Stay Informed

A Benton County volunteer has received a grant from the American Farm Bureau Foundation to help her with a local ag literacy project.

Meredith Cobb, who is the Benton County education and outreach coordinator, was one of the recipients of a White-Reinhardt mini-grant. County and state Farm Bureaus may apply for grants of up to $500 for K-12 ag education programs, either to begin new programs or expand existing programs. Grants are awarded on a competitive basis.

Cobb said she will use her grant to take the students at Sacred Heart Elementary, a small Catholic school in Fowler, Indiana, to the Pig Adventure at Fair Oaks. The grant is enough to take all students in grades K-6 (around 68), as well as teachers and a few extra chaperones. The trip is planned for May 15, Cobb said, and Benton County Farm Bureau will pay for the transportation.

“We live in a very rural community, but that doesn’t mean the kids all have an ag background,” she explained.

The White-Reinhardt Fund for Education is a special project of the foundation in cooperation with the AFB Women’s Leadership Committee. It was established to honor two former chairs of that committee, Berta White and Linda Reinhardt, who were leaders in the national effort to improve agricultural literacy. To find out more about the program, visit its webpage.