The Kansas Association of Wheat Growers announced it has awarded the 2023 Herb Clutter Memorial Scholarship to Carissa Sohm of Rolla, Kan.

Sohm has worked summers as an agronomist assistant for New Millennium Ag LLC and plans to attend Kansas State University and major in agronomy with a minor in animal science. Her goal is to earn her doctorate in agronomy and work as a research agronomist specializing in plant nutrients, soil fertility and water use efficiency. She says these fields of study would be extremely beneficial to her Kansas community.

The Herb Clutter Memorial Scholarship is a $1,000 award for an incoming college freshman from Kansas who will be pursuing a career in agriculture. Clutter was a farmer from Holcomb, Kan., and the first president of the National Association of Wheat Growers, which was established in 1948. He also led the formation of KAWG in 1952, and his support of research into industrial uses of wheat led to the formation of the Kansas Wheat Commission by the Kansas Legislature in 1957.

Kansas Farm Bureau awards scholarships

Each year the Kansas Farm Bureau’s (KFB) Foundation for Agriculture awards scholarships to college students studying in fields that benefit agriculture and rural Kansas. Forty-three recipients from Kansas were awarded $25,500 in scholarships for the 2023-24 school year. Among the recipients were:

Wellington FFA advisor recognized

Linda Chase, agriculture instructor and FFA advisor at Wellington High School, Wellington, Kan., was recognized as one of four fellows by the American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture.

The American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture teamed up with Grow with Google to bolster agricultural education curriculum through the Farm Bureau Foundation Fellows Program, a fellowship that allows educators in rural or agricultural regions to teach students where their food comes from.

“Digital skills are increasingly becoming a prerequisite for jobs in today’s economy, yet students in rural areas in particular often don’t have access to the resources that will set them up for success, such as broadband access and program instruction,” says Daniel Meloy, executive director of the foundation. “We hope this program empowers teachers to introduce their students to the exciting world of agriculture, while also teaching them an array of technical skills.”

Over the course of the eight-month program, the fellows developed place-based curriculum that incorporates agriculture, technology and key digital skills into applied digital skills lessons.

“It’s an honor to be a fellow,” Chase says. “I was able to take a project that’s important to our area, the Kansas Wheat Festival, and create a lesson plan around marketing the festival.”

Chase’s lesson plan can be viewed at applieddigitalskills.withgoogle.com/c/en/rural.