Alabama FFA Career Development Events

How Alabama FFA Career Development Events Work

Career development events, or CDEs, are contests where FFA members show practical agriculture skills such as judging livestock, identifying plants, welding, driving a tractor or working through a veterinary exam. In Alabama, most chapters work up through county and district contests to state finals held around the state FFA convention each June. The details below come from Alabama FFA documents, and dates, sites and rules change each year, so confirm with your advisor and the Alabama FFA calendar.

The Events

The 2024-2025 Contests and Awards Booklet lists these CDEs:

• Agricultural Construction and Maintenance, Agricultural Education and Agricultural Mechanics
• Aquaculture, Dairy Cattle Evaluation, Livestock, Meats Evaluation and Poultry
• Floriculture, Nursery and Landscape, Forestry and Land Evaluation
• Horse Evaluation and Veterinary Science
• Safe Tractor Driving and Small Engines
• Envirothon, for teams of five from the same school in grades 7 to 12

The booklet also lists a Compact Tractor Driving contest in the Central District and a Scrapbook contest in the South District. The 2026 state contest packet adds Agricultural Communications and an Agriscience Fair. Speaking, meeting and similar events are covered in the leadership guide.

2026 State Schedule

The 2026 packet gives these dates:

• May 29: Horse Evaluation at the Auburn University Horse Center
• June 2: Aquaculture at the E.W. Shell Fisheries Center in Auburn
• June 9: all other state CDEs and LDEs, including Ag Communications, Ag Construction, Ag Mechanics, Floriculture, Forestry, Meats Evaluation, Nursery Landscape, Poultry, Quiz Bowl, Safe Tractor, Small Engines and Veterinary Science, at sites in Opelika and Auburn
• June 10: Agriscience Fair judging in Montgomery
• June 11: CDE award presentations at the Montgomery Performing Arts Centre

The 2026 convention schedule runs Tuesday, June 9 to Friday, June 12, with Floriculture, Nursery Landscape, Meats Evaluation and Veterinary Science starting at 7:45 a.m. on June 9 and Forestry at 8:30 a.m. Many other events start at 9:00 a.m.

Who Can Compete

Per the booklet, members must be in good standing with their chapter, the state association and National FFA at selection and at the event. For national participation, students must be in grades 7 to 12 and enrolled in at least one agriculture education course with an SAE program. A graduating senior may compete through the first national convention after graduation. Other rules:

• A student may compete in only one national CDE or LDE per year and only once in the same event.
• After competing nationally, a student may not compete in that district or state event the next year.
• Chapters must submit membership by February 1 and pay by April 1, or they cannot compete in district contests.
• Most teams are limited to four members, with Poultry counting the top three scores.

How Teams Advance

For many CDEs, the top four teams in each district advance to state. Livestock may require a county elimination if there is no fall or at-large district event. Forestry in the North District requires a county elimination for district entry. Dairy Cattle Evaluation has no county or district elimination and may be held before the convention, run with Alabama 4-H. Land Evaluation holds its state event before the convention and offers one travel stipend for International Land Judging in Oklahoma City or the National FFA Agronomy event in October. Agricultural Education starts with a lesson plan due to the district specialist by March 1, and the top six per district advance to an in-person contest.

Alternates are allowed at district level but not at state. Bringing one to state results in disqualification of the entire team.

Practice Limits and Contest Rules

• After March 1 of the contest year, designated state contest sites are off limits for practice for FFA members, advisors and volunteer coaches.
• Audio or video recording of any team is prohibited at all CDEs and LDEs.
• Using unapproved personal electronic devices can disqualify a competitor, and in events such as Livestock a cell phone or smart watch seen or heard means disqualification and a score of zero.
• Incorrectly completed scantrons, such as unshaded chapter numbers, are not scored.
• Late arrivals may be ineligible at the superintendent's discretion.

What to Bring

The 2026 packet gives event-specific lists. Floriculture, Nursery Landscape, Horse Evaluation, Poultry, Meats Evaluation and Veterinary Science call for two sharpened No. 2 pencils and a clipboard with no notes or markings other than chapter numbers, and several call for a basic calculator. Ag Mechanics contestants bring their own safety glasses, welding gloves, helmets and jackets. Ag Construction requires long pants, closed-toed shoes and a hair restraint, plus safety glasses and gloves for shingle work. Safe Tractor requires a signed release of liability form, and the packet says no form means no driving. Veterinary Science requires a chaperone for each team and a waiver for every student.

Awards and Nationals

The booklet says first place at state receives a chapter banner and a $500 travel stipend per team member for National Convention, with second through fourth place receiving banners. Stipends depend on sponsorship. Some events, including Ag Construction, Ag Education, Aquaculture and Small Engines, are not held at nationals. For national events not offered in Alabama, chapters may submit a video, and a committee selects the representative chapter, which pays a $40 per-event certification fee. The 2026 packet names Hartselle, New Brockton and Cherokee chapters as qualifiers in that category.

Choosing and Preparing

• Pick events that match a class you are taking.
• Use the event booklets on the Resources page of alabamaffa.org.
• Practice with the right tools, since several events require your own safety gear.
• Count your team early, because partial teams and alternates follow different rules at district and state.

Frequently Asked Questions

Guide checked Nov. 11, 2026. Rules and dates change; confirm with the organizer.