The annual Arroyo Grande High School (AGHS) Future Farmers of America (FFA) christmas tree farm is more than just a holiday fundraiser; it’s a learning opportunity that cultivates leadership, public speaking, and career technical education (CTE) skills for students, all while fostering deep community ties.
“The first year was 15 years ago and we started with 50 trees. We kind of pre-sold those trees,” FFA Advisor and Agriculture Education Instructor Sara Carney said.
Over the years, the operation has evolved and grown, with the chapter typically receiving 250 trees in more recent years. The program has gained more support over time. The AGHS FFA chapter is the only FFA chapter that sells Christmas trees between Santa Ynez and Monterey. However, more customers have been supporting Holloway Farms in the current owners’ last year of business.
The Christmas tree farm serves as the FFA program’s largest fundraiser. The trees arrive around students’ Thanksgiving break. Typically the Noble Firs are the most expensive tree the chapter sells and the Douglas Firs are the cheapest, with each tree varying in price based on the tree type and height.
“I get a call from the tree grower in Oregon around late August to early September to talk about the order size and the cost of each of the trees as each year is a foot of growth and that’s considered in the pricing,” Carney said.
The planning and execution for the farm is a major undertaking, managed primarily by the student-run Agriculture Leadership team. Students on the leadership team are responsible for making assignments, putting machines together, and executing the setup. The primary educational goal is equipping students for their futures.
“Leadership is a really big part of it; leadership and public speaking skills,” FFA Advisor and Agriculture Education Instructor Lacee Holloway said. “We really want them to be career ready.”
Students gain practical business experience by handling all aspects of the operation, from welcoming customers to managing inventory and transactions.
“We all kind of just split up and make sure that everyone has their own tasks to do,” FFA Leadership Member, Ashlyn Collins (‘26) said. “We put some people on [duty of] welcoming people in, helping them find their tree, and we have others who are at the table checking people out and other people kind of getting more trees out, unwrapping them, putting them out, and some people are helping load or doing a fresh cut on the tree.”
This experience exposes students to the practical side of commerce through the opportunity of real-world business experience.
The farm is deeply community driven and students appreciate the opportunity to provide a product and service during the holiday season.
“I definitely do like working [on] the tree farm…it’s nice to see the teachers or just the families that have come in every year,” Collins said.
Former students who participated in the program also return, often saying, “I used to work [here],” which helps the current students feel connected to the program’s history.
The revenue generated from the fundraiser goes directly back into the program to support various student activities and needs. This includes leadership conferences, supplies for classes like shop and floral, monthly events with games and food, and the personal agricultural boosters.
Any student in an Ag class is welcome to participate in the tree farm, offering a practical opportunity for students new to agriculture to feel like a part of the program. For some, working on the Christmas tree farm is the specific way they choose to contribute to the program and that is highly valued.
