Kubota Tractor Corporation announced Wayne County Ag Center, in Collinwood, Tenn., as the winner of the Kubota "Hometown Proud" community revitalization grant program.
Wayne County will receive a $100,000 grant and loaned equipment from Kubota to help develop the grounds for the county's first and only dedicated Agricultural Center (Ag Center).
Kubota announced its first-ever community revitalization grant program, "Hometown Proud," on March 11, calling on cities, towns, municipalities and nonprofit organizations from across the United States to submit an application for consideration. Nearly 400 grant applications were received from nearly every state in the country, demonstrating diverse needs from communities big and small.
In May, Kubota identified the top five finalists and then called on the public to vote to help determine the winner of the $100,000 grant and use of Kubota equipment to refresh or revitalize a community project.
"Kubota is built upon the idea that together we can do more, and through the support of our communities, our customers and our dealers anything is truly possible," said Todd Stucke, Kubota senior vice president, marketing, product support and strategic projects.
"We called upon the public to vote to help us decide which of these incredibly deserving communities would receive the much-needed funding and hard-working Kubota equipment and we are pleased to award Wayne County with the grand prize. We hope our excavators and tractors will be just the tools needed to bring Wayne County's vision to life."
Wayne County is beginning construction of the Ag Center within an existing industrial park that has been used for hay production for more than 30 years. The facility will house the local UT Extension and Soil and Conservation offices, a 125-person training/meeting room, commercial kitchen and a covered pavilion to provide outdoor classroom and event space. The grounds around this facility will be used for ag-related shows, demonstrations and eventually, community gardens.
Local Kubota dealer, Brown Equipment Company, in Loretto, Tenn., will provide the needed equipment and serve as a resource to the Wayne County Ag Center team as they bring their project to life.
"We were so grateful to have been chosen as a finalist, to actually win was far beyond our expectations," said Jim Mangubat, county executive of Wayne County. "All five communities have such great projects, and I sincerely wish them the best. Thank you, Kubota, for offering this opportunity and supporting small rural communities like ours. I'm thankful to all our family members, friends, Facebook friends and friends of friends all across America that voted, too."
Agriculture and forestry are Wayne County's leading economic drivers, and the county is home to more than 650 farms covering more than 130,000 acres of farmland. This project will allow for the expansion of existing ag-related programming, encourage more entrepreneur farmers, and provide training to increase farm production levels, with the hope of increasing the number of jobs in the agriculture industry within the county.
The Kubota Hometown Proud Sweepstakes
Heather Breneman from Spring Grove, Pa., was selected as the winner of the Hometown Proud Sweepstakes and will receive a Kubota BX Series sub-compact tractor from her local dealer, Messick's Farm Equipment in Abbottstown, Pa. Every person who cast a vote for a finalist was automatically entered into a sweepstakes for a chance to win a Kubota Z200 Series zero-turn mower or a BX Series sub-compact tractor. Voters were allowed one vote per day for more chances to win.
For more information on the Kubota Hometown Proud Grant Program, visit KubotaHometownProud.com.
This story also appears on Agricultural Equipment Guide.
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