A study was conducted to examine the changing roles of teachers of vocational agriculture and to evaluate the current status of programs as a basis for making recommendations concerning the role of vocational agriculture in public school education during the next decade. Data were collected using a structured interview of 122 North Carolina vocational agriculture teachers. General conclusions drawn from the study include the following: (1) the vocational agriculture teacher in the public schools of North Carolina is generally male, middle-aged, regularly certified, has taught between 15 and 19 years, is satisfied as a vocational agriculture teacher, and plans to leave teaching with 10 years; (2) class size is increasing dramatically with females and urban students accounting for a major portion of the increase; (3) the supervised occupational experience and adult education components of the program are weak; (4) the vocational agriculture teacher is no longer communicating in an organized fashion with the community in the role of interpreter of agricultural education or of changes in agriculture; and (5) teachers want longer contracts, more supervision, more non-school time, more in-service training programs and more time for adult education. (JH)