AgCenter receives $150,000 donation from Nutrien

Writer: Johnny Morgan at jmorgan@agcenter.lsu.edu

(08/06/20) BATON ROUGE, La. — The LSU AgCenter has been awarded a total of $50,000 a year for three years from Nutrien, a Canadian fertilizer company with operations in Geismar.

The donation will help fund educational initiatives for students in Iberville and Ascension parishes.

“We are a community-minded company that thrives to help students in these two parishes because parts of our plant actually sit in both parishes,” said Gidget Stein, Nutrien human resources director.

In the past, Nutrien has been a supporter of various AgCenter initiatives, and this donation just consolidates those efforts, she said.

“We normally get asked for donations for the events as they come up,” Stein said. “By providing this blanket donation, we can cover their events on a year-by-year basis.”

Over the three-year period, Nutrien has pledged to donate a $60,000 portion towards the AgCenter 4-H AgAdventure Day educational stations, school and community gardens, and summer camp scholarships for Iberville and Ascension parish youth, Stein said.

“We are also pledging a $30,000 portion to support the LSU AgCenter Botanic Gardens for the annual Burden Corn Maze,” she said.

Katherine D’Aquila, AgCenter director of development, said Nutrien has been a title sponsor of the corn maze for a number of years.

“Our relationship goes back to their support of the Welcome Center at Burden,” she said. “They have been a supporter of a number of AgCenter initiatives, including the livestock show.”

In addition to funding AgCenter projects, Nutrien is also donating a total of $60,000 to fund a scholarship to support an LSU College of Engineering student majoring or intending to major in chemical or mechanical engineering.

The preference is for a student from Iberville or Ascension parishes who demonstrates financial need, D’Aquila said.