Florida FFA Career Development Events

How Florida FFA Career Development Events Work

Career development events, or CDEs, are contests where FFA members prove practical agriculture skills: judging livestock, identifying citrus problems, mixing a floral arrangement or running a farm budget. Florida FFA lists events for both high school and middle school members on its competitive events page. Florida FFA says its members take part in nearly 50 leadership and career development events each year. Event rules change, so treat this as a roadmap and check the current rules for your event.

High School Events

The state lists these high school events with team sizes. Most judging-style teams are three to four members:

• Agricultural Communications (team of 4), Agricultural Sales (3-4) and Agricultural Technology and Mechanical Systems (3-4)
• Aquaculture, Citrus, Forestry, Land Evaluation and Environmental Science and Natural Resources (all 3-4)
• Dairy Cattle Evaluation and Management, Horse Evaluation, Livestock Evaluation, Meats Evaluation and Poultry Evaluation (all 3-4)
• Floriculture, Nursery and Landscape, Vegetable Evaluation and Food Science and Technology (all 3-4)
• Farm and Agribusiness Management, Milk Quality and Products and Veterinary Science (all 3-4)
• Agricultural Education (individual), Safe Tractor Operation and Maintenance (individual) and Ornamental Horticulture Demonstration (individual or team of 2)

Middle School Events

Middle school members have their own set, including Aquaculture, Citrus, Dairy Cattle Evaluation and Management, Farm and Agribusiness Management, Floriculture, Food Science and Technology, Forestry, Horse Evaluation, Land Evaluation, Livestock Evaluation, Meats Evaluation, Milk Quality and Products, Nursery and Landscape, Poultry Evaluation, Vegetable Evaluation and Tool Identification. Those are teams of three to four, per the events page. Ornamental Horticulture Demonstration can be an individual or a team of two.

The page does not label every event as a CDE or an LDE. Speaking, meeting and similar events are covered in the leadership guide.

Virtual Preliminaries

Chapters compete in a virtual preliminary before later rounds. Under the 2025-26 virtual preliminary guidelines:

• Students take the exam through the Virtual Events page on the Florida FFA website, with a password supplied by the proctor.
• Exams are available from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Eastern, and an entire team must test at the same time.
• Schools with multiple chapters on one campus must test simultaneously or risk disqualification of the whole chapter.
• Students must enter their name as it appears on the FFA roster and their 4-digit chapter number, including leading zeros. A wrong entry on the scansheet scores zero.
• Personal electronic devices are not allowed, and every student must agree to an integrity statement.
• A chapter's top three scores determine team placing, and chapters may enter more than eight students for $5 per extra student.

The proctor must be an unbiased, in-person adult who is not an agriculture teacher, advisor or relative of an examinee, and must provide a quiet room where students cannot see one another's screens. Preliminary scores do not carry over to the next round, and the guidelines do not give the advancement cutoff. Ask your advisor how your chapter advances.

State Finals and the Convention

State finals dates and places vary by event. For example, the 2025 Forestry CDE state finals were Thursday, November 6, at the Florida Forest Festival Grounds in Perry, with 12 district champions competing, per the Lafayette FFA report. The state convention also features contests. The 98th Florida FFA Convention ran June 15 to 19, 2026, at the Caribe Royale in Orlando, and recognized first-place state team members and high individuals on stage. Second through fifth place teams each get on-stage recognition for one individual and one advisor.

Registration

The Florida FFA calendar page says registration opens about 30 days before each event. Deadlines appear in the "Register/Receive By" column of the official calendar, and teams that do not register on time are not eligible. Teams that qualify at a preliminary event do not need to register again for state finals.

What Changed for 2025-26

The state's revisions summary lists changes worth knowing:

• Agricultural Technology and Mechanical Systems finalists must present a safety waiver at check-in, and a student stopped for unsafe skills forfeits practicum points.
• Citrus added the Florida Citrus Production Guide as an exam resource.
• Floriculture added a production practicum with retail pricing.
• Meat Evaluation retail cut identification changed to 30 to 40 cuts.
• Food Science special-needs requests are due at least thirty days before the event.
• Veterinary Science practicums rotate between even and odd years.
• Environmental Science GPS rules changed: units needing an ancillary device to communicate are allowed, and units with built-in direct communication or data sharing are prohibited.

Choosing and Preparing

• Pick an event that matches a class you are taking and a skill you can practice weekly.
• Read the event's own Rules, Resources and Judging Card links on the events page.
• Count your team early, since a short roster may not qualify.
• Results are posted at judgingcard.com/Results, per the events page.
• Remember that your advisor is responsible for reviewing the state policies with competing members.

Frequently Asked Questions

Start with the Florida FFA competitive events page, then ask your advisor for this year's dates.

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