HUNTINGTON – Huntington University has received a $400,000 matching grant from Avis Foundation Inc. in Upland. The grant, which will be allocated over a three-year period, is intended to support the university’s agriculture program.

The university says the grant comes in response to “its focus on applied learning and creation of new educational opportunities for secondary students related to agricultural studies.”

“We are humbled by the Avis Foundation’s faith in Huntington University and their investment not only in our current students but in future Foresters,” said Dr. Sherilyn Emberton, president of Huntington University. “This matching grant underscores the efforts and successes currently being enacted in our agriculture classrooms and bio-living labs but also creates space for HU to strategically plan for the next generation of students pursuing the agbiosciences.”

HU says it plans to use the funding to engage the community in agricultural education, develop paid opportunities for summer work, and fund the running a livestock learning lab and plant science facility.

“Agriculture has long been a stronghold in the American economy, but new approaches to production, animal science, bioscience and agribusiness are necessary in a world where discovery and innovation are rapidly changing the way people work,” said Marty Songer, executive director for the Avis Foundation Inc. “HU is positioned to not only cultivate interest in current agriculture studies, but through research projects and other educational programming, will be able to impact the future of agriculture as well. We believe that the education provided at Huntington University will undoubtedly enable its graduates to use their knowledge for the good of many communities — both at home and abroad.”

HU launched the Haupert Institute for Agricultural Studies in 2014.