COLUMBUS, Ohio — The USDA said it is committing $25 million to increase access to agriculture for people living in underserved communities and Ohio is set to benefit. 

What You Need To Know

  • In this week's edition of Ag Report, anchor and reporter Chuck Ringwalt and agriculture expert Andy Vance discuss how the USDA plans to create equity in agriculture

  • Ohio's Central State University will receive close to $600,000

  • Each week, Ringwalt and Vance discuss a topic of importance within agriculture

The USDA made the announcement earlier this month.

“Equity is a vital consideration in all we do at USDA,” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in a release. “We must see to it that the programs we support and the investments we make are available to all and that we take distinct action in ensuring that historically underserved farmers and ranchers are able to participate in USDA programs and benefit from the opportunities USDA investments and programs can help create.”

Central State University is among 29 different groups set to receive a portion of the $18.6 million allocated for grants that aim to provide training and technical assistance through the USDA's 2501 program.

The university will receive $566,148.

According to the USDA, "This project’s goal is to increase the viability of African American and Hispanic owned farms by assisting them to adopt diversified technologies, target profitable markets, increase their ability to expand and diversify by using USDA programs, and better manage their farm businesses."

Spectrum News 1 agriculture expert further discussed how this opportunity will benefit Central State University, the student population, and the surrounding community.

"They want to help people be able to access safe, affordable, nutritious food. They want to help people grow safe, affordable, nutritious food. And so the idea of this program is that we're going to take that pool of knowledge and scientific-technical expertise that we have and get it in front of the people who need it. Most people who haven't been able to get it. It might be farm production and business training courses. It might be programs to help beginning farmers understand how to buy a farm or how to get a farm started, how to write a business plan, how to obtain funding," Vance said. "There are a lot of different programs there, but the idea is that all of this knowledge and expertise and resources exist. We've just done a really poor job of getting it to some of the people who need it most, frankly, or people who haven't been able to access it for decades because of some of these systemic issues."

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