Manitoba Crop Alliance (MCA) is proud to support agriculture’s next generation. MCA’s bursary program is designed to assist with the financial needs of students pursuing education in a field that will benefit the agriculture sector.

Six graduating high school students from Manitoba have been awarded with bursaries valued at $1,000 each. The six bursary recipients are Alara Krahn from Mather, Laura Delichte from St. Alphonse, Riley Jorgensen from Cromer, Madisyn Robertson from Neepawa, Zenith Vanstone from Miami, and Evan Whetter from Alexander.

“I’d like to offer my sincere congratulations to our inaugural high school bursary recipients and wish them well in their continued studies,” says MCA Chair Robert Misko. “MCA is committed to supporting agriculture’s next generation and expanding our bursary program is one way we have demonstrated that commitment.”

To qualify for these bursaries, applicants did not need to be continuing into an agriculture-specific program. However, they did need to clearly articulate how their continued studies would help them benefit the agriculture industry.

An independent selection committee was contracted to evaluate the applicants based on their connection to or interest in agriculture, how they hope to use their education to benefit the agriculture industry, and their academics and writing skills.

This year, the selection committee included Adelle Gervin, program manager with Agriculture in the Classroom – Manitoba; Sonia Wilson, oilseeds specialist with Manitoba Agriculture; and Santosh Kumar, research scientist at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Brandon Research and Development Centre.

Gervin graduated with a bachelor of science in agriculture (animal systems) from the University of Manitoba in 2019. She strives to educate today’s youth on our agricultural story and show them her perspective as a cattle rancher and “agvocate.”

Wilson recently started her role with Manitoba Agriculture, which includes focusing on special crops such as flax and sunflower. She has a background in agriculture focused on plant genetics and research.

Kumar completed his master’s degree at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute in New Delhi, India, before moving to Canada for his PhD. As a PhD student at the University of Manitoba, he worked on barley physiology and genetics. His current area of research includes wheat variety development, climate resilience and clean environment trait introgression, and targeted trait manipulation.

Thank you to the selection committee for evaluating the bursary applications and congratulations to the recipients!

Learn more about this year’s recipients