AgriCorps Press Release

Dear AIAEE Members  --

The information attached and below is a follow-up message from a presentation session at the 2013 AIAEE Conference related to the creation of a new organization -- AgriCorps.  The organization has begun to accept names for interested volunteers. To learn more

visit www.agricorps.org  or contact McKnight at trent.mcknight@agricorps.org  I have pasted the information from the PDF below for those that may not be able to open the PDF.  /Theresa

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AgriCorps Announces Launch

Non-profit organization will bring agricultural education to developing countries

 

Throckmorton, Texas (September 23, 2013) - Stemming from a passion for agriculture

and leadership, a Texas rancher has created a worldwide non-profit organization. Trent

McKnight, former national FFA president in 2000, announced last week the beginning of

AgriCorps, an organization focused on reducing hunger and poverty in developing

countries through agricultural education.

 

“Through my travels across Africa and other parts of the world, I quickly recognized a

need for practical, real-world agricultural education,” said McKnight, a graduate of

Oklahoma State University and The London School of Economics. “The knowledge that

American students of agriculture posses is invaluable to these still largely agrarian

societies as they seek to learn better, more efficient agricultural practices.”

The organization operates by sending American college graduates into primary and

secondary schools in developing countries. There, the volunteers teach agriculture for a

year, training students on best practices for production agriculture in the region and

expanding students’ leadership capabilities. Based on a different model than similar nonprofits,

the volunteers must have practical farm skills and have completed an

undergraduate degree in agriculture from an accredited United States university.

Dwight Armstrong, CEO of The National FFA Organization, will serve as a founding

director of the AgriCorps board. “AgriCorps is bringing together the best of agricultural

education, FFA and 4-H to meet the needs in developing countries across the globe for

the next generation of agriculturalists,” Armstrong said.

Joining Armstrong on the board is Don Floyd, President and CEO of the National 4-H

Council. “Seventy percent of people living in extreme poverty are rural and agrarian.

This is a challenge,” said Floyd. “In 4-H we know that the youth solution is the best way

to resolve these challenges. AgriCorps will take talented young leaders to the places

where the challenges are the greatest, and the solutions will come quickly.”