Hannah Alnemer doesn't live on a farm and doesn't plan to, but the Frisco teenager just might be the future face of farming.
"Living on a farm isn't for me," she said. "I'm a city girl."
Yet Alnemer, an ambassador for the Texas FFA Association, is among 12,000 young people attending the group's convention in Fort Worth this week.
The National FFA Organization is a group formerly known as Future Farmers of America. However, the organization hasn't formally used "farmers" in its name for years and is known simply by its acronym.
"We made the move back in the 1980s to change our name very intentionally from the Future Farmers of America to be the National FFA Organization and Texas FFA Association," said Texas FFA Association executive director Austin Large. "Agriculture is more than farming and ranching."
The 18-year-old Alnemer just graduated from Liberty High School.
She plans on majoring in mechanical engineering at the University of Texas in Austin and hopes to one day work in agriculture -- but not working the fields.
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"We're really urbanizing agriculture. We're out here promoting the FFA where people don't know what agriculture is. They've never seen a tomato grow off a vine."
Large, the group's executive director, is from California, but now lives in Austin. He doesn't have a farming background either.
"No, I didn't live on a farm and I'm here today as executive director of Texas FFA," he said. "So there's a spot for everyone in a blue and gold jacket."
Alnemer said she took an agriculture class her freshman year of high school and got hooked.
She once raised a pig, but quickly learned she wanted to work in other aspects of agriculture.
"There are jobs we are going to have in 10 years that are not created today just because our technology is going to advance so much," she said.
Her idea is to use drones to fly over farmers' fields to show consumers where their food comes from -- right on their smart phone.
"That's absolutely my dream," she said.
Large said the FFA supports its members – no matter what their ambitions.
"If that's your path, FFA will foster that in you," he said. "But if that's not your path, we'll help you find other ways to plug into the ag industry, either as someone employed in it or an informed consumer."
The FFA convention continues all week in Fort Worth. Mayor Betsy Price welcomed members to the city on Tuesday.
