Saskatchewan Agriculture Minister David Marit awarded four scholarships to Saskatchewan students pursing an agriculture-related education.
“Each year the submissions to the Agriculture Student Scholarship Program show how passionate the province’s youth are about the agriculture industry,” Marit said. “These young people show how bright the future is for agriculture in Saskatchewan.”
Mackenzie Van Damme from Imperial received $4,000 toward her agriculture-related post-secondary studies as the 2020 grand-prize scholarship winner. Van Damme’s submission highlighted the importance of agriculture in her community, the evolution of her family’s grain farm and the unique opportunity producers have to connect with consumers.
“I appreciated the opportunity to share my food story and highlight the positive impact agriculture has in our community,” Van Damme said. “It’s important to help consumers better understand the work and passion that goes into producing food and I’m thankful I was able to do my part.”
Marci LeBlanc of Estevan, Isobel Kinash of Wishart and Makenzie Olson of Tisdale received scholarships of $2,000 each.
The Agriculture Student Scholarship Program identifies young people who are advocates for agriculture and leverages their passion and ability to tell the story of Saskatchewan agriculture. This scholarship is funded through the Canadian Agricultural Partnership, a five-year $388 million investment in strategic initiatives by the federal and provincial governments.