President Trump speaks to FFA convention in Indy
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – President Donald Trump served as the keynote speaker at the 91st annual FFA Convention and Expo Saturday afternoon at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.
After landing at Indianapolis International Airport on Saturday afternoon, President Donald Trump spoke to the media about a mass shooting at a synagogue in Pittsburgh.
The National FFA Organization is historically known as the Future Farmers of America, but according to the group’s website, the name was updated in 1988 to to “reflect the growing diversity and new opportunities in the industry of agriculture.”
Trump was the sixth sitting president to speak in person at the convention.
“It’s been a tradition of FFA to invite the president of the United States to speak to us every year,” said Mark Poeschl, CEO of the National FFA.
Moments after Air Force One touched down in Indianapolis, President Donald Trump spoke to the media about the tragic deadly Synagogue shooting, in Pittsburgh just hours earlier.
“What happened today is a horrible, horrible thing. We’re learning a lot about it. It looks definitely like it’s an antisemitic crime,” Trump said.
Trump spent the first 15 minutes of his speech to thousands of FFA members condemning the violence in Pennsylvania: “The vile hate filled poison of anti-Semitism must be condemned and confronted anywhere and everywhere it appears. There must be no tolerance for anti-Semitism in America or for any form of religious or racial hatred.”
Changing gears, the president discussed foreign policy and trade. He said a new U.S-Mexico-Canada trade agreement will help Hoosier farmers export more goods.
Trump said the new agreement “will increase exports for corn farmers in Indiana, wheat farmers in Kansas, dairy farmers in Wisconsin.”
Trump rallied the crowd of thousands when he mentioned agriculture education and expanding job training apprenticeships.
“We are providing more than $1 billion annually to keep vocational education and agriculture education in our public schools,” Trump explained. “How about that?”
The president continued, “You will carry on the traditions passed down through generations. You will do it with the skill and grit and heart and strength and pride that make America’s farmers.”