Every dollar you raise, every partnership you build, every boundary you set so you don't quit — it all exists so more kids get to belong to something that changes them. That's the work. Let's build it so it lasts.
More opportunities for students, not less.
Both editions are on Amazon now — see the books or browse the planners they pair with.
"Agricultural programs don't fail because their teachers aren't talented or committed. They fail because we drop good, devoted people into structurally fragile situations — and never teach them how to make the whole thing sustainable."— from Buy the Chickens First
Each book opens with a true story, draws out the lesson it taught, then hands you the tools — the checklists, frameworks, and steps you can use Monday morning. Read a free sample from any title before you buy.
An honest, funny field guide to the life of an ag teacher — eleven years, three programs, one doctorate, and the real lessons nobody hands you on day one. Not a textbook, not quite a memoir: a friend who's done this job, telling you the truth.
A year-long budgeting strategy workbook built from doctoral research on Perkins V funding sustainability — the self-contained PD that helps you break down your program's finances and build a model that doesn't rely on one grant cycle.
The Ag Teacher & Advisor Planner
A student leadership guide built to be a companion to the planner line — real alumni stories, guided reflection, and the grit, work ethic, and belonging that FFA gives kids long after the jacket comes off.
Officer & Member Editions
The same leadership framework, rebuilt for younger members — shorter reflections, first-year language, and the habits that turn a nervous seventh grader into the officer everyone counts on.
The Middle School Planner
Print planners built around the three-circle model, each with a free companion app included — because the paper and the app are meant to work together, not compete.
The complete system for classroom, leadership & SAE — weekly agenda, degrees, awards, CTAs/LOAs, budgets.
View on Amazon Try the app free (preview) →
Lead. Plan. Serve. Grow. Agendas, missions, treasurer & water contests, records.
View on Amazon
Plan. Track. Show. Lead. SAE weigh-ins & daily gigs, shows, budgets.
View on Amazon
Plan. Grow. Show. Give. A getting-started guide built for younger members' first steps.
View on AmazonCompanion web apps, built to run alongside the books — for the teacher, the student, both leadership editions, and the district cohort. Try a preview here; full access comes with the matching book or planner.
Keeps a fully functioning ag program organized around the National Chapter Award all year long — classroom, SAE, and FFA in one place.
Try the free preview →Full app included with the Ag Teacher & Advisor Planner.
Helps students track and organize their own Supervised Agricultural Experience — real records, kept consistently, all year.
Try the free preview →Full app included with the Student Planner.
The student leadership toolkit that runs with Lead From Your Seat — the Leadership Style Quiz, a meeting timer, SMART goals, and a photo log for the chapter historian.
Take the Style Quiz free →Full app included with Lead From Your Seat.
The same toolkit rebuilt for younger members, matched to the Middle School Edition — shorter units, first-year language, and its own materials list for every activity.
Take the Style Quiz free →Full app included with the Middle School Edition.
The PD tool for districts running the cohort model — fillable worksheets teachers can submit for professional development credit.
Request a district walkthrough →Access is provided to districts running the cohort model.
Dr. Amy Paterson has spent her career building agriculture programs from the ground up — literally. She founded the FFA program at Windermere High School, where she earned its first-ever National Chapter Award, and founded the program at Lakeview Middle School, which she built into a Premier Chapter. Along the way, she's developed State FFA Officers and State Officer Candidates, coached students to National Agriscience Fair championships, and grown programs from a handful of students into thriving departments — not through more staff or more budget, but through a strategic, sustainable framework.
Today, she teaches agriculture and advises FFA at Winter Park High School (Orange County Public Schools), where she's building a program from the ground up once again — putting her own framework to work in real time, not just teaching it from a stage.
Her doctorate in Educational Leadership examined Perkins V funding variability and the sustainability of CTE and agricultural education programs across five states. The dissertation is published and available through ProQuest, and the research became the backbone of her professional development series and her book, Sustaining Agricultural Education.
Beyond the classroom, she serves on the Orange County Agricultural Advisory Board, the Central Florida Fair Board, the District 1 Leadership Board, and the Orange County Green PLACE Advisory Board, and previously served as FAAE Board Secretary. She is the founder of The Rooted Ag Educator and the author of four books written for agriculture educators and their students at every stage of the journey.
Classroom instruction. Supervised Agricultural Experience. FFA. Most programs print this model on a wall. Dr. Paterson's work is teaching agriculture educators how to actually run all three, at once, without burning out.
Rigorous, hands-on instruction that gives students real tactile skill — the foundation every other part of the program stands on.
Supervised Agricultural Experience that turns classroom learning into real records, real projects, and real workforce-ready experience.
Leadership, competition, and community — the piece that builds State Officers, National Chapter Awards, and kids who don't want to miss school.
Whether Dr. Paterson leads it in person or your district runs it as a self-contained cohort, the goal is the same: a financially sustainable, fully functioning ag program that doesn't burn out the teacher running it.
An in-person professional development day built on Dr. Paterson's doctoral research — practical, funny, and grounded in what actually works in a classroom, not theory. Ideal for district-wide ag or CTE professional development days.
Can't bring her in person? Her cohort framework gives your district the instructions to run four PD sessions plus a year of follow-up planning — building your own financially sustainable, multi-income-stream program model.
One-on-one or small-group consulting for programs that need a real financial breakdown: funding ladders, advisory committees, partnerships before sponsorships, and a plan that doesn't rely on one grant cycle.
The sustainability framework — organized records, structured PD, a real financial model — translates directly to other CTE program areas facing the same funding and burnout pressures.
Health science, welding, culinary, automotive, early childhood — every CTE program area is fighting the same two battles: funding that shifts underneath them and teachers who burn out before year five. The fiscal leadership framework works the same way in all of them. Bring it to your whole department, not just one classroom.
Tell us a little about your district, your program, or what you're hoping to build — speaking engagement, cohort licensing, or consulting.
Email: rootedageducator@gmail.com