El Centro, California - Imperial County is pleased to announce the availability of Agricultural Benefit Program funding to match qualifying scholarships awarded by other organizations for students majoring in agriculture.  To be a qualifying scholarship eligible for this match, the scholarship must go to an Imperial County student, and the organization’s scholarship criteria must show that it is degree specific for agriculture or related fields.

The County will not accept or review applications from students.  The organization providing the scholarship will need to contact the County to determine eligibility.  To participate, organizations must provide the Agricultural Commissioner’s Office with contact information for the organization, information on the scholarships awarded by the organization that may qualify for a match, a copy of each scholarship’s criteria/requirements and determination and notification timelines.

Once this information is submitted, the Agricultural Commissioner’s Office will notify the organization if their scholarship qualifies for a match from this fund and will provide further direction on how to proceed to get the matching scholarships for the students awarded.  The recipients of the scholarship match and their family will be invited to attend an awards program at an Imperial County Board of Supervisors meeting, tentatively scheduled for the end of June.

The Agricultural Benefit Program was established by the Board of Supervisors to mitigate losses to agricultural production, jobs, and our local economy resulting from renewable energy development on farmland in Imperial County. One of the target areas of the fund approved by the Board of Supervisors is education and scholarships for agricultural studies.

For more information, visit the Agricultural Commissioner’s website or contact the Agricultural Commissioner’s Office at (442) 265-1500.