FFA ‘tractor’ raffle keeps growing

By Sean Ellis

Idaho Farm Bureau Federation

BOISE – An annual “tractor” raffle has become a visual symbol of the Idaho FFA program, as well as an important fundraising tool.

In its 14^th year, the raffle continues to raise scholarship money for FFA members and for the 100 FFA chapters across Idaho.

Six thousand tickets were sold and $120,000 was raised this year. Half the money will go toward scholarships while half will go back to individual FFA chapters.

Idaho State Department of Agriculture Director Chanel Tewalt drew the winning tickets for this year’s raffle on July 9 in Boise.

Tewalt and other witnesses to this year’s raffle drawing spoke about the FFA program and how it helps students and the state of Idaho.

There are currently more than 6,000 FFA members in Idaho.

“FFA is such a huge part of every Idaho community; whether you’re an employer, community member or aggie, we all benefit from the incredible students that go through FFA,” Tewalt said. “It is an incredible program. There are not enough superlatives to describe Idaho FFA.”

Tewalt said FFA members “grow and develop into leaders, innovators, and collaborators, and make big differences in Idaho and global agriculture.”

She said that engaging with FFA students is one of the best parts of her job.

“It is not a trite statement to say that these students are the next generation of Idaho agriculture,” she said. “They make incredible employees. They’re leaders and innovators.”

The winner of this year’s grand prize – a 2023 Can-Am Maverick Trail 700 utility vehicle – was Doug Lammle and the winning ticket was sold by the Nampa FFA Chapter.

Kevin Barker, an ag education teacher and FFA advisor from Notus, said it’s important to support FFA because of the opportunities it provides students, who are the future of the ag industry, as well as society in general.

“You can take any kind of a kid, from anywhere, and put them in the FFA and ag ed program, and it will enlighten them to all the different types of career opportunities available to them, whether it’s production agriculture, or the technical side of the industry,” he said. “It really teaches responsibility. It teaches them that they can be successful in pretty much any career they choose.”

Caldwell farmer Sid Freeman and his wife, Pam, started the raffle as a way to support a program they believe strongly in.

With the help of ag-related businesses, the Freemans in 2010 refurbished a 1941 Farmall tractor and hauled it around the state on a borrowed trailer to promote it. It was raffled off in April 2011. 

The raffle has simple beginnings: the Freemans saw it as a way to get rid of an old tractor.

But it has grown into the Idaho FFA Foundation’s main scholarship fundraising effort and it has become a visual symbol of the Idaho FFA program.

It has also helped boost awareness of agricultural education.  

“I knew how big I would like to see the raffle become; we’ve reached that,” Sid Freeman said. “This thing has just become phenomenal.”

He said Congress established the FFA for a reason.

“It’s not just important to our society, but the fact that these students are far more likely to graduate from high school, go on to a post-secondary education of some kind and complete that, and then come back to our communities as leaders in the future, you can’t put a price on that,” Freeman said.

After the first raffle in 2011, other farms and agribusinesses donated tractors in subsequent years and in 2020, the raffle program started offering off-road utility vehicles as the grand prize to attract a wider potential audience of ticket buyers.

Businesses have supported the raffle in a big way.

Hundreds of thousands of dollars have been donated to or raised for the tractor raffle program over the years from businesses across Idaho in the form of banner sponsorships as well as in-kind contributions and ticket sales.

In 2020, FFA officials raised ticket prices from $10 to $20 and began directing half of the money back to individual FFA chapters.

“It’s evolved over the years and is still making a huge impact in the Idaho FFA Foundation and everything that we do,” said Executive Director Carly Weaver.

The following were runner-up winners in this year’s raffle drawing:

• Nicole Lott was the winner of a Traeger grill donated by Campbell Tractor Company. That ticket was sold by the Jerome FFA Chapter.
  • Cedro Toro was the winner of a $500 D&B Supply gift card donated by D&B Supply. The ticket was sold by the Middleton FFA Chapter
  • Matt Hodges won a cooler/BBQ bundle donated by Valley Wide Cooperative. The ticket was sold by the South Fremont FFA Chapter.