KANSAS CITY, Mo., March 07, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Farmland®, a leading brand of bacon, sausage, and ham, is proud to continue its partnership with the National FFA Foundation to support the future of agriculture. For the third year in a row, Farmland is providing grants to FFA high school student chapters working on animal care and agriculture projects. This year, seven deserving chapters will be awarded $2,000 grants each, totaling $14,000.

"Local grants are so important to our FFA chapters and the success of their members. These students come up with such creative and innovative ideas for projects that would never be possible without the support of partners like Farmland. The National FFA Foundation is extremely grateful for Farmland's continued commitment to these local programs," said Cassy Puskala, regional director for National FFA Foundation.

Each chapter was selected based on a submission that focused on 1) Innovative or new ways to raise hogs or 2) Innovative or new restorative/protective farmland management techniques or ideas. Winning grant applications ranged from “Aeroponic Farming for Increased Swine Health” to “Watershed Project Data Collection and Testing.”

2019 Farmland Grant Winners
Fairview FFA Chapter, Fairview, Okla.
Bureau Valley FFA Chapter, Manlius, Ill.
Calumet FFA Chapter, Calumet Okla.
Cove FFA Chapter, Cove, Ore.
Madison Public Schools FFA Chapter: Madison Neb.
Denair High School FFA Chapter, Denair, Calif.
Mexico FFA Chapter, Mexico, Mo.

“Since 1959, Farmland has been working in America’s heartland to provide our customers with food they can trust and feel good about. We are honored to again partner with FFA to assist in their vision of growing leaders, building communities, and strengthening agriculture at the local, state, and national levels,” said Megan Thomas, Farmland senior brand manager. 

For more information on Farmland, and how to support the National FFA Organization, please visit FarmlandFoods.com.

About Farmland
Founded in 1959, Farmland is a maker of high-quality, popular consumer goods such as bacon and sausage, and serves retail and foodservice customers. To learn more about Farmland, please visit www.FarmlandFoods.com. Farmland is a brand of Smithfield Foods.

About Smithfield Foods
Smithfield Foods is a $15 billion global food company and the world's largest pork processor and hog producer. In the United States, the company is also the leader in numerous packaged meats categories with popular brands including Smithfield®, Eckrich®, Nathan’s Famous®, Farmland®, Armour®, Farmer John®, Kretschmar®, John Morrell®, Cook’s®, Gwaltney®, Carando®, Margherita®, Curly’s®, Healthy Ones®, Morliny®, Krakus®, and Berlinki®. Smithfield Foods is committed to providing good food in a responsible way and maintains robust animal care, community involvement, employee safety, environmental, and food safety and quality programs. For more information, visit www.smithfieldfoods.com, and connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram.

About National FFA Organization
The National FFA Organization is a national youth organization of 669,989 student members as part of 8,630 local FFA chapters in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The organization is supported by 459,514 alumni members in 2,236 local FFA Alumni chapters throughout the U.S. The FFA mission is to make a positive difference in the lives of students by developing their potential for premier leadership, personal growth and career success through agricultural education. The National FFA Organization operates under a federal charter granted by the 81st United States Congress and it is an integral part of public instruction in agriculture. The U.S. Department of Education provides leadership and helps set direction for FFA as a service to state and local agricultural education programs. For more, visit the National FFA Organization online at FFA.org and on Facebook, Twitter and the official National FFA Organization blog.

About National FFA Foundation
The National FFA Foundation builds partnerships with industry, education, government, other foundations and individuals to secure financial resources that recognize FFA member achievements, develop student leaders and support the future of agricultural education. Governed by a 19-member board of trustees composed of educators, business leaders, individual donors and FFA Alumni, the foundation is a separately registered nonprofit organization. About 82 percent of every dollar received by the foundation supports FFA members and agricultural education opportunities. For more, visit FFA.org/Give.

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