TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) — Florida A&M University is receiving a portion of $19 million in grants for scholarships from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture's 1890 Land Grant.
FAMU is one of 19 Historically Black Colleges and Universities to receive the funding, proposed by FAMU alumnus U.S. Rep. David Scott as part of the 2018 Farm bill.
For the 2021-22 academic year, AMU College of Agriculture and Food Sciences received $500,000 in mandatory funds from USDA/NIFA to continue supporting the 1890 David A. Scott scholars.
FAMU said the investment in undergraduate student scholarships is designed to "stimulate interest in food and agriculture careers."
Dean Robert Taylor, Ph.D., with FAMU College of Agriculture and Food Sciences, said the grant will help recruit top students to the program. FAMU currently has 92 students on the 1890 scholarships.
“These NIFA Scholarships will attract some of the brightest minds in the nation to study agriculture at FAMU as is needed to address the predicted global food shortage by 2050 while enhancing food and agricultural production in the USA,” Taylor said.
Scholarship recipients received 2-year and 4-year scholarships for the 2020-21 academic year who are pursuing baccalaureate degrees in food and agricultural sciences.
FAMU says these scholars are expected to be funded each year until their graduation in 2022 and 2024.
CAFS also received $505,263 in discretionary funds in the 2022 fiscal year, which will fund about 80 new scholars, who are new first-time-in-college majors, with a minimum FAMU recalculated GPA of 3.0 and a minimum combined ACT score of 21 or a minimum combined SAT score of 1080, qualified new college/transfer students, and qualified returning CAFS majors.
