Clark State College will lead a new cooperative with the US Department of Agriculture for a $9 million, four-year program to create a national agriculture center for two-year colleges.
The community college said this will connect more students to agriculture career pathways and build upon established partnerships.
The dean of the School of Business and Applied Technologies at Clark State, Adam Parrillo, said building this center will allow the college to create a much needed resource for other community colleges.
"It really allows us to establish something that can be the hallmark of of this organization and kind of help our individual schools move along with additional resources, additional ideas, additional support," he said.
Clark State will have access to more resources through this initiative, offering student internship and leadership opportunities.
Travel will also be covered for students to attend an annual conference which allows them to stay on top of their education with practical experiences and knowledge.
Students can be trained to enter into a number of careers upon graduating including farm operators, agriculture engineers, irrigation technicians and agronomists.
"There's also been a lot of work from the organization with the USDA at a higher level to make sure there's positions available for two year graduates where we need them," Parrillo said. "Especially in some upcoming gaps that we're seeing in a lot of different industries in terms of workforce openings, but especially in agriculture, we need that next generation of students or retrained adults going into agriculture."
The college’s Community College Alliance for Agriculture Advancement, also known as C2A3, helped propel this partnership into reality.
C2A3 works with other Midwestern community colleges including Central Lakes College in Staples, Minnesota and Illinois Central College in East Peoria, Illinois.
Associate professor of agriculture at Clark State, Arly Drake, said having this collection of resources can educate faculty in ag programs as well as students.
“Maybe we're working with this platform, but they're more familiar with that platform or this cover crop or that cover crop," she said. "So the future of agriculture just really has to be much more efficient with with our resources.”
Parrillo said this new center will help the college share important agricultural curriculum while growing a strong workforce.
“This mission of really highlighting what two year programs can do for not just our communities but also industry and at a larger level, the country," he said. "So it really allows us to establish something that can be the hallmark of this organization.”
Drake said working with other institutions through this partnership is important to the future farming workforce.
No timeline has been released on when the center will be completed but Parrillo said he is looking forward to seeing the center come to life.
