Topcon Sponsors National FFA to Support Youth, Introducing Them to the Benefits of Precision Ag Adoption

Topcon Agriculture has further strengthened its commitment to the industry through a major sponsorship with the National FFA Organization.

FFA is a school-based national youth leadership development organization that prepares members for career success through skills-based training and personal growth combined with science-based vocational education illustrating practical applications of STEM. It does so by helping them discover their talent through hands-on experiences and teaching life skills needed to achieve real-world success moving forward. The FFA mission is to make a positive difference in the lives of students by developing their potential for premier leadership, personal growth and career success through agricultural education.

"This is an outstanding opportunity for us to invest in the future of agriculture in a way that could not be more direct nor more impactful," said Michael Gomes, vice president of business development, agriculture, for Topcon. "Anyone who has grown up in rural America around farming knows and respects the FFA for the work it does in developing young people. Being able to help support the possibility of shaping the lives of these young men and women is genuinely exciting."

Topcon committed to becoming a sponsor of the National FFA Agricultural Proficiency Award for "Grain Production ? Entrepreneurship." The sponsorship also includes a series of five Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE) Grants to help FFA members fund their individual projects in any area of agriculture. Topcon will also continue the ongoing support for the National FFA Convention & Expo, being held this year in Indianapolis, Indiana.

"Today, less than 2% of the U.S. workforce is engaged in production agriculture, yet membership in FFA is at an all-time high at over a half-million members, based upon the value it creates for young people. It also speaks to the growing strength of agriculture and its future as both a sustainable and renewable resource. This bodes well for a world that is finding it increasingly hard to provide food, fiber and fuels for its burgeoning population," Gomes said.

Brian Sorbe, Topcon Agriculture vice president and general manager, Americas, said, "Many FFA members eventually choose careers in outdoor, hands-on industries such as agriculture, construction and surveying, often using Topcon tools of measurement. Young people in FFA today are learning skills to help them become the problem solvers of tomorrow.

"Helping young people understand the importance of sustainability ? and its role in their future ? is important. The link between the adoption of precision ag and those sustainability benefits, will in the long-term, benefit everyone. We at Topcon are extremely proud to lend insights on the value of the precision agriculture (PA) approach for that future," Sorbe said.

Additional information on Topcon and its work with FFA is available at topconpositioning.com/na/FFA.

About National FFA Organization

The National FFA Organization is a school-based national youth leadership development organization of more than 760,000 student members as part of 8,700 local FFA chapters in all 50 states and Puerto Rico. The FFA mission is to make a positive difference in the lives of students by developing their potential for premier leadership, personal growth and career success through agricultural education. For more, visit the National FFA Organization online at FFA.org and on Facebook and Twitter.

About Topcon Positioning Group

Topcon Positioning Group, always one step ahead in technology and customer benefits, is an industry leading designer, manufacturer and distributor of precision measurement and workflow solutions for the global construction, geospatial and agriculture markets. Topcon Positioning Group is headquartered in Livermore, California, U.S. (topconpositioning.com, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook). Its European head office is in Capelle a/d IJssel, the Netherlands. Topcon Corporation (topcon.com), founded in 1932, is traded on the Tokyo Stock Exchange (7732).

Photo provided in the press kit is courtesy of the National FFA Organization.