Furthering education and support for the trades is another step Illinois Farm Bureau is taking to aid the future of agriculture.
During IFB’s Annual Meeting, President Richard Guebert Jr. announced a recent decision by the Board of Directors to make a gift to the IAA Foundation, which will allow the IAA Foundation to start a new commercial truck driver training scholarship program.
The program, named Driving Agriculture Forward, is planned to begin in 2022. IFB’s commitment will fund $20,000 in scholarships each year for a five-year period.
The COVID-19 pandemic drove home transportation issues across the nation. A need for more trained commercial truck drivers to transport goods led IFB to donate money to fund educational scholarships.
“We are pleased to make this donation to defray the cost of needed educational training for truck drivers, and I would encourage other partners to join us in this effort,” Guebert said.
“Plans for the scholarship program include providing selected recipients with scholarships to help cover costs associated with commercial truck driving training,” said Susan Moore, IAA Foundation director. “A number of scholarships would be awarded every three months within different regions of the state of Illinois.”
For more details on supporting the Driving Agriculture Forward scholarship fund and upcoming application details, go to the IAA Foundation website at iaafoundation.org.
This story was provided by FarmWeekNow.com.