Agricultural Issues Forum: How Researching Both Sides Builds Credibility (and Critical Thinking)
Deep Dives on Specific FFA Contests and What They Teach
Persuasion is easy when you only tell one side of a story. Credibility is harder, because it requires showing the audience you understand the opposing case well enough to describe it fairly. FFA’s Agricultural Issues Forum is built around that harder task. Teams research a real agricultural issue and present both sides, then let the audience weigh them. This article looks at the event format, FFA’s own account of what it develops and a checklist for building a credible presentation. The title’s claim that researching both sides builds critical thinking is plausible and consistent with FFA’s descriptions, but no source here measures it.
- Key takeaway: presenting both sides forces a team to understand an issue, not just advocate for it.
- Team size: three to seven students.
- Judged on: content, creativity and respect for diverse cultures.
The Event
FFA’s Agricultural Issues Forum page says students research and present current agricultural issues to public audiences, promoting professional ethics and standards. Participants investigate local, state, national and international issues, develop presentations and demonstrate understanding through portfolios, presentations and questioning. Teams of three to seven present creatively, using props and technology, and presentations are judged on content, creativity and respect for diverse cultures.
FFA’s coverage of the 2025 national event, FFA Members Find Their Voice in the Agricultural Issues Forum, says the event challenges teams to research real-world topics and present both sides through a creative presentation. Event superintendent Stacy Vincent says students do not tell people what to decide; they provide the facts of both sides and allow stakeholders to make the decision. That description is the closest FFA comes to defining credibility for this event.
Why Both Sides Matter
It Forces Real Understanding
You cannot fairly describe the other side from slogans. The research has to include the strongest arguments each side makes, and the evidence each side cites. Advance CTE’s Career Ready Practices list critical thinking to make sense of problems and persevere in solving them, a close fit for this preparation. NACE also lists critical thinking among its eight competencies.
It Builds Trust With an Audience
Audiences notice when a presenter represents opponents fairly, and it makes the rest of the presentation more believable. That principle is general communication practice. FFA’s event description supports it indirectly by naming professional ethics and standards as a goal.
It Can Have Real Reach
In the same 2025 article, Vincent says one chapter spoke directly with their governor and influenced agricultural policy through their research. That is one reported example, not a typical result, but it shows what the audience for an issues presentation can be.
A Credibility Checklist
These points are this site’s suggestions, written to fit the event description. They are not FFA scoring criteria.
- Define the question neutrally. Could someone on each side agree with how you stated it?
- List the strongest argument each side makes. If you can only list weak ones, keep researching.
- Check who produced each source. Note funding, purpose and date.
- Separate fact from opinion in your portfolio and on your slides.
- Show uncertainty honestly. Say what the evidence does not settle.
- Respect your audience. The page says presentations are judged on respect for diverse cultures.
- Prepare for questions. The page says questioning is part of demonstrating understanding.
Practice Drill
- Pick a debated agricultural topic your chapter knows.
- Split the team: half researches each side for one week.
- Swap and present the other side’s case as if you believed it.
- Ask each side whether it recognized its own position in the presentation.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many students are on a team?
FFA’s page says teams of three to seven students.
Is the event only for students interested in policy?
An advisor quoted in FFA’s 2025 coverage says the event builds more than public speaking, including reasoning skills. Because the issues are agricultural, they can touch production, markets, the environment or consumers.
Who is the audience?
The page says public audiences. The superintendent calls it a chance to practice educating adults in their communities.
Honest Limits
The sources describe the event and the intended skills; they do not report whether participants end up better critical thinkers, and no study is cited here. The both-sides format does not make every issue evenly balanced, since some questions have strong evidence on one side, and a good presentation says so. Rules, judging criteria and topic requirements change, so use the current handbook. Student quotes from the 2025 article are not repeated here.
Past presidents on this site with long careers in cattle, agricultural economics or communication include Donnell Brown, Kelli Evans and Jackie Mundt. Their bios do not mention this event.