FFA Timeline By AJ1310 Jan 13, 1700 James Oglethorpe implemented agriculture education in Georgia Jan 13, 1700 Tomochici held conference with settlers to teach them Native American agriculture Feb 13, 1830 Cyrus McCormick patented the reaper Feb 13, 1840 Sir John Lawes invents commercial fertilizer Feb 13, 1850 Farmers begin to organize ( improved influence and marketing opportunities) Feb 13, 1860 US Department of Agriculture was established Feb 13, 1870 Steam powered tractors were introduced Feb 13, 1880 First hybrid crop was developed Feb 13, 1880 First pesticide was discovered Feb 13, 1890 Boll weevil invades US cotton Feb 13, 1900 Hog Cholera serum developed Feb 13, 1910 Disease resistant plants developed Feb 13, 1917 Smith Hughes act was passed Feb 13, 1920 Small tractors developed Feb 13, 1928 First National FFA Convention held in Kansas City Feb 13, 1929 The National Blue and Corn Gold were adopted as the official FFA colors Feb 13, 1930 The official creed was written by E.M Tiffany Feb 13, 1930 Rural Electrification Association was founded Feb 13, 1940 End of the "share cropper" era Feb 13, 1950 FFA is now in 48 states Feb 13, 1950 Screw worm was eradicated by release of sterile male flies Feb 13, 1965 New Farmers of America was merged with FFA Feb 13, 1969 FFA opened membership up to girls Feb 13, 1970 Hog Cholera was eradicated Feb 13, 1988 Future Farmers of America changed its name to National FFA Feb 13, 1989 The National Future Farmer magazine changed its name to FFA New Horizons Feb 13, 1990 Genetic engineering was developed Feb 13, 1997 The first Agri-Entrepreneurship awards were presented Feb 13, 2000 Bio fuel was used in farming Feb 13, 2000 Digital animal identification was started Feb 13, 2004 First live webcast of National FFA convention premieres on FFA.org