Lethbridge bureau
Southern Alberta feedlot owner and cattle producer Cor Van Raay has donated $5 million to Lethbridge College and the University of Lethbridge to establish an agribusiness program.
The gift was announced June 19 in Lethbridge.
Van Raay said in a news release that the donation is designed to help position southern Alberta as a leader in the agricultural industry.
The entrepreneur has long been a business leader in the region. He and his late wife Christine settled near Iron Springs, Alta., in the early 1960s and began farming a half section of land.
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They later diversified into grain and sugar beets, and eventually established a network of cattle feedlots at the start of what has since become known as Alberta’s “feedlot alley.”
Van Raay also co-founded Butte Grain Merchants, based in Picture Butte, Alta., and became a majority owner in a John Deere dealership, from which he recently retired. A few years ago, he bought land in Saskatchewan, near Conquest, and has been working to establish farm operations there.
U of L president Mike Mahon said the donation is “an incredible gift” indicative of Van Raay’s enduring passion for agriculture.
“Through the establishment of this program (the Cor Van Raay Southern Alberta Agribusiness Program), we will be able to create student opportunities such that we educate future generations in agribusiness practices that enable them to successfully operate wide ranging businesses in the agriculture sector,” he said.
The program will be offered jointly by Lethbridge College and the U of L.
