USDA Rural Development has announced a series of job creation and business promotion grants that will be going to 1890 Land-Grant Institutions, and $115,000 of that funding will be headed to the SAES's International Trade Center for a one-year project that will provide "Sustainable Initiatives for Improving Energy Efficiency and Productivity of Small Farms and Businesses in Rural Communities of North Carolina." Dr. Osei Yeboah, interim director of the SAES's International Trade Center, is the project director, and his team will include Dr. Paula Faulkner and Victor Ofori-Boadu of the Department of Agribusiness, Applied Economics, and Agriscience Education. Co-principal investigators are Drs. Musibau Shofoluwe and Frank Yeboah of the A&T School of Technology.
Among the primary objectives are training in business and economic development assistance to farming industries, and assistance for mushroom producers with USDA's National Organic Standard Certification process. Communities targeted for business development training and technical assistance for minority contractors are in Halifax, Northampton, Warren and Edgecombe counties. The project team will also be working to provide targeted rural communities with guidance in energy efficiency and management, and development of sources of renewable energy.
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