By Justin Walker
Communications Specialist

Moore County Farm Bureau (CFB) was awarded a mini-grant from the American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture to help expose local students to agriculture.

The grant, totaling $1,000, is one of seven administered through the White-Reinhardt Fund for Education program.

Moore CFB will use the funds to further develop a community garden project. Students will use skills learned in the classroom to plan and build aquaponics systems and worm composting systems.

The project will be implemented at Cactus Elementary School, where a previous garden grant given by Texas Farm Bureau helped pave the way for a new greenhouse two years ago, Moore CFB President John Reznik said.

“We are just trying to get these students involved at a young age, where they know that agriculture is important,” Reznik said. “They need to know how to grow their own food and where their food comes from.”

To receive the grant, projects had to demonstrate a strong connection between agriculture and education, as well as show how the project successfully enhances engagement in today’s food, fiber and fuel systems.

“It’s exciting to help creative agricultural literacy efforts get off the ground through the mini-grant program,” Christy Lilja, executive director of the Foundation for Agriculture, said.

The foundation awarded more than $9,000 in mini-grants to stimulate agricultural literacy across the country.

Moore CFB was the only recipient in Texas.

Having Farm Bureau invest in youth education is a crucial step in developing ag literate students, Reznik said.

“We have to tell them where their food comes from and be a positive influence in their agricultural education,” he said. “I think it’s better for us to do that than for them to get their information from someone who isn’t actively involved in agriculture.”

Other CFBs receiving grants were from Georgia, Illinois, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Iowa.

Applications for a second round of mini-grants will be accepted in the spring, and recipients will be announced in the fall.

The application is available on agfoundation.org.