Langston gets $525K for agriculture program

BY DEBBIE BLOSSOM Comments 2
Published: November 5, 2009

Langston University has been selected to receive $525,000 in federal money to provide training for aspiring ranchers and farmers.

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The university is one of 29 institutions nationwide receiving more than $17 million in grants to fund the program, the first such offered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, officials said.

The grants, announced this week, were awarded through USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture’s Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program, an education, training, technical assistance and outreach program designed to help farmers and ranchers, specifically those who have been in either profession for 10 years or less.

At Langston, the money will go toward classes taught by Oklahoma State University Extension specialists, said Dr. Chongo Mundende, director of the school’s Center for Outreach Programs.

The classes will explain what it takes to be a farmer, Mundende said.

The goal "is to revitalize rural areas,” he said, and encourage all ethnicities to consider an agricultural career.

Specialties such as goat farming, with increased interest, will be included.

The program is expected to begin at the first of the year, Mundende said.

"The objective is to increase the number of beginning farmers and ranchers in Oklahoma, and our hope is that we will have 120 participants who will go through the training,” he said.

Agriculture Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan said the grants will help ensure the success of the next generation of farmers and ranchers as they work to feed people in their local communities and throughout the world.

"Beginning farmers and ranchers face unique challenges and need educational and training programs to enhance their profitability and long term sustainability,” she said.

These grants are part of the Agriculture Department’s new "Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food” initiative which was launched in September to emphasize the need for a fundamental and critical reconnection between producers and consumers.