Nearly $25 million awarded to Hartnell College CSUMB and UC Santa Cruz for ag studies
MONTEREY COUNTY, Calif. (KION-TV)- The United States Department of Agriculture announced that they have awarded funding for the Hartnell College and Cal State University Monterey Bay agricultural programs in June.
Hartnell College was awarded nearly $10 million in grant money to support students in agricultural careers.
School officials said it is the largest grant in college history. The funds from the USDA will fund a project called Hartnell College Learning to Lead: Career Pathways supporting U.S. Leafy Green Production.
The program's goal is to advance equity in agriculture jobs for disadvantaged and low-income students. This will be accomplished by setting a paid college-to-university pipeline for many students pursuing agricultural plant and soil science programs for their first two years, as well as paid internship programs.
Hartnell's program will be carried out in partnership with Cal State Monterey Bay, Imperial Valley College and the University of Arizona-Yuma.
CSUMB's agricultural plant and soil science program will receive a $5 million grant to expand and offer an enhanced career path to graduating students. CSUMB partnered with UC Santa Cruz on the NextGen grant and helped write a $9.5 million grant for the Agricultural Research Institute, which is being administered by Cal Poly Pomona.
Jose Pablo “J.P.” Dundore-Arias who is the assistant professor of plant pathology for CSUMB said that 62 students will receive scholarships and about a dozen student field and research projects will be supported each year.
"Having a strong, highly visible program that’s meeting regional needs, elevates the profile of the institution and ultimately helps all of CSUMB’s programs,” Lawson said.
Dundore-Arias said as a result of the funding, 70 full-time summer internships with the local ag industry and the USDA will be paid for through the grant.
Andrew Lawson, dean of CSUMB’s College of Science, called the local grants a “massive investment in growing the future leaders in agriculture in our region. The awards will also continue to strengthen the partnership and collaborations between CSUMB, Hartnell and UCSC."
