The Merger of the Future Farmers of America and the New Farmers of America in 1965: A Phenomenological Case Study

Abstract

This qualitative single-case study examined a purposive sample of six participants, focusing on how their experiences as members of NFA during the period in question were retrospectively interpreted. The participation of African Americans in agricultural education has evolved through significant historical and institutional change. The Future Farmers of America, founded in 1928, preceded the establishment of the New Farmers of America in 1935, which was created to support African American male students through leadership preparation and agricultural instruction in segregated settings. In response to desegregation efforts following the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the NFA and FFA merged in 1965, thereby ending the NFA as a separate entity and establishing a single integrated organizational structure in agricultural education. Using phenomenologically oriented interviews and reflexive thematic analysis, this study explored how participants interpreted the legacy of that merger. The study was guided by Structural Discrimination and discussion of identity and belonging within a constructivist paradigm, which assumes that meaning is socially constructed through lived experience and interpretation. Findings were organized into five themes: perceived beneficial effects of the 1965 merger on agricultural education, perceived negative effects of the merger, loss of African American identity, experiences and perceptions of racial discrimination, and the future of agricultural education for African Americans. The findings suggest that participants viewed the merger as a historically complex and uneven process. On one hand, they associated integration with expanded access to scholarships, contests, leadership development, and professional opportunities. On the other hand, they connected the merger to the erosion of Black educational spaces, the decline of African American agriculture teachers, the loss of NFA traditions, and the persistence of racial inequities within agricultural education. Participants’ accounts therefore indicate that formal inclusion did not necessarily result in equality, belonging, or shared institutional power. This study contributes to the literature by centering participant interpretations of how integration reshaped African American experiences in agricultural education. In doing so, it highlights the importance of representation, mentorship, historical recognition, and institutional accountability in efforts to strengthen the future participation of African Americans in the profession. It also offers theoretical, practical, and research implications for understanding the continuing legacy of the NFA-FFA merger.