Program Overview

Sustaining Future Farmers in Louisiana is a free six-month tech-based Ag program that includes enrollment in LSUE’s Intro into Agriculture course (AGRI-1001). There, participants will have an opportunity to choose from four specific ag pathways to gain training in: Cattle, Farming/Aquaculture, Drone certifications, and Certified Crop Advisor certifications. FFA high school students, military veterans, and displaced energy extraction workers are encouraged to enroll but everyone is welcome to apply. Dual enrollment is available for interested high school students. All participants will additionally earn their Lean Six Sigma White-Black Belt training and attend job-readiness workshops. Paid apprenticeship and internships are available. At the end of the program, participants will be encouraged to continue their education through LSUE’s new Associates of Science in Agriculture degree. Those that transition to a degree at LSUE will be awarded a scholarship following the completion of this program. However, those that wish to continue into the workforce will be aided by this program and its Partners in finding employment.

This program is grant funded and was awarded to LSUE through the Workforce Opportunity for Rural Communities Initiative. This initiative was established by the Delta Regional Authority in partnership with the U.S. Department of Labor and the Appalachian Regional Commission. Our goals are to invigorate an aging LA farming population, provide college education to youths in rural areas with an interest in agriculture, relieve the stress from unemployment caused by the workforce challenges in the oil and gas industry, and provide a boast in the economic economy for the rural areas of St. Landry, Acadia, and Evangeline parishes.