- The “Mahindra Agriscience Learning Center” is located at Pingree Farms
- Center was funded by Mahindra Automotive NA’s Urban Ag Grant program
- Grant part of over $425,000 MANA has given to ag non-profits in SE Mich over past 4 years
Detroit, MI – A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held this morning to mark the
opening of the new Mahindra Agriscience Learning Center at Detroit’s Pingree Farms. The
Center will serve as an on-site classroom where students will focus on agricultural and animal
science, and will allow the farm to further expand both their Agriscience curriculum and
student enrollment. “The Mahindra Agriscience Learning Center will provide an excellent
educational environment for students and community members to study and learn a wide
range of food production techniques,” said Mahindra Automotive North America’s CEO and
President Rick Haas.
The Learning Center was established with the conviction that education is the key to future
sustainability in Detroit, and beyond, as MANA President Rick Haas continued, “We were
pleased to provide the grant funding that supports this program’s development and are
humbled by Pingree Farms’ decision to name the Center after our company. My colleagues and
I look forward to welcoming the new generation of well-trained growers that this program will
create. They will undoubtedly enable the city of Detroit’s vibrant urban agriculture movement
to continue to prosper.”
Jim Green, Co-founder and Chairperson of the Pingree Farms Board of Directors said, “This
partnership with Mahindra is another step towards Pingree Farms’ mission to use agriculture to
stimulate curiosity about the sciences and to teach responsibility and other life skills. The
addition of the Mahindra Agriscience Learning Center represents a huge leap forward for us.”
The new learning center is yet another “fruit” born by the Mahindra’s Urban Agriculture Grant
Program—an initiative launched by MANA in 2015 that has since awarded nearly a half-million
dollars in cash and farm-equipment to 13 distinct non-profit organizations committed to
sustainable agriculture operating throughout SE Michigan (11 in Detroit). Other
accomplishments of Mahindra’s grant program include the distribution of over 200,000 seeds
and seedlings to more than 1,600 Detroit gardens, the installation of software that enables city
residents to purchase locally-grown produce with a state-issued EBT card, and the development
of a prototype irrigation system for small gardens in SE Michigan.
It is sustainability initiatives like MANA’s grant program that led Fortune magazine to name the
$21 Billion Mahindra Group in their recent 2018 “Change the World List”—a ranking
highlighting 25 businesses across the globe working to “help the planet and tackle social
problems”.
Source : Mahindra Automotive North America