Agriculture Policy Summit

As part of a memorandum of understanding, signed in 2021 NASDA Foundation, NASDA and the Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources and Related Sciences (MANRRS) host the Agriculture Policy Summit. The Agriculture Policy Summit teaches undergraduate and graduate students about federal agriculture policy through hands-on experiences. Selected participants travel to Washington, D.C., to attend the NASDA Winter Policy Conference and spend a day at USDA learning about organizations and federal agencies that influence and administer agricultural policy.

This year, the Agriculture Policy Summit was held Washington, D.C., from Feb. 4-7, 2024. Applications for attending the 2025 Summit will be announced in the coming months.

The impact of the Agriculture Policy Summit

Entering year three of the partnership, we continue to build on the Agriculture Policy Summit which was piloted with 10 MANRRS students at the 2020 NASDA Winter Policy Conference in Washington, D.C. Since its inception, over 40 students have gone through the program. In 2022 the NASDA Foundation took this commitment one step forward and awarded all 20 Agriculture Policy Summit students with a $1,000 Workforce Development scholarship. The goal of the Workforce Development scholarship is to aid students with the up-front costs that can arise with accepting an internship or job in the agriculture industry.

“The Agriculture Policy Summit gives minority college students an opportunity to learn about agricultural policy and careers in public service as well as opportunities in the federal and industry sectors of agriculture,” McKinney said. “If we invest in building foundations for students to be successful in the workforce, specifically within agricultural policy, we will ensure the future of agriculture will continue to be resilient.”