A nationwide program working in partnership with 1890 land-grant universities is striving to pair 4-H students with mentors who can help them focus on college career paths in STEM-based agriculture. The initiative comes as the number of Black farmers across the U.S. has continued to dwindle while the average age of the Black farmer — now at 61 years old — keeps climbing.
“We’re all trying to implement the goal of really increasing the pipeline of Black and Brown children into agricultural careers and college majors,” said Dr. Misty Blue-Terry, the leader of Youth Empowering Agriculture — Research Extension Apprenticeship Program (YEA-REAP).
YEA-REAP works with middle and high school students who participate in 4-H and pairs them with college student mentors. Throughout the year, mentors and mentees meet monthly to work on various STEM, college preparation, and soft skill development activities. In addition, quarterly Zoom sessions are held for the entire cohort.
At the end of the program, participants are invited for a week-long intensive summer camp located on the campus of an 1890 land grant university, where they heavily focus on agricultural education.
The mentorship portion of the program has become a central part of the program as it exposes youth to college life early through their interaction with college students.
“For me, that’s what kind of opened my eyes to a lot of things, was the more that I was exposed to different things, the more I could see what my personal strengths were and how those could apply in different areas.” said Blue-Terry, who also leads the Youth, Families, and Communities Program at North Carolina Agricultural & Technical University.
This sentiment is reflected in the goals of the mentors themselves.
“Being a mentor has helped me grow as much as those I mentor. It’s taught me patience, deepened my purpose as an educator and shown me the power of planting seeds in others that bloom overtime,” said Ulma Cain.
This program was formed as a response by the 1890 land grant universities — a group of southern historically black colleges or universities (HBCUs) — to a request for application by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for a minority-youth-focused workforce development program. With organization started last year, and the mentoring aspect has really taken shape this year.
One goal of the program is to educate the students about the possibilities of agricultural career paths.
“You know, for instance, we talk about drones, and some of the technologies that are used in farms because I think a lot of young people have in their mind what they think farming is a very high tech business and you can utilize a lot of those technology skills” Blue-Terry explained.
To pair the mentors and mentees, survey forms are filled out and the decisions are made based on interests and career goals. College athletes at NC A&T represent the majority of mentors due to the existing relationship with the athletics department.
“It’s actually worked out really well, because a lot of the young people that are in the program are also athletes, so that’s a point of connection,” Blue-Terry said.
Since the mentors may not have a curriculum related to agriculture, it’s a learning experience for them too. The ag tech series teaches the technical aspect of agriculture to the mentees, while also providing an expert to step in and facilitate the information. In other instances, materials are provided, and mentors are responsible for explaining the concepts.
Mentors are essential to the program as they provide college preparation, and facilitate soft skill development such as leadership, resume building, and interview skills. They are influential to the youth as they are close in age, and are able to speak to their personal experiences.
At the end of the program during the summer, participants meet each other on a 1890 land grant campus. In this agriculturally centered learning environment, they are able to use what they learned throughout the year and interact with expert research and extension staff. This time is central to the program as it allows participants to network and get a sense of the campus they’re on.
“That was one of the things that we’re really trying to focus on, is making sure that the young people that are in this program are exposed to the research and the faculty members that are on our campus, making sure what our campuses strengths are as it relates to the research in agriculture that’s happening there,” Misty Blue Terry explained.
For 2025, they plan to visit the campus of Prairie View A&M University and they have already received excited feedback .
Going into their second year YEA-REAP has continued to evolve from focusing on shaping the mentoring, hands on and college preparation aspect to ready the next generation for a college career in agriculture. This is a central component of the National 4-H Council’s “Beyond Ready” initiative — making sure that their youth is prepared for life after high school.
“It’s all things encompassing from leadership to being ready for college to being ready for interview processes, whatever the workforce or college career pathway is we want young people to be beyond ready for that,” Blue-Terry said.