GREENSBORO – North Carolina A&T and its partners, including N.C. State, have been awarded an $18 million grant for a new agricultural professional development program.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Wednesday it had awarded $262.5 million in grants “to foster the next generation of diverse agricultural professionals across the nation.” Each program will be funded five years the USDA said.
The money is part of National Institute of Food and Agriculture’s (NIFA) “From Learning to Leading: Cultivating the Next Generation of Diverse Food and Agriculture Professionals Program” (NextGen)
NC A&T University Farm Pavilion. (NC A&T photo)
“North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro, North Carolina, in partnership with Tuskegee University, University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, Virginia State University, Florida A&M University, Fort Valley State University, University of Maryland at Eastern Shore, and North Carolina State University will implement the “System Approach to Promote Learning and Innovation for the Next GenerationS (SAPLINGS)” of Professionals and Leaders in Food, Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Human Sciences program with a goal of training 6,134 grade 5-12 students, 326 grade 5-12 educators, and 5,871 college students; reach 980 families; engaging more than 30 partners; and enhancing underrepresented minority student enrollment, retention, and graduation rates at 1890 LGUs to grow the next generation of diverse workers, leaders, and innovators for food, agriculture, natural resources and human sciences (FANH) careers.”
Funding comes through the Inflation Reduction Act.
“Each generation of agricultural professionals faces new challenges as we feed our world’s growing population, and the future generations give me hope that we will rise to the occasion to meet these challenges with opportunity,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. “We need to ensure our youth have the education and training they need to accelerate the development of an agricultural system that is climate-smart, sustainable, profitable and equitable. This historic investment from the Biden-Harris Administration in our nation’s Minority-serving Institutions brings us closer to building a workforce that represents the richness and diversity of all the communities we serve.”
1890 Land-grant Universities, 1994 Tribal Colleges and Universities, Hispanic-serving Institutions (HSI), Alaska Native-serving and Native Hawaiian-serving Institutions and institutions of higher education located in the insular areas, as well as their partners were eligible for the grants.
