Virginia State University gets $1M federal grant to boost agriculture, food-safety careers

Progress-Index - 6/18/2021

ETTRICK — Virginia State University will receive a $1 million federal grant to bolster its food and agricultural studies.

The grant from the National Institute of Food and Agriculture's scholarship program was announced Thursday by the office of Rep. A. Donald McEachin, D-Virginia, who called agriculture "a critical part of our economy."

The grant was among 19 given by NIFA to its 1890 land-grant institutions, historically Black colleges and universities established by a federal act in 1890. Virginia State University, which had been founded eight years prior to that act, is the only member school in the commonwealth.

VSU plans to use the grant to attract more students not just toward careers in agriculture and food safety but also to pursue those careers in Ettrick.

Dr. M. Ray McKinnie, dean of the VSU College of Agriculture, expressed appreciation for the funding in a statement released by the school. McKinnie thanked Congress "for their support of this program and for providing educational opportunities for underserved youth to study food and agricultural sciences without the burden of enormous college debts.

"It is my hope that many of these young people will go on to work in the food and agriculture industry, helping to ensure that our food supply chain is plentiful, safe and affordable," McKinnie added.

NIFA is an arm of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. It was formed in 2009 to consolidate federal funding for all agriculture research and studies.

Veteran journalist Bill Atkinson (he/him/his) is the news director of The Progress-Index, located in his hometown of Petersburg, Va. He also writes on breaking-news and politics. Contact Bill at batkinson@progress-index.com, and follow him on Twitter at @BAtkinson_PI, and subscribe to us at progress-index.com.