The Dickens County 4-H club was named a recipient of Texas Farm Bureau’s 2022 Clover Cash Grant Program.
The grant was announced among other business at the Dickens County Farm Bureau’s annual meeting Oct. 25. Educator Myles Hammack represented the club with a presentation on house the funds had been applied to revitalizing the Spur ISD greenhouse and the city’s Dyess Park. The greenhouse project has already begun donating its surplus vegetable crop to nonprofits and is working on a seed project for African communities.
Student learning, Hammack said, focused on customer acquisition and retention, understanding the market value of crops, understanding direct-toconsumer vs. wholesale agribusiness; bilingual marketing; and ethical agronomics.
The grant program, now in its third year, was available on the county, district, and state levels to fund hands-on activities that grow students’ knowledge of food, fiber and fuel as well as increases their awareness of the importance of agricultural advocacy.
Dickens County was one of only 11 counties selected as recipients this year. TFB awarded $20,000 to 18 county distict and state 4-H programs across Texas in the program’s 1st year.
“Activities through 4-H are a great opportunity for students of all ages to connect and engage with agriculture,” said McKenna Bush, TFB youth outreach coordinator, said in a press release. “We want to see students expand their knowledge of agriculture in ways that are meaningful and memorable, and projects funded through the Clover Cash grant program do just that.”
In other Dickens County Farm Bureau business, board member Mike Smith presented the annual financial report (see sidebar) and reported that the bureau had been able to purchase the office building it occupies, from owner Jean Hoover, in a cash deal with the help of the TFB’s County Administrative Assistance Program.
Manager Walker Barrett reported a total of 384 members for 2022, up from 362 in 2021.
Board members Chuck Hinson, Mike Smith, Kermit Woolley, Sonny Fry and Mark Winter were present. Bureau member Harry Bob Martin moved that this slate continue for the next year; the motion carried.
Walt Hagood of Wolfforth, representing the Texas Farm Bureau board, challenged meeting attendees that the founders of the United States did not imagine there would someday be 330 million people on the nation—many of whom did not understand where their food comes from. “But Myles,” he said, turning to Hammack, “in Spur, Texasm you’re making sure that’s not the case.”
- Log in or Subscribe to post comments.
