Landus Cooperative is the first corporate donor to pledge funds for the regional career academy that will be built adjacent to a new Greene County High School. The Landus Cooperative board of directors is making a five-year pledge to the career academy totaling $50,000.
The announcement was made Thursday as a letter to the editor by the board of directors and Landus Cooperative CEO Milan Kucerak.
“In an environment where a large portion of our employees are already eligible for retirement and the unemployment rate is at historic lows, we must attract talented workers to remain in rural Iowa. For our farmer-members, there must be jobs and educational opportunities to allow the fifth or sixth generations to stay on the farm,” the announcement states.
It continues, “The career academy associated with this week’s positive bond vote offers us the opportunity to introduce our career opportunities to local youth early and often. From precision ag to hands-on operational skills and computer programming, the educational strands identified for the career academy support the needs of local businesses, like ours.”
The complete letter is posted under the Opinion tab on GreeneCountyNewsOnline.
The career academy is part of a $35.48 million project. Voters on Tuesday approved a $21.48 million bond issue for the project, with remaining funds coming from the county board of supervisors, Grow Greene County, and other Greene County School District tax revenues.
