On July 21, the USDA announced a $262.5 million investment in institutions of higher education to foster the next generation of diverse agriculture professionals in the U.S. The Biden-Harris Administration named this program “From Learning to Leading: Cultivating the Next Generation of Diverse Food and Agriculture Professionals Program”.
The program is funded by President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, which aims to lower costs for American families and expand access to markets to producers from all backgrounds and communities while strengthening American supply chains.
“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 in the USDA release. “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.”
The National Institute of Food and Agriculture’s (NIFA) program will enable eligible institutions to build and sustain the next generation of food, agriculture, natural resources and human science workforce. Eligible institutions include: 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.
“The vision we have at NIFA is to feed and nourish all Americans and create economic opportunity for more American families. Equity and diversity are the two central elements in this vision. One goal of the NextGen program is to identify, inspire and prepare our youth, particularly in underrepresented communities, to be the next generation of hunger fighters and agricultural problem solvers. This is the right thing to do and the right time,” said NIFA Director Manjit Misra in the release.
The project aims to provide training and support to more than 20,000 future food and agriculture leaders through 33 project partners.
To read more examples of awarded projects, make sure to read the full release.
