WHO WE ARE

The Whiteside County Farm Bureau® Foundation provides educational opportunities that impact the future of the food and agricultural industry in Whiteside County, and around the world. This is accomplished through our Agricultural Literacy programs which provide educational materials, classroom presentations and other resources in an effort to educate our community from Kindergarten to Consumer. Meanwhile, our scholarship program allows students to attend the college of their choice as they pursue their dreams of an agricultural degree.

We’re able to make this impact through the generous support of individual sponsorships and corporate friends who share our mission of impacting the future of Agriculture.

OUR HISTORY

The Whiteside County Farm Bureau® Foundation was established in 1988. Since 1992, the Foundation has awarded $237,500 in scholarship funds. From just one scholarship awarded in 1992, the Foundation has dramatically increased the amount of scholarships and the number of recipients impacted each year.

In 2000, came the creation of the county's Agriculture in the Classroom program. The program has expanded, adding a second education coordinator in 2024. Today, the program reaches more than 10,000 students annually. This impact expands even further when you add in the teachers, parents and family members who learn about our programming, and the importance of Agriculture second hand.

In recent years, agricultural literacy expanded outside the traditional school classroom to include working with local FFA programs and summer programs like Farm Camp, Farm Camp 2.0, Junior Vet University, and Summer Agriculture Institute for teachers.

Working at the direction of a volunteer board of directors, the Foundation holds several fundraising events throughout the year. Without the support of our individual and corporate donors our mission simply would not be realized. We share our donors energy and enthusiasm for agriculture and strive to represent their passion for the future of our industry.

Steak Fry

Supporting Agriculture Education Through Scholarships and Local Outreach