca and Geelong.
“If you qualify, I highly recommend applying to attend ILSSO in 2025,” says Ashli Weinrich, a National FFA program specialist and one of the event’s organizers and attendees. “You’ll form strong bonds with your peers and experience agriculture in an entirely new way. It’s unforgettable.”
According to a National FFA survey, this once-in-a-lifetime experience increased participants’ agricultural literacy and positively impacted their personal growth. Read on to learn about several of this year’s attendees and their key takeaways.
According to Ella Underberg, New York FFA state president, her ILSSO experience was “the trip of a lifetime.” Although she's no stranger to agriculture, one aspect of the Australian landscape surprised her — and she’ll remember it each time she eats rice.
“In New York, we go from grapes to corn to cattle to dairy all within about 50 miles of one another, but we definitely don’t have rice farms,” she says. “I’ve never seen anything like them, and I was completely blown away.”
For more than half of this year’s ILSSO attendees, including Underberg, this marked their first trip abroad. Underberg says the experience increased her interest in international travel, and she already has another trip planned.
“As soon as I got home, my mom and I planned a trip to Scotland for June,” she says. “We’re setting up our farm tours now and we can’t wait.”
Abbygail Davis, who served as the 2022-23 Louisiana FFA state reporter, says attending ILSSO opened her eyes to the multitude of career opportunities available in agriculture.
“Learning about agriculture on a global scale helped me find clarity about what I want to do when I graduate from college,” says Davis, an American FFA Degree recipient and current sophomore at Louisiana State University.
In addition to learning about Australian agriculture, Davis enjoyed meeting and developing fast friendships with fellow FFA members from chapters across the U.S.
“In FFA, you never meet a stranger, and this was the case on the ILSSO trip,” she says. “I met so many amazing people who I plan to stay in contact with for years to come.”
For Florida FFA State Vice President Mackenzie Cunningham (above right), ILSSO was the perfect opportunity to begin discovering the many differences — and similarities — in agricultural values and practices across the world.
“This helped me realize the agriculture industry is truly so diverse and different from place to place,” she says. “It also proved that production agriculture is still the backbone of our future, no matter what country we reside in.”
Cunningham recommends this conference to anyone who’s interested in exploring a new part of the world and making friends along the way. “The experiences you get and connections you build are so worthwhile,” she says. “You can’t find something like this anywhere else.”
Current and past state officers with active FFA memberships, don’t miss your chance to apply for next year’s ILSSO.
