Getting more minorities involved in agriculture

• Scott LaMar
  BioRecent Stories

  

  Scott LaMar has worked in both radio and television for more than four decades.
  
  Currently, LaMar is the Host and Executive Producer of The Spark program on WITF-FM, 89.5 & 93.3 in Harrisburg, Pa.
  
  Previously, LaMar was WITF TV’s Sr. Public Affairs producer and produced the station’s award-winning weekly public affairs TV program, Smart Talk.
  
  In addition to his on-air duties, LaMar has moderated political candidate debates, including those for candidates running for Pennsylvania governor and the U.S. Senate and was a regular contributor to BBC World News TV before and after the 2020 U.S. Presidential election.
  
  LaMar often emcees or moderates local events and has gone as far as California to emcee a national event.
  
  The American Society of Civil Engineers honored LaMar with their national Excellence in Journalism award in 2020. He has been nominated for five Mid-Atlantic Emmy Awards.
  
  LaMar and The Spark have been recognized throughout the Central Pennsylvania community including ADVOZ Lancaster’s “Dignity in Dialogue Award”, the South-Central Assembly’s “Regional Citizen Award” and was named a “Humanitarian Hero” by The Humane Society of the United States/Pennsylvania.
  
  A native of Coatesville, Pa., LaMar has also worked as a broadcast news anchor, sports play-by-play announcer and manager.

Daryl Minton throws chicken feed into a yard where the chickens roam at the Triple J Farm in Windsor, N.Y., Saturday, August 8, 2020. Minton lives and works on the farm his grandfather, James Minton, Sr., bought a decade ago. (Heather Ainsworth/NPR)

Airdate: Thursday, January 13, 2022

Fourteen percent of American farmers were Black a century ago. Today, only 1.4% of farmers are African-American.

An organization that is trying to change that and help other minorities become part of the agriculture industry is MANRRS – Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources and Related Sciences.

Derek James is the MANRRS advisor and Coordinator of Multicultural Programs at Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences. He joins us on Thursday’s Smart Talk.