Scholarships To Aid Students Returning to Ag and Natural Resource Sector

We’ve all heard the statistics about the aging of U.S. agriculture. Caleb Howard is a member of the Selection Committee for the Wallowa County Agricultural Resource Foundation which is actively trying to reward those students who are pursuing a future career in agriculture and natural resources with scholarships. He explains the why behind the organization’s focus on the future generations of ag.
Howard: “It is a big problem not only for agriculture but for rural America as well. With the younger generation leaving — some of our best minds are leaving — and taking jobs where there are more jobs where there are generally more jobs like cities. If we utilize this scholarship to put more money on the table, hopefully we can give these kids the tools they need to stay in rural america and in agriculture and keep it going.
He urges other county-wide commodity groups to support ag students with scholarships. For the past forty-plus years the Wallowa Stockgrowers have been supporting county students with scholarships. Howard explained that just a year ago the organization changed its structure to a 501C 3 non-profit educational charity and changed its name.
Howard: “We had been looking at other non-profit education charities and seeing the opportunities they had that we haven’t. There are people who have left entire estates to educational charity foundations. These educational charities have just extremely huge opportunities to grow and that’s really what we wanted to do with our scholarship.”