ABAC announces new partnership with Florida Nursery Growers and Landscape Association, Florida Farm Bureau Federation, and Agriculture Education Services & Technology

TIFTON, Ga. – It’s a big day on the campus of the Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College, as the school has announced a new partnership, just across the state line in Florida.

ABAC announced an understanding between their college and the Florida Nursey Growers and Landscapers Association, as well as Florida Farm Bureau subsidiary based around agriculture education.

Dr. Andrew Thoron, a department head for ABAC talks about how the college is going to benefit.

“In Florida, there are industry certifications that students can obtain while in high school by completing high school agriculture courses. And, then, they take and sit for the industry certification exam… So, we’re going to be able to use those three credit hours that we’re granting to students that have these sort of vacation, three credit hours or any degree within the school of ag. And, natural resources,” said Dr. Andrew Thoron, School of Agricultural Education, ABAC.

For FNGLA, this helps create a career pipeline into the state’s $31 billion dollar agriculture industry.

And… it hits surprisingly close to home.

“We hope that they will leave Florida, go up to ABAC and then come back to Florida, which I think a lot of folks have done. You know, we had the ceremony here this morning and we had a large contingency of current students that are from the state of Florida and we just want to keep that going,” said Tal Coley, CEO, FNGLA.

Plenty of ABAC alumni have reached out in support of this as well.

“We actually have a lot of ABAC graduates in our industry. Got a lot of good brand rapport with our folks there. And, we’re just very excited for this partnership. I think, it’s been a long time coming for those folks who, you know, are graduates,” said Coley.

We caught up with students who came to ABAC from Florida, they’re excited about the partnership and what it’ll mean for them.

“I think it is amazing we can actually get credits for these certifications. So, it’s a really great agreement. You know, it helps us in being able to afford college. It helps us be able to get those class credits because, you know, we have these certifications,” said Reanna Brown, ABAC student.

Many of the students and staff at ABAC are excited over the prospects and the potential new pipeline this partnership is creating.

In release from ABAC, the college says they annually enroll around 250 students from the state of Florida.

Brian Roche reporting.

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