CARBONDALE, Ill. — By the time the National FFA Convention is over, John Edgar predicts his Southern Illinois University Collegiate FFA Chapter will have traveled nationwide, so to speak.

This SIU graduate student in agricultural education is predicting the SIU Chapter to go from the No. 3-ranked chapter to No. 1 in the nation, boasting the most campus members hosting the most high school and college events. That means just over 100 SIU students are helping host nearly two dozen FFA-related workshops, competitions and conferences a year on campus.

“We’re definitely staying busy between FAA, classes and everything else,” Edgar said.

Membership growth on U.S. college and university campuses is contributing to an historic 20 percent projected growth in FFA, National FFA Chief Operating Officer Joshua Bledsoe said.

Along with the membership, there’s growth climbing into professional fields as well, with a record 57,833 members in the FAA Alumni Assoc.

“I could not be any prouder,” Bledsoe added.

Edgar graduated in 2010 from the only high school in Jackson County with an active FFA chapter. Today, four county high schools have chapters.

“SIU has the third-largest FFA chapter in the nation as of 2012, the last time the official numbers were posted,” he said. “Since then, our membership has grown. We now have approximately 100 paid members, with a regular meeting attendance of about 60 members.”

The SIU chapter, Edgar said, remains the FFA model for collegiate chapters, in large part because SIU hosts more events and networks with more schools than any other collegiate chapter. He estimates SIU FFA works with 100 different high schools each year.

Each of the three largest events it hosts attracts roughly 500 students at a time to campus – that’s about 3,000 high school students attending SIU Collegiate FFA events a year. “This is a fantastic showcase for FFA, ag industries and for SIU,” Edgar added.

He also helped revive FFA at the Carbondale Community High School three years ago. Once Carbondale’s program stabilizes, he plans to focus on partnering with other schools to help establish more new or revived FFA chapters in the region.

Clearly, Edgar’s passionate about FFA. He even met his wife through FFA when they both served as Illinois state affiliate officers.

“This growth means there’s more opportunity to engage one more person in agriculture,” Bledsoe said. “If they don’t go directly into ag ... then they tend to be advocates for agriculture, FFA and education.”

The National FFA is forecasting a 20 percent membership increase in the next 20 years.