Mikara安德森, a senior in Penn State’s 农业科学学院, recently received an AgChoice Farm Credit Jumpstart Grant. 安德森和她的男朋友, 莱利价格, plan to use the funds to exp和 their sheep farm.
宾州大学公园. — Two Penn State students this fall were among 15 young, beginning 和 small-scale 宾西法尼亚 farmers who received $10,000农业选择农场信贷启动补助金.
Mikara安德森, 的Hustontown, 和杰克·格里姆, 的Biglerville, will use the funding to develop their farm-related businesses.
安德森，一名大四学生 农业科学学院 主修 动物科学 专注于商业和管理, has a deep-rooted involvement in livestock management 和 care. “As a kid, I took care of animals whose lives depended on me,”她说。. “I became passionate about raising livestock partially because it was such a big part of my everyday routine.”
Anderson has her own group of sheep among her family’s flock. That changed, however, when her family’s barn burned down last April. “那是一个重建时期，”安德森说. ”,, after selling the sheep, my boyfriend 和 I decided that we were going to purchase a farm.”
安德森和她的男朋友, 莱利价格, bought a 30-acre property from Anderson’s gr和father at the beginning of August. After fixing the property, they purchased one ram 和 15 Katahdin ewes. Anderson 和 Riley plan to use the grant funds to cover the cost of fencing materials, 安装和母羊.
在未来, Anderson said she 和 Price hope to raise 50 to 100 sheep a year 和 exp和 their operation onto neighboring property if it becomes available for sale. 经营农场, Anderson has gained a new appreciation for the breadth 和 depth of her coursework in the 农业科学学院.
她说:“事实证明，我的课程很有用. “例如, 下个学期, I’ll be taking a sheep production class that will help me learn the most efficient, correct ways that I can bring back to the farm to manage sheep.”
Anderson also cited the benefits of her diversified degree, 包括肉类生产课程, 家禽科学, 企业管理和许多其他主题.
“在未来, we might decide to get into another field of the agricultural industry, 和, 多亏了我的学位, I will have a baseline knowledge 和 level of experience that will make me feel comfortable either working in that field or introducing it to the farm,”她说。.
Grim is a senior 主修 business at 宾州州立大学蒙阿尔托分校 和 the founder of Table Rock Markets, an online platform that connects consumers with local farmers.
Grim first conceived of Table Rock Markets when helping a local farmer update online inventory, an experience that gave him a firsth和 look at the appeal of an online platform.
“顾客很喜欢，”格里姆说. ”,, 诚实, who wouldn’t love hopping on the computer to order high-quality produce that you can pick up at the local farmers market?”
后不久, Grim started Table Rock Markets with co-founder Hunter Dubbs, a graduate 的Biglerville High School 和 the 宾西法尼亚 College of Technology. They were joined by Aidan Rauscher, a Big Spring graduate studying computer science at Penn State.
“My thought was that an online marketplace would make it a lot easier for farmers to sell products online,格里姆说. “有了市场, we could add tremendous value not only for this one farmer but also for any interested farmer.”
In the short time that Table Rock Markets has been online, it has processed more than 3,000 orders. “Produce travels, on average, 1,500 miles from farm to table,格里姆说. “Our goal is to keep products within a 100-mile radius. 通过这样做, we estimate that we’ve helped to prevent the emission of more than 115 metric tons of carbon dioxide since our launch.”
Additionally, Grim added, Table Rock Markets has had positive economic 和 social effects.
“A lot of small family farms are going out of business right now,他说. “有了这个平台, we are helping those farmers become more profitable 和 more sustainable 和 giving them a better chance to stay afloat. 社会, Table Rock Markets builds relationships between producers 和 consumers so that a consumer returns to the same producer because they value the producer’s goods. 反过来，社区将其收入保持在本地.”
用农业选择农业信贷赠款资金, Table Rock Markets计划开发一款手机应用程序, 进行更多的推广和营销, 加强对客户的支持.
Grim emphasized the aid that Table Rock Markets has received from the Penn State community. “我们已经获得了广泛的农业科学知识, computer science 和 business resources to develop our business model,他说. “We wouldn’t be where we are today if it weren’t for the outst和ing people at Penn State.”
安德森同意. “I think the biggest resource at Penn State is the people,”她说。. “他们想帮助你成功, 他们认识所有合适的人, 让你到达那里的东西和工具.”
