Emmy Powell
Communications Specialist<\/p>\n
The Texas FFA Association announced the selection of the 2026 Texas Farm Bureau (TFB) scholarship recipients during the 98th annual Texas FFA State Convention in Fort Worth.<\/p>\n
Andres Martinez received a $10,000 scholarship. Riley Farris, who served as Texas FFA\u2019s state president over the last year, received a $6,000 scholarship, and Cody Gonzales, Texas FFA\u2019s state first vice president, was awarded a $4,000 scholarship.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe scholarships recognize these individuals\u2019 dedication to agriculture,\u201d Dr. Clarissa Darby, TFB Youth Outreach coordinator, said. \u201cTexas Farm Bureau is proud of how they have represented agriculture and connected with their communities during their time in FFA. We wish them the best in their future endeavors.\u201d<\/p>\n
Andres Martinez
Martinez graduated from Mineola High School and plans to attend Tarleton State University to study electrical engineering. After graduation, he hopes to work for an electrical engineering firm.<\/p>\n
He was active in his FFA chapter, participating in livestock shows, greenhand creed speaking, greenhand chapter conducting, agricultural issues, floral design, agricultural mechanics, dairy cattle evaluation and farm & agribusiness management contests. He also served as a chapter officer for three years.<\/p>\n
Martinez was a member of the state-qualifying greenhand chapter conducting team, a three-time state-qualifying dairy cattle evaluation team and a two-time state-qualifying farm & agribusiness management team.<\/p>\n
Outside of FFA, he played varsity soccer and participated in the Chick-fil-A Leadership Academy and National Honor Society.<\/p>\n
One of his favorite agricultural advocacy efforts was helping with his chapter\u2019s Little Jacket Ag Day, where elementary students learned about livestock, floral design, agricultural mechanics and the importance of agriculture.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel grateful and honored to receive the Texas Farm Bureau scholarship,\u201d Martinez said. \u201cIt truly is a blessing that all my hard work is being recognized.\u201d<\/p>\n
Riley Farris
Farris graduated from Madisonville High School and plans to attend Texas Christian University to major in communication studies. She hopes to attend law school and pursue a career focused on agricultural policy.<\/p>\n
She competed in leadership development events: chapter conducting, agricultural issues, quiz and job interview; career development events: wool judging, horse judging, agricultural sales and marketing plan; and speaking development events: junior and senior prepared public speaking and extemporaneous speaking.<\/p>\n
Before serving as the 2024-25 Texas FFA state president, Farris was a chapter officer, Sam Houston District vice president and Area IX president.<\/p>\n
Throughout her year of service, Farris worked closely with Texas Farm Bureau to promote agricultural advocacy. She helped lead workshops that equipped FFA members with the tools to advocate for agriculture and encourage others to support the industry.<\/p>\n
Outside of FFA, she showed cutting horses, played softball, briefly competed in cross country and was active in Student Council, National Honor Society, Beta Club, Madison County Junior Bank Board and served as senior class president.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis scholarship means the absolute world to me,\u201d Farris said. \u201cIt truly shows Texas Farm Bureau\u2019s commitment to not only Texas FFA, but agricultural education. This scholarship is making my goals of pursuing agricultural policy a reality.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cody Gonzales
Gonzales graduated from Deer Park High School and will attend Texas A&M University to major in agricultural leadership and development with minors in political science and agricultural economics. After college, he plans to attend law school, become an oil and gas defense attorney and eventually seek public office.<\/p>\n
He served as the 2024-25 Texas FFA state first vice president, traveling across Texas to connect with FFA members and facilitate leadership workshops. Prior to serving as a state officer, Gonzales held leadership positions at the chapter, district and Area III levels.<\/p>\n
He competed in the agricultural issues and job interview leadership development events, as well as the milk quality and products career development event.<\/p>\n
Outside of FFA, Gonzales participated in band all four years of high school and served as head drum major during his junior and senior years. He was also active in National Honor Society, National Technical Honor Society and several other academic honor societies.<\/p>\n
During his year as a state officer, Gonzales worked with Texas Farm Bureau through leadership training and agricultural advocacy initiatives, gaining a greater appreciation for the organization\u2019s work on behalf of Texas agriculture.<\/p>\n
\u201cHonestly, my one word would be thankful,\u201d Gonzales said. \u201cKnowing that Texas Farm Bureau believes in me and is supporting my future means so much as I begin my college journey.\u201d<\/p>\n
TFB sponsorship
TFB, a corporate sponsor of Texas FFA, provides assistance to the organization through various youth outreach and development programs during the year, as well as a complimentary\u00a0TFB membership<\/a>\u00a0to each\u00a0FFA chapter in Texas<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Emmy PowellCommunications Specialist The Texas FFA Association announced the selection of the 2026 Texas Farm Bureau (TFB) scholarship…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":375561,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[15136,27,132803,29,28],"class_list":["post-375560","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-scholarship","tag-texas","tag-texas-ffa","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375560","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=375560"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375560\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/375561"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=375560"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=375560"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=375560"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}