Danville, Ind. — The Indiana Soybean Alliance and Indiana Corn Marketing Council will offer partial tuition scholarships for full time Indiana soybean and corn producers who are accepted to participate in the Indiana Agricultural Leadership Program (ALP).

 “Agriculture, Indiana’s largest industry, plays a profound and overriding role in every phase of Indiana life. The development of effective agricultural leaders and spokespersons is one of our greatest keys to progress,” says Joe Tuholski, Indiana Soybean Alliance chairman and farmer from Mill Creek, Ind. “It is important that we make this investment to ensure strong farmer leadership for now and into the future.”

ISA and ICMC will contribute up to $1,000 per farmer accepted into the program.

The Agricultural Leadership Program is designed to guide Indiana’s promising leaders to new levels of leadership skill and to a heightened awareness and understanding of the issues facing our industry.

“Having well-rounded, engaged farmers is key to the success of not only organizations, like ours, but of our industry as a whole,” says Mike Beard, Indiana Corn Marketing Council president and farmer from Frankfort, Ind. “Encouraging more corn and soybean farmers to participate in this program helps us grow farmer-leaders who will hopefully become more involved in helping move our organizations forward in the future.”

ALP is administered by AgrIInstitute, Inc. Founded in 1983, this organization has conducted 17 classes of this program, providing the opportunity for over 400 individuals to enhance their capacity for strong service in agricultural and communities throughout Indiana, the United States and abroad.

The Agricultural Leadership Program features 12 study seminars designed to broaden understanding in important areas of civic engagement and leadership. Participants broaden their knowledge in a wide range of economic, social, political and cultural matters as well as expand their leadership skills. Ten of the seminars are three days in length held in locations around Indiana. In addition, the participants study one week in Washington DC and two weeks in a foreign country.

AgrIInstitute selects up to 30 individuals to participate in the two-year program. Each class represents a diverse group of agricultural and rural community representation. Tuition for this program is $6,000 per person. Applications for the upcoming class 19 must be submitted with a postmark date of Jan. 17.

For additional information, please contact ALP Executive Director, Beth Archer, (317) 745-0947 or beth@agriinstitute.org or ISA and ICMC Education and Training Director Hannah Vorsilak, at (317) 644-2791 or hvorsilak@indianasoybean.com.