Alamance Community College has received a $4,450 grant from AgSouth Farm Credit to support its Agricultural Sciences program and activities at the Bill and Nancy Covington Education Center, a 47-acre farm acquired by the college in 2019.

 

The grant funds will specifically be used toward the purchase of a small trailer, trailer locks, and portable stainless steel tables to transport and display poultry processing equipment between the farm and ACC’s main campus in Graham. The Agricultural Science curriculum currently includes training in the production of live meat birds at the Covington Education Center, giving students real-world experience toward a career in live animal farming.

 

Additionally, the trailer and accessories are expected to be used for instruction in Alamance-Burlington high schools’ agriculture programs for demonstration and cooperative extension workshops.

 

“It’s important for people to understand that agriculture is our state’s number one industry,” said Jerry Hackney, Department Head of Agricultural Sciences. “Thanks to the acquisition of this property, we have improved the quality of instruction our students are receiving, and making the labs and classes we teach more like a real world scenario.”

 

The Bill and Nancy Covington Education Center near Mebane was gifted to the College in 2019 and named for its former owners. The Covington’s wish that it remain an agricultural facility to teach students has blossomed exponentially over the past five years. Today the farm has gained a reputation as a unique land lab unlike anything else in North Carolina or at any other community college that provides hands-on agricultural education for ACC students.

 

AgSouth Farm Credit is an agricultural lending cooperative owned by its member-borrowers, and is part of the nation-wide Farm Credit system. AgSouth provides loans for land, production agriculture, farm equipment, crop insurance, leasing and home mortgages. The Association serves 147 counties across the states of Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina, and is headquartered in Statesville, NC.