WASHINGTON, D.C. – Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (MO-08), Oversight Subcommittee Chairman David Schweikert (AZ-01), and co-Chair of the Congressional Future Farmers of America (FFA) Caucus, Representative Tracey Mann (KS-01), are calling on the FFA to explain its partnerships with entities controlled by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) as part of the Committee’s investigation into malign foreign influence in the United States tax-exempt sector. In a letter to FFA, Smith, Schweikert, and Mann detail how the organization’s extensive ties to the CCP-controlled Syngenta Group, who pushed for the FFA to prioritize Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) efforts, call into question whether the group is fulfilling its obligations to its student members and as a 501(c)(3).

Chairmen Smith, Schweikert, and Representative Mann write, “From the international funding sources and activities of tax-exempt entities in the U.S., and the role of certain organizations in fostering antisemitism in American society, the Committee has engaged in continuous oversight ensuring all tax-exempt organizations are abiding by their exempt status and are avoiding actions that may erode, evade, or violate the purposes for which their tax-exempt status was granted. The National FFA is an organization that is dedicated to educating America’s youth in ‘leadership, personal growth, and career success through agricultural education.’ This mission is critical to the future of American farming, as over one million student members, across more than nine thousand state and local chapters in the United States, look to the National FFA for guidance. Working with our nation’s foreign adversaries and prioritizing woke policies over your mission raises serious concerns regarding whether the National FFA is complying with the requirements to maintain tax-exempt status.”

The letter underscores the Trump Administration and United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Brooke Rollins’s commitment to strengthening America’s national security by ensuring farm and food security and the role the education of our future farmers plays in that effort.

“Both the Committee and the FFA Caucus are working with the Trump Administration to prioritize both farm and food security within our national security infrastructure and ensure our future farmers—the ones that will be tasked with our nation’s food security—are best served by the organization federally chartered to educate them. As the United States Department of Agriculture (“USDA”) Secretary Brooke Rollins stated in the USDA National Farm Security Action plan – ‘Farm security is national security,’” the letter continues.   

The FFA is directed to provide information and documents to the Committee detailing ties between the CCP-owned Syngenta Group and the National FFA, and the company’s leadership of the FFA’s DEI policies by February 17, 2026.

You can read the full text of the letter here.