The Canadian Agri-Business Education Foundation plans to award six $2,500 scholarships a year for Grade 12 students pursuing a post-secondary agricultural diploma or degree.
“It’s basically to promote entrance into agricultural colleges or schools across Canada from high schools,” said Larry Hertz, president of the registered charity.
“So it’s, primarily right now we’re targeting Grade 12 students.”
The scholarships are intended to encourage students to apply for jobs in the agri-food sector.
“In general, most students, unless they have some sort of a relationship to the farm or to agriculture currently with their parents or some family, they don’t really think of agriculture as a career,” Hertz said.
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Many students don’t know that a career in agriculture is an option. He once worked with Saskatoon high school students taking part in a work-study program focusing on practical agricultural education.
“One (student) was planning on going into engineering and one was going into, I believe it was science, and they both decided to go into agriculture just because of that program,” Hertz said. “We’d love to fund more of those initiatives.”
The scholarships will be awarded in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec with one additional scholarship available for students in other provinces or territories.
The money for the scholarships was raised over the past two years at an auction during the Best of CAMA, the annual Canadian Agri-Marketing Awards presentation.
The scholarship program, as well as the foundation, was launched at the Best of CAMA in Quebec City Nov. 21.
