EXETER — Some of the 45 Future Farmers of America members were asked about the future of farming at their 2008 state convention yesterday.

“I think the future of agriculture is in technology, because that keeps moving forward,” said Elizabeth LaPrise of Exeter, the Rhode Island Association’s parliamentarian who learned yesterday that she will be installed next week as president.

As she started to talk about robotic milking machines, she was pulled away to confer on a minor crisis –– the need to initiate a game to fill an unexpected 10-minute delay.

The large downstairs hall of Exeter Chapel on Route 102 was filled with young people in blue suede FFA jackets embroidered on the front with their name and on the back with Rhode Island, a large gold emblem and the name of their school —Chariho, Exeter-West Greenwich, Narragansett, Ponaganset or Scituate. One Sunday school classroom was being used as a holding area for contestants waiting to be called in for mock job interviews that were being scored by judges.

“It’s becoming more advanced,” said Anne Morreira, a junior from Charlestown who goes to Chariho High School. Biotechnology is offered in schools, she said, and careers are available in business operations on increasingly large-scale farms out West.

“There’s more science-based technology, and business is becoming part of it,” said Jennifer Castro, a sophomore from Narragansett.

Chris Blanchette, a junior and treasurer of the Scituate group, said agriculture is being replaced by machinery and industry, and ag classes get smaller every year. He and his friends “are trying to keep it going.”

“Agriculture will always have to be here,” Christine Kissinger of West Greenwich said, “because you are always going to need food.”

Morreira added, “farming is always going to be a hands-on kind of thing.”

Kissinger, the state association’s secretary, said FFA members try to promote agriculture because “Maybe people don’t realize how crucial agriculture is to our country.”

Abbie Whitford, who has been in FFA since the eighth grade and serves as the association’s vice president, said that each candidate for state office had to stand before the judges and speak about what he or she would change in the Rhode Island FFA. Her ideas were about improving fundraising and community awareness.

Judging by the workshops presented by young officeholders who planned, set up and pulled off the convention, the lessons in leadership, team building and communication are working.

dnaylor@projo.com