How Louisiana 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, evaluating meats or running a farm business plan. Louisiana chapters compete locally, then move up through the state level, and state winners earn a place at the National FFA Convention. This guide collects what Louisiana sources have published. The Louisiana FFA Association sets the current rules and schedules each year, so ask your agriscience teacher for the current handbook before you plan a team.
Which Events Louisiana Lists
The Louisiana Administrative Code includes a Career Development Events reporting form for agricultural education chapters. It asks advisors to record the highest level of participation (local, sub-district, district, area, state or national) in these contest events:
- Dairy Cattle, Dairy Products, Electricity, Farm Business Management
- Floriculture, Forestry, Horse Judging, Livestock Judging, Meats Judging
- Nursery/Landscape, Poultry, Small Engines, Soils Judging and Welding
The list shows the kinds of skills the state tracks. The events Louisiana teams actually entered at the national level in 2025 were broader, as the next section shows.
Louisiana at Nationals
The AgCenter report on the 98th National FFA Convention (Indianapolis, October 29 to November 1, 2025) lists Louisiana chapters' ratings:
- Gold: Agronomy (Jennings, 1st overall), Environmental and Natural Resources (Central Lafourche), Forestry (Kinder), Poultry Evaluation (Acadiana)
- Silver: Dairy Cattle Evaluation (Acadiana), Horse Evaluation (Acadiana), Meats Evaluation and Technology (Jennings), Milk Quality and Products (Jennings), Nursery/Landscape (Quitman)
- Bronze: Farm and Agribusiness Management (Jennings), Floriculture (Jennings), Food Science and Technology (LaSAS), Livestock Evaluation (Central Lafourche), Marketing Plan (Natchitoches Central), Veterinary Science (Assumption)
The year before, at the 97th convention in October 2024, Louisiana teams were rated in Agronomy (Jennings, gold, 2nd overall team), Forestry (Kinder, gold), Poultry Evaluation (Acadiana, gold) and many more events, including Dairy Cattle Evaluation and Management (Acadiana, silver), Farm and Agribusiness Management (Elton, silver), Floriculture (Weston, silver), Horse Evaluation (Kinder, silver), Veterinary Science (Jennings, silver) and Livestock Evaluation (Acadiana, bronze). Jennings and Acadiana appear in both years.
State Convention
State CDEs are tied to the Louisiana FFA State Convention. The 96th convention was held June 2 to 3, 2025, in Alexandria at the Randolph Riverfront Center and the Hotel Bentley, according to the US Army report. The 97th convention and expo took place in early June 2026. A Ruston chapter report in the Lincoln Parish Journal says Ruston High teams won the state championship in Farm Business Management and in Marketing Plan and will compete at the National FFA Convention in Indianapolis in October 2026. A Delhi Charter School post from June 5, 2026 lists a Food Science team that placed 8th in the state.
The 2022 convention, the 93rd, featured a Food Science CDE with a named superintendent, per the AgCenter convention report, which shows CDEs have a volunteer superintendent and committee behind them.
How Teams Qualify
Louisiana FFA divides into four areas, and leadership events send the top two from each area to state, according to published reports. Ruston's report says its two state-winning teams will represent Louisiana at nationals. The detailed qualifying steps for each CDE (team size, entry deadlines, fees) are in the Louisiana FFA rules and event handbooks, which the sources used here do not reproduce, so ask your chapter advisor.
Rating Levels
At nationals, the AgCenter reports use gold, silver and bronze ratings along with overall placings. Individual honors are also reported, such as a Jennings member placing 2nd in the nation in Agronomy and an Acadiana member 7th in Dairy Cattle Evaluation and Management.
What the Results Tell You
The 2024 report names individual medalists as well as teams. In Agronomy, Jennings member Hayden Hearod earned gold and 2nd overall, and in Forestry, Kinder's Sophie Bruchhaus was gold and in the top 8. Farm and Agribusiness Management gold went to Elton's Adam Fontenot, and Horse Evaluation gold to Kinder's Emma McKissick. The 2025 report adds that Jennings' Shaune Maynard placed 2nd in Agronomy. The takeaway for a new team is that national ratings are earned by individuals and by teams, so each member's score matters.
Louisiana educators also serve behind the scenes. The 2025 report lists a Georgetown High advisor on the national Agronomy CDE committee, the northern region agricultural education specialist as superintendent of the Forestry CDE committee, and the southwest region specialist on the Dairy Cattle Evaluation committee.
Choosing and Preparing
- Match the event to a class your chapter offers: a team without coursework behind it is at a disadvantage.
- Ask your advisor for the current Louisiana FFA CDE handbook and score sheets.
- Practice as a team, in the room and on the equipment, many times before the contest.
- Study what winning chapters do: Jennings, Acadiana, Kinder and Central Lafourche show up repeatedly in the reports.
- Watch for the state convention dates each spring.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is the Louisiana FFA State Convention?
Alexandria hosted the 2022 and 2025 conventions, per published reports.
Where do Louisiana state winners compete next?
The National FFA Convention in Indianapolis. The 2026 convention is in October.
Are the leadership events covered here?
No. Speaking and meeting events are in the Louisiana FFA leadership development events guide.
Guide checked Nov. 11, 2026. Rules and dates change; confirm with the organizer.