Local Farm Credit Scholarships for ABM Students

The Farm Credit Associations of North Carolina have announced their 2019 scholarship recipients. The Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics’ undergraduate program in Agricultural Business Management (ABM) has several students who have been awarded a scholarship.

Zannah Tyndall, Sampson County, was one of ten 2019 AgYouth Leadership Award recipients. The award from the Farm Credit Associations of NC honors students who excel in the classroom and community as leaders in their FFA chapters and 4-H clubs. Zannah has been accepted into the ABM undergraduate program and hopes to use her degree to effect policy change or work for the UDSA. She is a state FFA officer and credits the organization for helping her develop public speaking skills and cultivating her love of agriculture and representing said constituents’ needs.

Sarah Grace Stone of Rowland, NC, was awarded the Cape Fear Farm Credit Scholarship which is designed to support academic excellence, community involvement and leadership for students committed to southeastern North Carolina agriculture and rural development. Sarah will begin her coursework for the undergraduate degree in Agricultural Business Management in August. She has goals of serving underprivileged populations in foreign countries by assisting farmers in making small, attainable changes in their food production to harvest enough to feed their own families as well as create extra income for the household. After serving these communities for a time, she plans to return to her family’s own farming operation to help utilize the land for maximum production in a sustainable, environmentally conscious manner.

AgCarolina Farm Credit recognized several extraordinary students, including ABM senior Phillip Wray and Claire Watson, a sophomore. Phillip’s career goal is to become an agricultural salesman. He has a valuable internship this summer with Meherrin Chemical Company, and he has worked in agricultural production for five summers. Claire hopes to return to the family farm after graduation and support her family’s business using skills she will develop during her education. She is a member of Sigma Alpha Professional Agricultural Sororityand worked as a summer Office Assistant at Severn Peanut Company.

Carolina Farm Credit recognized ABM students Levi Ramsey, Jason Koopman, and Melanie Fishel. Levi is a senior planning to start and run his own family farm in the future, along with continuing to help run and grow his family’s current beef cattle and commercial broiler farming operations. He appreciates the financial principles and management skills he has learned in ABM that will help him toward this goal. Jason, a sophomore, was raised on a dairy farm. He wants to continue that work as he is inspired by the innovation he has learned at NC State thanks to the “Think and Do” motto. Melanie is a senior and hopes to attend law school after graduation to focus on agricultural disaster relief. She credits ABM courses such as Global Agribusiness Management, US Ag Policy, and Ag Law for providing transferrable skills she needs to make her law school goal a reality.

The Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics is very fortunate and appreciative for the strong support that our majors in Agricultural Business Management receive from Farm Credit.