The National Corn Growers Association is calling its National Research Ambassador Program a success. Jason Lewis, chair of the Sustainable Ag Research team for NCGA, says the ambassador program?s inaugural year went very well.
?The purpose of it is to build a network of future leaders in the agriculture sector. So many of the grad students, they’re doing research that will translate into technologies for corn growers; they haven’t spent a lot of time on the farm, and they’re not connected with farmers. So, our goal is to help students understand the real needs of growers and have them see us, the NCGA and the state organizations throughout their career. Students that are selected for being a Research Ambassador will get a financial award of $2,500, and this goes directly to the student. And then, they also get up to $750 registration and travel reimbursement for participation in scientific research conferences. And the last thing they get is fully-funded travel to participate in NCGA events throughout the year.?
Lewis says program participants have provided positive feedback.
?Some of them went down to Commodity Classic. One of them actually wrote up a summary of their things and what they said is as someone with no ag background, it was insanely informative and absolutely one of the best experiences of grad school. We found the students really valued getting to talk about their work with growers. Many of the students had some of their assumptions about farmers challenged through those conversations. A lot of them talked about how engaged the farmers were. And they talked about how there seems to be a disconnect between what they’re hearing at the universities and the professors and then what farmers are actually doing in the field. Getting these two groups together and talking, I think, has been really valuable.?
Lewis adds NCGA plans to expand the ambassador program next year.
?Students have to be a US citizen or permanent resident, in graduate school with an identified advisor, and then they need to be performing research broadly related to corn production; so that can be genetics, that can be breeding, engineering, computer science, agronomy, so anything that’s even closely related, we want to bring them in, and we’re seeing more and more diverse studies in our operations, so it’s good. And then, ambassadors are selected by a committee of growers at the National Corn Growers Association.?
Anyone interested in 2022-2023 program needs to apply by April 30th at ncga.com.
