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As we stand poised on the threshold of a new millennium, envision a world in which all people are well-fed, healthy and more prosperous than ever before. For centuries, people throughout the world have aspired to a high quality of life, and education has long been the principal tool needed to achieve those aspirations.

Just as education provides the vehicle to move us toward prosperity, agriculture provides the foundation we need to survive and prosperthrough an abundant, nutritious, safe food supply and a healthy, sustainable environment.

Through the Reinventing Agricultural Education for the Year 2020 initiative, a diverse group of people from across the nation had the opportunity to shape the future and meet the fundamental needs of society by creating a new vision for agricultural education. The system they envisioned begins in early childhood and continues throughout life.

Rather than reacting to change as it comes, the participants in this initiative took a proactive stance and looked ahead to develop a shared vision of their preferred future.

Agricultural education's strong heritage provides a solid foundation on which to build. Lessons learned from the pastsuch as the need to expand curricula to serve a more diverse student populationhave provided valuable insight for the future. The work begun in this initiative prepares us to deal effectively with changes in food production, environmental stewardship, human health, technology and the global economy.

As a result of the Reinventing Agricultural Education for the Year 2020 initiative, a new vision, mission and goals were developed for agricultural education. The vision expressed herein relates to the future of agricultural education on a global scale, whereas the mission has a more narrow focus and is written specifically for the school-based agricultural education community. Both statements apply to a national system of agriculture, food, fiber and natural resources education. The goals and objectives establish a strategic direction for the future.

"Agriculture" and "agricultural education" are broad, encompassing terms. The new vision for agricultural education employs the phrase "agriculture, food, fiber and natural resources systems" to describe this very broad field. The National Research Council has defined it as a field that encompasses "the production of agricultural commodities, including food, fiber, wood products, horticultural crops, and other plant and animal products. The terms include the financing, processing, marketing and distribution of agricultural products; farm production supply and service industries; health, nutrition and food consumption; the use and conservation of land and water resources; development and maintenance of recreational resources; and related economic, sociological, political, environmental, and cultural characteristics of the food and fiber system."¹

To achieve our vision and mission, we must engage in a global social contract to serve the needs of society, improve the quality of the environment, build leadership and collaboration, and develop new approaches to new challenges.

Vision

Agricultural education envisions a world where all people value and understand the vital role of agriculture, food, fiber and natural resources systems in advancing personal and global well-being.

Mission

Agricultural education prepares students for successful careers and a lifetime of informed choices in the global agriculture, food, fiber and natural resources systems.

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Sponsored as a Special Project of the National FFA Foundation, Inc.